VICFarming
Buninyong
An inland township before Ballarat existed.
1838Learmonth brothers take up the Boninyong run
WHAT STARTED IT
Squatters took up the Boninyong run beneath Mount Buninyong in 1838, and a hamlet grew near the junction of the roads from Geelong and Melbourne into the district. A store, post office, church and blacksmith followed in the 1840s.
WHAT SUSTAINED IT
In August 1851 the local blacksmith, Thomas Hiscock, found gold in the gullies nearby, and the rush that followed soon uncovered the far richer Ballarat field. Buninyong became a municipality in 1859 and had mines, mills and six hotels by the mid-1860s, but it fell back to a small farming town after the 1890s.
TURNING POINTS
1838The Learmonth brothers occupy the Boninyong pastoral run.
1845A post office opens to serve settlers at the road junction.
1851Thomas Hiscock finds gold near the township in early August, setting off the Ballarat rushes.
1859Buninyong is made a municipal district on 15 July; it becomes a borough in 1863.
1889A branch railway from Ballarat is opened on 12 September; passenger trains end in 1931 and goods in 1947.
WHAT IT DOES NOW
A growing small town 11 km south of Ballarat, with heritage-listed civic buildings, early botanic gardens and the Mount Buninyong lookout. It is now part of the City of Ballarat.