Buninyong

Buninyong /ˈbʌnɪnjɒŋ/ is a town 11 km from Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. The town is on the Midland Highway, south of Ballarat on the road to Geelong.

Buninyong was proclaimed a town on 27 June 1851 on the same day as Winchelsea, Portarlington, Longwood, Avenel, Cavendish, Euroa and Gisborne. All were preceded by Benalla and Wangaratta that were proclaimed on 7 and 11 April 1849 respectively.

Gold was reported "within a mile or two of the township of Buninyong" on 12 August 1851. Gold had been reported earlier at Clunes on 25 July 1851, The major gold rush to the Ballarat region had begun.

The population at the 2021 census was 3,797.

The name originates from an Aboriginal word also recorded as 'Buninyouang', said to mean 'man lying on his back with his knees raised', which is in reference to the shape of Mount Buninyong. European settlers named it Bunnenyong and the name later simplified to its current form.

Buninyong has an important place in history as one of the principal inland communities of pre-gold rush Victoria. It was explored in January 1838 by a party including Thomas and Somerville Learmonth, and then occupied by the Learmonths in February 1838 as a sheep station.

A Post Office opened on 1 January 1845 to serve the needs of the settlers and was known as Bunnenyong until 1859.

Although gold was being found in the area from about 1840 the 'official' finding of gold was when it was found 3 kilometres west of the town in 1851 by Thomas Hiscock, the local Buninyong blacksmith, at an area still known as Hiscock's. Evidence is slowly emerging that the early pastoralists were finding gold, but not making their good fortune known because of the fear the Colonial Government would confiscate their finds because the whole area was Crown Land. By 1871 there were 2281 people and 20 hotels at Buninyong.