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The settlement existed on alluvial gold and several reefs which were exploited for silver and gold, until the Lord Nelson Company (1883) developed a profitable operation which lasted until 1913.<\/p>\n
The town’s people nevertheless had faith in St Arnaud\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
A newspaper, the St Arnaud Mercury<\/em>, was begun in 1864, a second newspaper, the St Arnaud Times<\/em> started up in 1874.<\/p>\n During the 1870s three flour mills were built in the township, a sign that its economy would not be solely dependent on mining.<\/p>\n A pastoral and agricultural society was formed in 1872 and in 1878 the railway was extended from Dunolly to St Arnaud.<\/p>\n When the Lord Nelson mine closed, the town suffered a population decline, although the starting up of some local industries partly offset the loss.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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 $1000 – $1399 per month on mortgages.<\/p>\n In general, people in St Arnaud work in a labourer occupation.<\/p>\n In 2011, 76 per cent of the homes in St Arnaud were owner-occupied compared with 75.8 per cent in 2016.<\/p>\n \n