Suburb by suburb snapshot Epsom

Epsom is approximately 10.7 square kilometres and has three parks covering nearly 2.2 per cent of total area.

The population of Epsom in 2016 was 4324 and by the 2021 Census has increased to 5014, showing a population growth of 15.9 per cent in the area during that time.

Epsom was thought to be named after the horse racing town of Epsom Downs in Surrey, England.

Epsom is a developing outlying northern suburb of Bendigo on the Midland Highway, north-east of White Hills, and both places were first mined for gold during the 1850s.

Later, when the railway line was built north of Bendigo, the area separated from Epsom by the line was named Ascot, also a prominent English horse racing location.

Epsom is situated on the junction of the Bendigo and Piccaninny creeks, and the alluvial soil was a source of agricultural produce for the gold diggings.

As the ground was overturned for gold it revealed good pottery clay.

An immigrant, George Guthrie (1828-1910), opened Epsom’s best known industry, the Bendigo Pottery, in 1858.

Guthrie’s pottery coincided with the opening of religious and civic institutions at Epsom, an Anglican school (1856-81), a Catholic school (1856-76), a Wesleyan church (1859) and a police station (1862).

Gold mining was the main industry of the 1860s, with 16 crushing mills and 12 horse puddling machines, and remained so until the late 1880s when the diggings were nearly all worked out after which selectors took up farms, including vineyards and orchards.

Epsom was an agricultural and industrial town until after the 1950s.

As the iron foundry gave out market gardens supplied tomatoes to a pulp processing factory.

Throughout all of Epsom’s industrial history, however, the Bendigo Pottery has continued. Until the 1930’s the pottery manufactured household wares, pipe ware, bricks, tiles, bottles, and demijohns.

During subsequent years pipework became more important for sewerage schemes but by the 1950s plasticware overtook much of the ceramic houseware and the pottery remained technologically unadvanced.

In 1968 the possibility of reintroducing household pottery was taken up, and the new era of handmade Epsomware began.

Tourism soon followed and the former stables became a pottery gallery, and along with the kilns and other structures were placed on the Australian and Victorian historic buildings registers.

CoreLogic data indicates that the predominant age group in Epsom is zero to nine years with households being primarily couples with children and are likely to be repaying on average $1473 per month on mortgages.

In general, people in Epsom work in a professional occupation.