Specimen Hill

Specimen Hill is a locality of Bendigo, 3 km west of the city centre. It is now the northern part of Golden Square.

In 1853 two miners turned from looking for surface or alluvial gold and opened up a quartz reef at Specimen Hill. It is probable that the nuggets or specimens taken from the reefs were the inspiration for the place name. The Specimen Hill United mine operated from 1860 to 1920.

A Wesleyan school was opened in 1857 at the corner of Chum Street and Specimen Hill Road, so named from the New Chum Creek and the New Chum mines in the vicinity of Lily Street, east of Specimen Hill. The heritage listed Fortuna Villa (1861), owned by Bendigo's energetic mine owner, George Lansell, is nearby.

Specimen Hill's residential area is flanked by the Mount Alvernia Mercy Hospital and, to the west, by the Specimen Hill reservoir. The present primary school (1874) in Inglewood Street is in a high position, away from the gold cyaniding work in the nineteenth century (287 pupils, 2014).