Tarnagulla
Postcode: 3551
Tarnagulla is a gold mining town in central Victoria, Australia. The town is in the Loddon Shire Local Government Area, 183 kilometres (114 mi) north west of the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2006 census, Tarnagulla had a population of 153.
European settlement in the area began with the taking up of Tarnagulla station in the 1840s. Gold was first found in the area in 1852 by prospectors on their way to the Korong goldfields near Wedderburn. The discovery lead to a gold rush as more than 5,000 miners made their way to the diggings. The settlement created by these miners was first at known as Sandy Creek and was renamed Tarnagulla, after the station in 1860.
The first miners in the area were prospectors from South Australia followed by many more from other diggings and from around the world. A canvas town grew up quickly to service the needs of the miners. In 1853, the first gold nuggets were found near Tarnagulla at Nuggetty Gully with one pair of miners finding 86 lb (39 kg) of gold in a fourteen day period. Many other large nuggets including one weighing 32 lb (14.5 kg) were found in the area.
The development of agriculture continued with the establishment of a flour mill in 1873. The mill was operational until 1917 and in 1920 the mill was relocated to Mildura. Gas streetlighting was established in Tarnagulla in 1869 and operated until the arrival of electricity in the town in 1950. Today the major industries in Tarnagulla include agriculture, fruit growing and flax oil production.