Suburb by suburb snapshot – Golden Square

Golden Square is approximately 8.5 square kilometres and has six parks covering nearly 1.6 per cent of total area.

The population of Golden Square in 2011 was 8301 people and by the 2016 Census had risen to 8814, showing growth of 6.2 per cent in the area during that time.

Golden Square is a about two kilometres west of the Bendigo city centre with the Bendigo Creek and some of its tributaries flowing through suburb, and it was in that vicinity in 1851 that gold was discovered, leading to the rushes to the Bendigo goldfields.

Golden Square, or ‘the Square’ as it’s known, developed as its own identity from 1851, the year the first gold discoveries were made on Bendigo Creek at a place then named Golden Point, and later Golden Square.

A village or township was surveyed in 1854, the year after a Wesleyan church was opened. Part of the Golden Square school (1875) still occupies the original site at the corner of Laurel and Panton Streets.

The wealth won from the mines resulted in a fairly well-paid workforce, and several substantial civic buildings were constructed.

The Golden Square Football Club entered the Bendigo Football League in 1935 and won nine premierships in the next 50 years.

The local public swimming pool on Maple Street was saved from demolition and reopened as a community facility in 2013.

Golden Square was the terminus of the westerly tramline (closed 1973) and it had a railway station on the line from Melbourne to Bendigo.

In 1960 the Golden Square high school was opened, and it continued as a secondary college until 2008.

CoreLogic data indicates that the predominant age group in Golden Square is 20-29 years with households being primarily childless couples and are likely to be repaying $1000 – $1399 per month on mortgages. In general, people in Golden Square work in a professional occupation.

In 2011, 64.8 per cent of the homes in Golden Square were owner occupied compared with 63.3 per cent in 2016.

 

TITBIT:

Golden Square’s houses range from cottages to comfortable Edwardian brick structures with a notable example being Commersdale House (1898) in Panton Street.

 

Population: 8,820

Male: 47.6%

Female: 52.4%

Median age: 38

5-year population change: 6.2%

House median value: $498,000

Change in Median Price: (5yrs) is 42.8%

Median asking rent per week: $380

Average length of ownership: 10 years

Owner occupiers:65%

Renters: 35%

 

House median sale price:

September 2021: $450,000

September 2020: $355,000

September 2019: $336,000

September 2018: $332,000

September 2017: $315,400

 

House sales per annum:

Period ending September 2021: 216

Period ending September 2020: 184

 

Land median sale price:

September 2021: $247,500

September 2020: $170,000

 

Land sales per annum:

Period ending September 2021: 18

Period ending September 2020: 136