Dunolly

With just under a thousand residents, Dunolly, located in the Central Goldfields region of Victoria, is not a large town. However, the town was of significant importance during the Victorian Gold Rush and played host to its greatest discovery. Just under 15 km north-west of the town, in the village of Moliagul, the largest gold nugget in the world was discovered by Cornish prospectors in 1869. The Welcome Stranger gold nugget, as it came to be known, weighed more than 71 kg and measured 61 by 31 cm. Amazingly, it was located only 3 cm below the surface, and is a testament to the high amounts of gold present throughout the region.

Today, Dunolly still plays an important role as a business centre for the surrounding region, with a number of shops, pubs and bakeries, in addition to other services such as a post office, bank and museum.

Get in
The town is about 2 and a half hours from Melbourne by road, heading north on the Calder Freeway and taking the left turn-off at Fogartys Gap Rd through Maldon. The town is also easily reached from Bendigo in 45 minutes via Bendigo-Maryborough Rd or from Maryborough in 20 minutes via Maryborough-Dunolly Rd.

Dunolly is no longer served by a rail service, but does have at-least daily coach services. From Melbourne, the journey will take just over 3 hours. The train service to Bendigo connects with the coaches to Donald and to Adelaide, both of which stop at Dunolly. The coach to Mildura from Ballarat also stop in the town. These three services between them provide 1-2 services from Melbourne a day, 7 days a week, although it's important to check timetables in advance and book with V/Line if necessary.