New self-guided heritage trail to link Bendigo's goldfields history for visitors

Visit Bendigo has launched a new self-guided heritage trail connecting 14 significant goldfields sites across the city, using a purpose-built app with QR codes, audio guides narrated by local historians, and augmented reality reconstructions of key locations as they appeared during the gold rush era.

The Goldfields Discovery Trail, funded through a regional tourism grant and developed in partnership with the Bendigo Historical Society, takes participants from the Central Deborah Gold Mine through the former Chinese quarter to the Bendigo Pottery and the Sacred Heart Cathedral, two landmarks that owe their construction directly to gold-boom wealth.

Visit Bendigo chief executive Erin Devlin said the trail addressed a consistent gap in the visitor experience, with research showing many tourists left the city without understanding the connections between its widely dispersed goldfields heritage sites. "The app ties everything together into a coherent story that lasts two to three hours and genuinely stays with people," she said.

The augmented reality component was developed by a La Trobe University team and allows users to point their phone camera at selected locations to see period-accurate reconstructions overlaid on the contemporary streetscape. Three locations have been developed for the launch, with a further five planned for addition in the next 12 months.

The trail has already attracted bookings from four interstate tour operators who plan to incorporate it into Goldfields itineraries.

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