r/Bendigo • u/Lululululululime • 10d ago
Bendigo multicultural?
We are considering a move from Brisbane to regional Vic, fleeing from the rat race and insane capital city property prices. We are planning a trip in October to scope out Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong. We are a multicultural family, and our son will wear a turban. We are wondering how multicultural Bendigo is, and would to love hear from other migrant background families about their and their kids’ experiences in the schools and communities. Our budget is $900,000 and looking for the best school we can find, ideally a multicultural area. We haven’t narrowed suburbs or anything like that. Any insights welcome!
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u/violetpandas 8d ago
Bendigo is definitely becoming more multicultural all the time! I did all my schooling here from the late 90s through to early 2010s, it was still not particularly multicultural then- I went to large public schools and only met a handful of kids from ethnically diverse backgrounds. These days it’s totally different! My niece and nephews have school friends who are from lots of different places, some friends who speak English as a second language etc. Lots of my regular customers at work are culturally diverse as well. This is a fantastic thing for Bendigo in my opinion. Unfortunately there are disgusting racists everywhere however I truly believe they are a loud minority rather than a majority. I hope if you decide to move here with your family that it’s a great experience for you!
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u/Prestigious-Duck-120 10d ago
I grew up in Bendigo in the early 2000s and there was hardly any diversity, moved away and then moved back in 2020.
I can’t believe how quickly the city is becoming more multicultural (in a good way). The more people from different backgrounds that move here, the more tolerant people become.
My kid is at a public school here and all the kids and families there are super welcoming. In particular there seems to have been some growth in the Indian and Karen (as in from Myanmar) communities.
I think in general people are really welcoming, but of course there are some dicks here as well, I just feel it’s only getting better with time.
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u/NoraPann 10d ago
Shepparton is an hour and a half from Bendigo, and possibly the most ethnically diverse city in regional Victoria. Definitely worth a look if you're looking to move to Victoria, and there are plenty of cheaper satellite towns around with even cheaper properties. Also the area is desperate for professionals, so if you have any kind of professional qualification, you will likely have little issue getting a job. Serviced by multiple Vline services to Melbourne daily, multiple private schools and one of the biggest government secondary schools in the country, with brand new facilities and an excellent high achievers program. I am guessing from the turban that you are perhaps Sikh, in which case they have a Sikh temple and quite a large Sikh community. The city frequently holds multicultural public events for free.
Lived in Bendigo for years, and the demographics were predominantly white. It's basically a city full of Anglo Irish Roman Catholics. They have a token population of people of Chinese descent, and a mosque that significant numbers of townsfolk protested. I certainly would not call Bendigo a multicultural city, or very welcoming, for that matter. I remember incidents of Muslim colleagues being spat on after 9/11 when I lived there. Houses are far more expensive.
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u/PJozi 10d ago
Bendigo was the least multiculturalist city in Australia.
This has very much changed.
Most of the mosque protestots were from out of town. To the point where police were filming cars coming up the highway and arrivals at the train station. There were objections received from people as far away as Townsville.
The CV mosque has opened without incident
There wouldn't be many schools without diverse students. Unlikely to be any at all.
You will be fine. There are some good schools in Bendigo including a private school.
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u/NoraPann 10d ago
I'm sure Bendigo has improved, but the difference between Bendigo and Shepparton is that Bendigo was always a city full of Anglo-Australians, which has, in the last 20 or so years, had a small influx of ethnically diverse people, just like everywhere else, whereas Shepparton was ALWAYS multicultural. It was poorer, more agricultural, and had better water sources and soil, which meant it attracted immigrants from everywhere, because they could work the farms, and later the factories. Bendigo didn't have that. It's peak ethnic diversity probably happened around 1850-1860. It's main attraction was gold, and when mining rights excluded Asians, they had to find elsewhere to go. The soil was poorer, and there was less water, so the agriculture was different, and the place attracted a different kind of immigrant.
Shepparton is different. It's ethnic communities are generations deep. Shepparton is far more multicultural than Bendigo, and probably nearly every suburb in Victoria. It's a lovely anomaly. Don't get me wrong, Bendigo is lovely, and yes, it will have some wonderful ethnically diverse communities, but demographically, Shepparton wipes the floor with it in terms of ethnic diversity.
To the OP, if you are looking to live anywhere in Vic, you should get familiar with mapshare.vic.gov.au when you start looking at housing. You want to be looking at flood and bushfire overlays, because these will affect the insurability of your property. Atlas.id.com.au will also give you a lot of demographic information if you want to hone in on demographic data suburb by suburb.
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u/Lululululululime 10d ago
Thank you for taking the time to share your insights, which are really helpful. The length of time migrant communities have been settled in an area is a really important consideration, and Victorian history in that regard I know little about.
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u/Lululululululime 10d ago
Thank you for taking the time to give such a thoughtful reply! Yes, we are a mixed Catholic and Sikh family, and Bendigo currently lacking a Gurdwara was something we were concerned about. I myself was born in Aus and grew up in a regional area where we experienced a rough time with racism. Very keen not to replicate that experience for my kids. Shepparton sounds like a better fit for us, so we will add it to our scouting itinerary. Again, thank you for your response!
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u/Blues_Twins_Forever 7d ago
You might want to consider adding Sunbury (about 20 mins nth of Melb airport) and surrounds, to your list. Realise it's not a regional city, but if you're wanting proximity to a gurudwara, there's Gurdwara Sahib, Plumpton. That's 12-15 mins west of Sunbury.
Salesian College is a Catholic high school in Sunbury. Has a good reputation. There are 3 Catholic primary schools in town as well. Sunbury's serviced by metro trains, as well as VLine. Sunbury station is on Bendigo line.
There's a growing Indian population in Sunbury, including Sikh. As well as many Indian families that have moved into new housing estates west of there. Realise you're wanting to escape the rat race. There are homes in your price range in area. Plus, in Gisborne, a town just 10 mins nth..
Woodend is further nth. Smaller township, nr base of Mt. Macedon. Braemar is the non-denominational private high school. There's Alice Miller school, too. Woodend is also on the Bendigo train line.
These towns are all accessed by the Calder Freeway. Which you drive to get up to Bendigo.
One of the main gurudwara's is in Craigieburn. On the Hume Highway. Nth of Melb CBD. Craigieburn and surrounds are another growth area of outer metropolitan Melb.
Catholic high schools in Bendigo, we toured Catherine McAuley College in Junortoun. Their jnr campus. Fantastic music and sports facilities. Marist College also meant to have good reputation. Though we never moved to Bendigo, our preferred suburbs were Quarry Hill, Kennington, Flora Hill and Strathdale.
Wishing you all the best for your VIC trip in October.
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u/Which-Entrepreneur82 10d ago
I moved to Bendigo 22 years ago after growing up in Shepparton and was godsmacked by how white it was. The gold rush Chinese heritage was celebrated but that's as diverse as it got. It's changed considerably since then, with a large Karen community and a significant indian community thanks largely to Bendigo Health expansion.
All of that said, it's still far less multicultural than Shepparton but is a much bigger city. There's a small Sikh community so you won't be the first.
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u/macdaddywazoo 7d ago
Do not move to Bendigo if you are multicultural. You would not fit in at all and it wouldn’t be taken well. You’re better off closer to Melbourne, there is more diversity there.
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u/Elvecinogallo 10d ago
Queenslanders all coming to Victoria and putting up house prices. I have to make this comment now because every Queenslander makes them.
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u/Elvecinogallo 10d ago
My experience with Geelong is it’s pretty racist. I’d say consider one of the satellite towns around those cities. Less multicultural, but less rat race too.
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u/Impressive-Tree-5248 9d ago
Have a look at Bendigo thumbs up, thumbs down to get the vibe. It's very redneck, white Anglo-Saxon, and during the day a lot of aimless youth run amok.
Bendigo was going places but the pandemic sent it backwards.
You'd be a trail blazer, put it that way. Though there is a Hmong and Vietnamese community I believe.
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u/Southern_Gain7154 8d ago
Castlemaine is better and half an hour from Bendigo
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u/Calm-Cucumber4543 6d ago
Agree but its also more expensive
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u/Southern_Gain7154 6d ago
Small price to pay to have your kids grow up in a diverse, inclusive and accepting environment
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u/Valuable-Contract-87 7d ago
Yea mate I saw a white guy n a sikh guy having a twirl by the bus stop the other day, talk about a bit of local Bendigo multiculture
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u/GArrigan 6d ago
If you’ve lived in suburban Brisbane, you e lived in Bendigo, they are culturally more or less the same place but with different footy.
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u/SohRadon 4d ago
I’d recommend looking at the ABS census data for Bendigo. Currently it is 5 years old but hopefully the new data will be released soon.
https://abs.gov.au/census/find-census-data/quickstats/2021/CED203
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u/Ok-Replacement8504 10d ago
I honestly don't recommend it, the diversity has improved a lot in the last 10 years but it is still a white majority town and almost all of them have an underlying racist side. I had a filipino friend in highschool that left Bendigo for Melbourne due to multiple incidents of harassment and assault on public transport. Bendigo is the definition of a southern town, nice to your face but aggressive to POC who try to settle there.
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u/Still_Tangelo_7929 10d ago
Ihalf of it's not even racism it's little shits who grew up in a shitty home who just like to attack random people because
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u/mikemikeshindparts 10d ago
That nice to your face contrasted with shit attitudes thing is so prevalent in rural Australia. I’m in east Gippsland and it’s how it is here.
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u/Temporary_Shelter_40 10d ago
Yeah, this is racist. If the skin-tone of other people factors into your decision process of where to move, you're a racist. Shameful.
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u/drchickensoup 6d ago
Bendigo is not the town for you if you don't want your dose of daily racism sorry, especially bad for children.
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u/Jargonicles 10d ago
Bendigo is very monocultural. It was white in the 80s and 90s. It's white now. It has not developed like much of Australia has.
Go to Geelong. Better off there on multiple levels.
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u/TheElderLegend 10d ago
Bendigo definitely is a multicultural place. We’re still not as multicultural as Melbourne, but the population is diversifying more each year. I’ve worked in the healthcare industry here for the past 8 years, and the difference in that time has been noticeable. As a person with a culturally diverse background, I did feel the casual racism at times when I first moved here, but it’s substantially less now. I currently work with people from South Asia, South America and the Middle East. A former colleague is Sikh and sends his boys, who wear turbans, to the local grammar school (Girton Grammar) which they’re very happy with. However, I definitely agree that coming to see and experience Bendigo is a great idea to see if it’s the right fit for you!