Suburb by suburb snapshot Eaglehawk

Eaglehawk is approximately 14.5 square kilometres and has four parks covering nearly 2.1 per cent of total area.

The population in 2016 was 5691 and by the 2021 Census it had decreased to 5538 showing a population decline of 2.6 per cent in the area during that time.

Eaglehawk is a residential suburb in the north-west of urban Bendigo with its town centre five kilometres from the Bendigo central business district.

Gold was discovered at Bendigo in October 1851 and the gold-bearing land extended several kilometres north and north-west of Bendigo, beyond Eaglehawk.

California Gully and Sailors Gully recorded gold finds in the first half of 1852, along with Eaglehawk.

In 1854 town lots were surveyed and sold along High Street, Eaglehawk, where it divides into Sailors Gully and Pegleg Gully Roads (Pyramid Hill Road and Loddon Valley Highway).

A National school was opened in 1854 on the site occupied by the present primary school. Two Methodist churches were opened the following year, and further north at Sailors Gully a second school was opened (now Eaglehawk North school).

The 1860s were a period of rapid growth, but with mostly short-lived or hastily run up buildings nut the next two decades saw more substantial developments.

Eaglehawk borough was created on 29 July 1862 and by the end of the decade there were also Anglican and Presbyterian churches and a mechanics’ institute.

Gas was laid on in 1866, the railway from Bendigo to Bridgewater was opened in 1876.

In 1882 Eaglehawk became a railway junction when the line to Raywood was opened.

The 1870s and 1880s also saw the creation of a botanical garden (Canterbury Park) and the adjoining Lake Neangar, the extravagantly designed primary school (1884) and the first tramway.

A new town hall was built in 1901 and the trams were electrified in 1903.

At about that time mining employment and the borough’s population began to decline, more than halving between the 1901 and 1933 censuses.

Minor population growth occurred in the 1960s, a high school was opened in 1964 and the tramline closed in 1973.

CoreLogic data indicates that the predominant age group in Eaglehawk is 0-9 years with households being primarily younger couples and are likely to be repaying on average $1300 per month on mortgages.

In general, people in Eaglehawk work in a trades occupation.