Happy Valley is a locality in the Local Government Area of the

Golden Plains Shire The Golden Plains Shire is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the western part of the state. It covers an area of and in June 2018, had a population of 23,120. It includes the towns of Bannockburn, Dereel, Gheringhap, Le ...

. It shares the same name with Happy Valley in Northern Victoria. Happy Valley is a former gold mining town south-west of

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

that is now only a rural locality.

History

Gold was discovered in the area, originally called "Wardy Yallock" (thought to have meant "winding yellow river" of Aboriginal origins) in 1849 as part of the

Australian gold rushes During the Australian gold rushes, starting in 1851, significant numbers of workers moved from elsewhere in Australia and overseas to where gold had been discovered. Gold had been found several times before, but the colonial government of Ne ...

, with intensive mining beginning in 1853. Mining Continued until the 1900s. The naming comes from the amount of gold found in the area.

Demographics

References

Towns in Victoria (Australia) Golden Plains Shire Ghost towns in Victoria (Australia) {{GrampiansAU-geo-stub