Rushworth is a former gold mining town nestled within the largest Box-Ironbark forest in Australia, and on the shores of the Waranga Basin reservoir.

Established during the Victorian Gold Rush in 1853, the town boasts one of the most impressive, unspoiled main streets in rural Victoria, with many heritage buildings classified by the National Trust.

Prior to European settlement the district was inhabited by the Ngurai-illum Wurrung First Nation people. Today, both the Taungurung and Yorta Yorta people act as custodians of the land along the Rushworth Rail Trail.

In the 1840s, the area was a squatter’s run, but the discovery of gold in 1853 changed the district forever.

At the peak of the gold mining boom, legend has it that up to 10,000 people lived in the area encompassing Rushworth and nearby Whroo, and diggers harvested almost $1.85 million in gold from surrounding mines.

By the 1870s the goldrush was over, and the district shifted from gold mining to timber, then later to grain and livestock. Between 1896 and 1900 an average of 50,000 railway sleepers were harvested each year from forests around Rushworth, and the timber industry flourished until the 1940s.

The railway line from Murchison East to Rushworth opened in 1890, after more than 30 years of lobbying, and operated for almost 100 years, until its closure in 1987.

The 20th century saw a shift in Rushworth's importance as a mining town, to a servicing centre for the surrounding rural communities.

Gold was the primary drawcard in those early years, but nowadays travellers visit to relive the fascinating past through the town’s historic buildings and characteristic streetscapes.