Grampians Attractions

St Arnaud (pop. 3000) lies in beautiful hill country. Founded in 1842 as a pastoral farming settlement, it was soon afterwards caught up in the gold rush. The gold mines continued to be worked until 1926.

St Arnaud has preserved many 19th C buildings with rich wrought-iron decoration. There is good fishing in the Avoca River and Teddington Reservoir.

The Melville Caves, 40km east of St Arnaud on the road to Inglewood, were the haunt of bushrangers in the 19th C.

Stawell (pop. 6700) is a good base for excursions to the northern Grampians and Grampian National Park. 24km west is Halls Gap, another good base for the Grampians. Gold was found on Big Hill in the 1850s, bringing a great influx of prospectors to the town, then known as the Reefs.

Stawell has a number of historic buildings, notably St Matthew's Church. Caspar's World in Miniature displays small-scale models of famous buildings and dioramas depicting episodes in Australian history.