St Andrews is a town in Victoria,

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 ...

, 52 km north-east of Melbourne's

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the Commerce, commercial and business center of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides wit ...

, located within the Shire of Nillumbik

local government area A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a federated state, state, province, division (politica ...

. St Andrews recorded a population of 1,186 at the 2021 census. St Andrews is well known for its alternative market, which is open every Saturday from 8am to 2pm except total fire ban days. It also contains a hotel, primary school, bakery, CFA, general store and the Wadambuk community centre where a mobile library managed by Yarra Plenty Regional Library has a regular scheduled stop.

History

Originally called Queenstown, the area was surveyed in 1858 and proclaimed a town on 25 February 1861. Located between Panton Hill and Kinglake, by 1865 it was also known as St Andrews, and the presence of large numbers of Scottish miners gave rise to the town being called both ‘Caledonia’ and ‘St Andrews’. St Andrew Post Office had opened earlier on 1 January 1856 and was renamed St Andrews in 1923. It experienced population growth during the

Victorian gold rush The Victorian gold rush was a period in the history of Victoria, Australia, approximately between 1851 and the late 1860s. It led to a period of extreme prosperity for the Australian colony and an influx of population growth and financial capi ...

, when

prospectors Prospecting is the first stage of the geological analysis (followed by exploration) of a territory. It is the search for minerals, fossils, precious metals, or mineral specimens. It is also known as fossicking. Traditionally prospecting rel ...

mined the hills around the town. St Andrews was the earliest goldfield in the area and by 1855 there were 3000 miners. The first discovery of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in Queenstown was recorded in The Herald on 9 and 11 March 1855 and was attributed to a George Boston and two Scotsmen.

Bushfires

On 7 February 2009 a major bushfire destroyed houses on Ninks, Muller, Jacksons and Wild Dog Creek Roads, as well as Buttermans Track and Olives Lane. Its progression toward the town centre was halted by a southerly wind change, which saved the rest of the town, but drove the fire front further east, destroying the towns of Kinglake and Marysville.

Facilities

A mobile library service managed by Yarra Plenty Regional Library stops weekly at the Wadamuk Community Centre.

Notable residents

Ross Noble Ross Markham Noble (born 6 June 1976) is an English stand-up comedian and actor. Noble rose to mainstream popularity through making appearances on British television, particularly interviews and on panel shows such as '' Have I Got News for You' ...

* Reg Evans

References

External links