Bendigo, the conference capital of Central Vic

BENDIGO has a lot to brag about, there’s the Bendigo Art Gallery, the tulips in spring, surrounding box ironbark forests, not to mention it was built on literal gold.

The appeal of the town has been attracting Victorian and national organisations who come here to run their conferences and events.

City of Greater Bendigo Tourism and events acting manager Glenn Harvey said the region is well situated in Central Victoria, making it an accessible location from other metropolitan areas.

“We think our appeal is being able to offer a mix of access to beautiful heritage buildings, like Ulumbarra Theatre, as well as contemporary venues and a great range of accommodation options,” he said.

Peter Ali, CEO of Municipal Works Australia, said the national organisation has hosted their annual conference in Bendigo for the past eight years.

“Bendigo is unique in the fact that we get all our regional councils, we get councils from the border of New South Wales and Victoria, but our Melbourne based councils also can get there quite easily,” Mr Ali said.

In addition to Bendigo offering the second largest exhibition facility in the state at the Prince of Wales Showgrounds, Mr Ali said the quality and cost of services available in the region was also a factor.

“It’s very cost effective compared to the alternatives in Melbourne,” he said. “Because we’re a not-for-profit association so those costs that we save, are direct savings to our participants and it allows more people to participate.”

The 30th annual Municipal Works Australia conference will be hosted at the Showgrounds in March.

Another advocate for Bendigo’s facilities is the Solar Energy Installers Association which is coming to Bendigo this May for the second year in a row.

A spokesperson for SEIA said many of the organisation’s members are from Bendigo, including some of their founders.

“Over the years we’ve tried different places, but because places like Bendigo are so central it gives people the opportunity to get there easily, and we just like the venue,” the spokesperson said.

The SEIA conference will be on later this year in May at the All Seasons resort.

Other conferences and shows coming to the City this year include the Rotary Club’s District 9800 Conference, Victorian Water Industry Operations Conference and Exhibition, and the Australasian Planetarium Society Conference to be held at the Discovery centre.