Dunolly, Victoria

Dunolly is a town in Victoria, Australia, located on the Dunolly - Maryborough Road, in the Shire of Central Goldfields. At the 2006 census, Dunolly had a population of 969.HistoryThe town began during the Victorian Gold Rush, and has produced more nuggets than any other goldfield in Australia. The town Dunolly is located on the traditional lands of the Dja Dja Wurrung people, who originally called the area Lea Kuribur.One of the very first accounts of the Dunolly Gold Rush was provided by an unknown prospector who arrived in Dunolly 1856. The author wrote that within a week the population of Dunolly jumped from a dozen people to over two thousand. The unknown author then stated that it took them 8 days to sink their shaft which produced no gold so they were forced to make a claim elsewhere. In those 8 days the population was estimated at 80,000 and the author had to take up their second claim nearly a mile away. Though this letter is a fascinating curiosity, it was written much later and still doesn't give an exact date, the first known writing of the rush was a paragraphed rumour report, recorded by the Bendigo Advertiser on 3 July that estimated the population at 12,000. Confirmation of a rush followed on 10 July.The exact date that Dunolly was founded is unknown. The location of the township itself moved four times before the 1856 rush, further adding to the confusion of its early history. The town we all know today is the 5th location and was founded in July 1856 with the previous town-resettlements driven by further discoveries of gold leads. Technically even at this time Dunolly was not a town. It was held as a Municipality from 1858 to 1863 and wasn't officially declared a Borough until 1 October 1863.