1. Themes
  2. A to Z

Diggers Rest

(3427, 30 km NW, Hume City, Melton Shire)

Traditionally a rural area, Diggers Rest has in recent years seen the development of new residential estates. By the late 1990s, three-quarters of the population was under 50 years old. The township is now bypassed by the Calder Freeway but was once on the main route to the northern goldfields around Bendigo, and in the 1850s was a famous camping place for diggers and the site of one of philanthropist Caroline Chisholm's shelter sheds for goldminers' families. In 1910 the escapologist Houdini made the first brief aviation flights in Australia in a powered flying machine near here. Diggers Rest was also the site for the Sunbury Pop Festival held annually on a local property during the early 1970s.

Jenny Keating