Junortoun is a suburb of

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2022, Bendigo has a popula ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The suburb is located east of the Bendigo city centre along the

McIvor Highway McIvor Highway is a short Victoria (state), Victorian highway (44 km) linking Bendigo and Heathcote, Victoria, Heathcote. Together with Hume Freeway (until Wallan, Victoria, Wallan) and Northern Highway (Victoria), Northern Highway (until H ...

. At the 2016 census, Junortoun had a population of 3,201.

History

The original inhabitants of Junortoun were the Dja Dja Warrung people who lived throughout the Loddon Valley for thousands of years prior to European settlement. It was originally established as “Homebush”, centred around the "Homebush" Estate. Homebush was an estate of some 2,000 acres extending along the valley of Splitters Creek, and was also the receiving Post Office for the district up until the early 1970s. The name was changed to Junortoun around 1912 to avoid confusion with

Homebush, New South Wales Homebush is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 12 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local government area of the Municipali ...

. The owner of "Homebush" estate proposed the name "Junor" after his wife's maiden name and this was submitted to the authorities. However, this name was rejected on the grounds that it was too close to "Junee" in New South Wales. At a subsequent meeting the suffix "toun" was added to "Junor" and again submitted and this was found to be acceptable. Junortoun is one of the many localities in the region that can trip-up and tongue-tie visitors with its pronunciation. Junortoun is in fact pronounced as ''joo-ner-t'n''. Junortoun is surrounded by the Bendigo suburbs of

East Bendigo East Bendigo is a suburb of the regional city of Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is an Australian city in north-central Victoria. The city is located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Mel ...

, Strathdale,

Kennington Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between th ...

, Strathfieldsaye and the outer-rural suburbs of

Longlea Longlea is a locality in the City of Greater Bendigo, Victoria, Australia east of the Bendigo central business district and approximately North-West (by road) from the Victorian Capital of Melbourne. At the , Longlea had a population of 506. ...

and Wellsford. Today, Junortoun is a growing residential suburb, comprising a mix of low, medium and high-density residential land.

Community facilities

Schools

Junortoun includes the Coolock campus of

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

secondary school

Catherine McAuley College Catherine McAuley College, formerly Catholic College Bendigo until 2018, is an Australian coeducational Catholic secondary school in Bendigo, Victoria. The school has two campuses, Coolock and St Mary's. The Coolock campus is located in the ou ...

. The campus was originally established in 1954 by the

Vincentian Fathers The Congregation of the Mission (), abbreviated CM and commonly called the Vincentians or Lazarists, is a Catholic society of apostolic life of pontifical right for men founded by Vincent de Paul. It is associated with the Vincentian Family, a ...

, with governance transferring to the

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic Church, Catholic religious institute of Religious brother, brothers. In 1817, Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from Fr ...

in 1977. In 1983, governance changed again to a partnership between the Marist Brothers and the

Sisters of Mercy The Sisters of Mercy is a religious institute for women in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1831 in Dublin, Ireland, by Catherine McAuley. In 2019, the institute had about 6,200 Religious sister, sisters worldwide, organized into a number ...

, establishing Catholic College Bendigo (CCB). In January 2013, the campus became the sole governance of the Sisters of Mercy and, in 2018, the school was renamed as Catherine McAuley College.

Sporting facilities

Lords Raceway is home to the Bendigo

Harness Racing Harness racing is a form of horse racing in which the horses race at a specific gait (a trot or a pace). They usually pull a two-wheeled cart called a sulky, spider, or chariot occupied by a driver. In Europe, and less frequently in Australia ...

Club and

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from Hare coursing, coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of th ...

organised by the Bendigo Greyhound Racing Association.

Other facilities

Junortoun has a CFA station, a

Baptist Church Baptists are a denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers ( believer's baptism) and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches generally subscribe to the doctrines of ...

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

and an army training base. The

O'Keefe Rail Trail The O'Keefe Rail Trail is a rail trail connecting Bendigo with Heathcote, Victoria, Heathcote. The sandy gravel trail runs along a former branch line on the Melbourne-Sydney rail line. It previously ran from Bendigo to Axedale but works complet ...

runs through the suburb and is a sandy gravel trail that runs along a former branch line on the Melbourne-Sydney rail line. The disused railway track has been converted into a multi-use path, typically used for walking and cycling.

References

Suburbs of Bendigo {{VictoriaAU-geo-stub