Meetings with the past

Health and wellbeing is rapidly becoming a central focus for the tourism industry. However, it's been part of the Central Highlands experience for more than a century.

Follow this link to conference & meeting venues in >> Macedon Ranges, Victoria >> Goldfields, Victoria.

The Central Highlands, and particularly the towns of Daylesford and Hepburn Springs, is also known as Spa Country as more than 70 natural springs are found there.

Throughout the Central Highlands and Mt Macedon regions, corporate meetings and conferences are taking a greater tourism role. With easy access from Melbourne via well-maintained highways, delegates are increasingly finding Victoria's regional venues to be well suited to their individual requirements.

The gold strikes that occurred in the mid-1850s transformed Victoria into a boom economy. Suddenly, small settlements or backwood towns were flooded with a wealth that transformed their streetscapes.

These days, tourism to the former goldfields area is booming. The main focus of gold's exceptional ability to transform communities, such as Ballarat and Bendigo, continue to reflect their shimmering worth.

Ballarat, 110 kilometres west of Melbourne, is Victoria's largest inland city. Gold was discovered there in 1851. At the height of the rush, there were about 300 mining companies operating in Ballarat.

Gold was also discovered in Bendigo in 1851; by 1880, Bendigo was considered to be the wealthiest city in the world. Today, it is the second highest producing goldfield in Australia and the seventh largest in the world. In total, more than 22 million ounces of gold have been found in Bendigo since 1851.