BENDIGO CIVIC PRECINCT

This precinct contains some of the most historically and architecturally important sites in the study area. It comprises an innovative town plan design, overlaid by early transport rates, both road and rail, and augmented by strategically placed buildings which provide the foci for views and town squares. Its architecture is largely classically derived and shares attributes of scale, siting and finish, within the commercial building type, which offers a high visual cohesion in streetscapes which contain sites created 50 years apart. It also contains the built civic beginnings of the town, in the form of both Colonial and municipal government buildings and has always been the regional focus as a cultural and recreational centre. 

The central place of the Government Camp and the relative height of this area made for a settlement over a long period of many of the wealthiest and most influential figures in Bendigo's history. The scale of individual buildings, the street layout and the later plantings distinguish this area from the old mining areas. This is a distinctive area m registering the lifestyle of the wealthiest mining investors and leading professional and commercial figures in Bendigo. The area has many individually significant civic and private buildings and forms a precinct with few parallels amongst zones of elite residence throughout Victoria. The wealth of Bendigo in its heyday and the aspirations to become a great city are best displayed in this precinct.