The Bendigo Post Office is a building on Pall Mall in

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...

, a provincial city in the Australian state of

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. The post office backs onto and is partly surrounded by

Rosalind Park Rosalind Park is an Australian park in Bendigo, Victoria. Prior to white settlement, a grassy woodland surrounding what is now called Bendigo Creek. At that time the creek was little more than a chain of pools and billabongs. This area would ha ...

. The building was built between 1883 and 1887 by the contractors McCulloch and McAlpine and designed by Public Works architect George W. Watson in the

Second Empire Second Empire may refer to: * Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783 * Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) * Second French Empire (1852–1870) ** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...

architectural style. The building shares a great deal with its neighbouring building, the

Bendigo Law Courts The Bendigo Law Courts is a building on Pall Mall in Bendigo, a regional city in the Australian state of Victoria. The courts back onto and are partly surrounded by Rosalind Park. The building was built between 1892 and 1896 by the contractors ...

, and had the same builder and designer and was built at around the same time. Notable features of the building include its clock tower (housing a five-bell

carillon A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...

) and the elaborate facades on all four sides of building. The building was extensively restored between 1978 and 1987. The building was used as a post office until 1997. It is currently used as Bendigo Tourism's Visitor Information Centre and won Victorian Tourism Awards in 2009 and 2010. It was further inducted into Victorian Tourism's hall of fame in 2011. It was also awarded a tourism award by

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founded ...

in 2010, in the category of Visitor Information and Services. Bendigo Tourism describes the Information Centre as "Australia's Grandest Visitor Centre". The Centre boasts a large information area, an adjoining First Nations Gallery - Djaa Djuwima - and a Living Arts Space, which showcases some of the region's best artists. The building has been included on the

Victorian Heritage Register The Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) lists places deemed to be of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria, Australia. It has statutory weight under the Heritage Act 2017. The Minister for Planning is the responsible Minister. H ...

as being of "architectural, historic, and aesthetic significance to Victoria".

References

External links

A Golden Heritage - The Bendigo Post OfficeBendigo Tourism Centre Website
Buildings and structures in Bendigo Post office buildings in Victoria (state) Second Empire architecture in Australia Victorian Heritage Register Loddon Mallee (region) 1887 establishments in Australia Government buildings completed in 1887 {{VictoriaAU-struct-stub