Town by town snapshot: Gordon

The size of Gordon is approximately 45.8 square kilometres and has five parks covering nearly 0.3 per cent of total area.

The population of Gordon in 2011 was 1,219 people and by the 2016 Census the population was 1,148 showing a population decline of 5.8 per cent in the area during that time.

Gordon is a rural township 23km east of Ballarat and 80km north-west of Melbourne which was once on the Western Highway, it is now a few kilometres south of the Western Freeway.

The town was named after George Gordon who settled in the area in 1838 and the locality came to prominence in 1858 when gold was discovered five years after the discovery at Mount Egerton, about 5km to the south.

Known as Gordon’s for some time, the settlement was a collection of huts with a post office and a court house, until a township was surveyed in 1860.

A sawmill (1863) provided timber suitable for town buildings, coinciding with farm selections being taken up, often by Irish settlers.

From 1930 to 1990 Gordon’s population was in the 200s but during the 1990s it grew as its proximity to Ballarat and Bacchus Marsh put it within convenient commuting distance to either.

CoreLogic data indicates that the predominant age group in Gordon is 50-59 years with households in Gordon being primarily childless couples and are likely to be repaying $1,400 – $1,799 per month on mortgage repayments, and in general, people in Gordon work in a professional occupation.

In 2011, 88 per cent of the homes in Gordon were owner-occupied compared with 88.7 per cent in 2016.