View source for Diggers Rest, Victoria

{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2012}}
{{Infobox Australian place
| type                     = suburb
| name                     = Diggers Rest
| state                    = vic
| image                    = Diggers Rest Victoria SE.jpg
| caption                  = View from south east
| lga                      = City of Hume
| lga2                     = City of Melton
| postcode                 = 3427
| pop                      = 5,669
| pop_year                 = {{CensusAU|2021}}
| pop_footnotes            = <ref name=ABS2021>{{Census 2021 AUS | id = SAL20754 | name = Diggers Rest (Suburbs and Localities) | accessdate = 1 July 2017 | quick = on}}</ref>
| est                      = 1874
| elevation                = 153
| alternative_location_map = Australia Victoria metropolitan Melbourne
| coordinates              = {{coord|37|37|41|S|144|43|16|E|display=inline,title}}
| stategov                 = [[Electoral district of Sunbury|Sunbury]]
| fedgov                   = [[Division of Hawke|Hawke]]
| dist1                    = 33
| location1                = Melbourne
| dist2                    = 5
| location2                = [[Sunbury, Victoria|Sunbury]]
| near-nw                  = [[Gisborne South, Victoria|Gisborne South]]
| near-n                   = [[Sunbury, Victoria|Sunbury]]
| near-ne                  = [[Bulla, Victoria|Bulla]]<br />[[Sunbury, Victoria|Sunbury]]
| near-w                   = [[Toolern Vale, Victoria|Toolern Vale]]
| near-e                   = [[Bulla, Victoria|Bulla]]
| near-sw                  = [[Plumpton, Victoria|Plumpton]]
| near-s                   = [[Bonnie Brook, Victoria|Bonnie Brook]]<br />[[Fraser Rise, Victoria|Fraser Rise]]
| near-se                  = [[Calder Park, Victoria|Calder Park]]<br />[[Keilor North, Victoria|Keilor North]]
| local_map                = yes
| zoom                     = 10
}}

'''Diggers Rest''' (formerly '''Diggers' Rest''') is a suburb in [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], [[Australia]]. It is {{convert|28|km|mi|abbr=on}} and 29 minutes north-west of Melbourne's [[Melbourne City Centre|Central Business District]], located within the Cities of [[City of Hume|Hume]] and [[City of Melton|Melton]] [[Local Government Areas of Victoria|local government area]]s. Diggers Rest recorded a population of 5,669 at the [[2021 Australian census|2021 census]].<ref name=ABS2021/>

Diggers Rest lies on the Old Calder Highway, near the [[Calder Freeway]].

==History==
[[File:DiggersRestHotelRuins.JPG|thumb|left|[[Diggers Rest Hotel]] Ruins]]

Diggers Rest began life as a stopping place on the road to the [[Bendigo]] goldfields, with the Post Office opening on 18 June 1860.<ref name = "a">{{Citation| last = Phoenix Auctions History  | title = Post Office List | url = http://www.phoenixauctions.com.au/cgi-bin/wsPhoenix.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&filter=*Diggers*Rest* | access-date = 22 March 2021 }}</ref> [[Caroline Chisholm]] started a women's shelter in the area. The town grew in the 1870s and 1880s and became a postal village with a general store, post office, weighbridge, mechanics' institute and a chaff mill. The [[Diggers Rest Hotel]] was built by 1854, and later enlarged, and became an important stopping place on the route to the goldfields. It was severely damaged by fire.<ref>{{cite news |title=Historic Diggers' Rest hotel destroyed in suspicious fire |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/historic-diggers-rest-hotel-destroyed-in-suspicious-fire-20081030-5bll.html |access-date=20 March 2024 |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=O'Connor |first1=David |title=Charred remains still a mystery – DiggersRest.com |url=https://www.diggersrest.com/home/charred-remains-still-a-mystery/ |work=DiggersRest.com |date=25 April 2016 |language=en-AU}}</ref>

Diggers Rest is referred to as being famous for the first controlled powered flight of an aeroplane undertaken in Australia. The flight was performed by [[Harry Houdini]] on the 18th of March, 1910.<ref>[http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/houdini_bio.html Hargrave Pioneers: Harry Houdini]</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/aviation-australia/our-first-aviators | title=Our first aviators | date=3 May 2016 }}</ref> The only café in town is named in his honour.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.houdinis.com.au/ |title=Home |website=houdinis.com.au}}</ref>

To the north of Diggers Rest township within the locality is the former township known as Aitken's Gap, The Gap or [[Buttlejorrk, Victoria|Buttlejorrk]].

==Sunbury Rock Festival==

The four [[Sunbury Pop Festival]]s were held on the same 620-acre (2.5&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) private farm along [[Jacksons Creek (Victoria)|Jacksons Creek]], on the southern outskirts of [[Sunbury, Victoria|Sunbury]], between Sunbury and Diggers Rest. The property was owned by farmer and local identity George Duncan, and the property has become known in the district over the years simply as "Duncan's farm". The entrance gates to the Sunbury Pop Festivals were off Watsons Road. Also because of its proximity (2&nbsp;km; 1.2&nbsp;mi) to the smaller township of Diggers Rest, many of the attendees who traveled to Sunbury by train, actually alighted at [[Diggers Rest railway station]], and not [[Sunbury railway station, Melbourne|Sunbury]].

==Present day==
[[File:Diggers Rest to Melbourne.jpg|thumb|Aerial Distance from Diggers Rest to Melbourne is 23.32&nbsp;km (14.5 mi)]]

Diggers Rest contains a general store, a [http://www.education.vic.gov.au/schoolsonline/Details.asp?LocationID=01247901 primary school] and a [[Country Fire Authority|CFA]] fire station, along with three large recreation reserves.<ref>Map 351-352, [[Melway]] street directory (28th ed., 2001)</ref> Sporting groups in Diggers Rest include [[Diggers Rest Football Club]], which play in the [[Riddell District Football League]].

Diggers Rest Primary School was first opened in 1882 and moved to its present site in 1990. Diggers Rest Primary School features excellent facilities including air conditioned and heated classrooms, computer and Internet access to all grades, modern sports and playground equipment and landscaped grounds. Diggers Rest Primary School is an integral part of the wider community and hosts annual events such as the Community Carols, Billy Cart Derby and Grandparents' Day.

Other facilities in the Diggers Rest area include the Holden Flora and Fauna Reserve, Animal Land Children's Farm and SPSK Jadran, and a [[Slovenia]]n social club which services nearby [[St Albans, Victoria|St Albans]] and [[Keilor, Victoria|Keilor]].

Diggers Rest also has a Scout Group containing Cub Scouts and Scouts. They meet at the Diggers Rest Reserve behind the tennis club rooms.

==Transport==

Diggers Rest has a [[Diggers Rest railway station|railway station]] on the [[Sunbury railway line|Sunbury line]], connecting the town with Melbourne's [[central business district|CBD]].

A [[List of Melbourne bus routes|bus route]] connects Diggers Rest with [[Moonee Ponds, Victoria|Moonee Ponds]] and nearby Sunbury, at the former [[Victoria University, Australia|Victoria University]] campus.<ref>[http://www.sunburybus.com.au/ Sunbury Bus Service website]. Retrieved 25 November 2006</ref>

==See also==
* [[Shire of Bulla]] – Parts of Diggers Rest were previously within this former local government area.
* [[Harry Houdini#Aviator|Harry Houdini: The Aviator]] — Houdini's flight at Diggers Rest, Friday, 18 March 1910.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040511084930/http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/ncas/multimedia/gazetteer/list/diggersrest.html Diggers Rest] (Australian Gazetteer)
* [http://www.animalland.com.au Animal Land Children's Farm]

{{City of Hume suburbs}}
{{Shire of Melton suburbs}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Towns in Victoria (state)]]
[[Category:Suburbs of the City of Hume]]
[[Category:Suburbs of the City of Melton]]