Bankrolling Bendigo: building a city traces the financial systems and structures that grew quickly and necessarily out of the gold-struck town and ultimately enabled the founding of a permanent city. From the moment the first nugget was discovered at Golden Square, two intertwining societies emerged: those involved in gold mining, and those who provided miners with the things they needed. Systems for transporting and processing the precious raw material were established, while campaigns for retaining wealth in Bendigo were forged. Central to this story is that of the Bendigo Bank, established in 1858 by a group of community-minded local residents who pooled their resources with the view to financing permanent homes and businesses.

Bankrolling Bendigo will also explore the impact of Bendigo’s economic rise on Melbourne, the troubled times of the Australian banking system crisis in the 1890s and the Great Depression of the 1930s ahead of the new era of decimal currency rolled out in 1966.

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