Wedderburn, Victoria 4.49

Wedderburn is a rural town in Victoria, Australia on the Calder Highway, 214km north of Victoria's capital city, Melbourne. At the, Wedderburn had a population of 680. It is mainly a farming community but its early residents were gold miners and prospectors.HistoryThe post office opened on 1 August 1856, after the first gold discoveries in the area, but it was known as Korong until 1858. The railway arrived in 1883, linking Wedderburn with Charlton and Bendigo via Inglewood. In the Bendigo Advertiser of 14 May 1884 it was written: "That well-known locality, Korong Vale, has been re-christened. It has been so determined in consequence of the confusion of names, there being a Korong (now Wedderburn), a Kerang, a Mount Korong, and the Korong Vale. The latter has now received the dignified lordly title of Rosebery or Rosebury, I know not which, but I am disposed to think that its new title will be more in the name than in the reality,and that the word "Vale" will still be generally used."Present dayOne of the main attractions for tourists is Hard Hill Reserve where, with a bit of imagination, one can feel a sense of what it was like in the 'old days' living in tents on the goldfields. Apart from gold, a number of Eucalyptus stills used to operate in the district and a replica still has been situated on the site and is fired up, by arrangement, for tourist buses. On site is one of the original batteries for crushing the ore and removing the gold. A puddler is also on site and a demonstration of it working can be seen during the annual Gold and Heritage Festival held round about the end of February and the beginning of March.