Town by town snapshot St Arnaud

St Arnaud is approximately 70 square kilometres and has seven parks covering nearly 3.9 per cent of total area.

The population in 2016 was 2178 and by the 2021 Census it had risen to at 2318 showing an increase of 6.42 per cent in the area during that time.

St Arnaud, a rural town, is at the west of the Victorian goldfields region and is 95 kilometres west of Bendigo on the Sunraysia Highway and railway line to Mildura.

The origin of St Arnaud was the discovery of gold at a sandy knoll later called Bakery Hill in St Arnaud north in January 1855.

The resulting goldfield was known as New Bendigo, and mining spread into several hills and gullies.

In 1856 a town was surveyed about six kilometres east of the goldfield and was named St Arnaud, after a French military commander in the Crimean War.

Because of the town’s distance from the goldfield the survey was cancelled, and a township developed around the mining activity.

The community readily adopted the proposed name, and sales of township lots occurred in 1858.

St Arnaud did not boom for several years, although the search for reef gold began in late 1855.

The settlement existed on alluvial gold and several reefs which were exploited for silver and gold, until in 1883 the Lord Nelson Company developed a profitable operation which lasted until 1913.

The town’s people nevertheless had faith in St Arnaud’s future and the St Arnaud municipality was proclaimed on 12 August 1861, and its named was given to an extensive road district in the same year.

A newspaper, the St Arnaud Mercury, was begun in 1864, a second newspaper, the St Arnaud Times started in 1874.

During the 1870s three flour mills were built in the township, a sure sign that its economy would not be solely dependent on mining.

A pastoral and agricultural society was formed in 1872 and in 1878 the railway was extended from Dunolly to St Arnaud.

When the Lord Nelson mine closed, the town suffered a population decline, although the starting up of some local industries partly offset the loss.

The municipality of St Arnaud became a borough on 1 October 1863, a town on 17 October 1950 and was united with Stawell city, most of Kara Kara and Stawell shires, and parts of other municipalities to form Northern Grampians Shire on 20 January 1995.

CoreLogic data indicates that the predominant age group in St Arnaud is 60-69 years with households being primarily childless couples and are likely to be repaying on average $867 per month on mortgages.

In general, people in St Arnaud work in a labourer occupation.