Days gone by are never far away in the Loddon Shire. This place is connected to its Indigenous, gold rush, settler and natural history, and often, they come together. Take for example, just one point of interest along the Serpentine Creek Canoe Trail, the former Durham Ox Inn. The 1850s red-brick inn is said to have been the initial meeting point for a Bourke and Wills search party in 1862. Learn the story as you paddle the trail.
Visit intact goldfields streetscapes, quickly established after gold was first discovered here in the 1850s. Mine manager’s mansions and tiny timber cottages still stand, telling stories of fortune and failure, like Poverty Street, Tarnagulla.
Inglewood is famous for its antique and collectables stores, where everything has a history. Wedderburn’s Coach House Gallery and Museum houses some fascinating relics and the town’s Hard Hill Reserve preserves the local tradition of eucalyptus distilling. Follow the clean, crisp scent of the Aussie oil to Inglewood’s Eucalyptus Museum to learn the full tale of this once-burgeoning industry.