St Arnaud, Victoria

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St Arnaud
Victoria

Population:

2272 (2006)^[1]

Postcode:

3478

Elevation:

240 m (787 ft)

Location:

244 km (152 mi) from Melbourne
132 km (82 mi) from Ballarat
108 km (67 mi) from Horsham

LGA:

Shire of Northern Grampians

State District:

Swan Hill

Federal Division:

Mallee

Mean Max Temp	Mean Min Temp	Rainfall
20.8 °C ^{69 °F}	8.4 °C ^{47 °F}	495.2 mm ^{19.5 in}

Statue of Jacques Leroy de Saint Arnaud and plaque in thebotanical gardens.

St Arnaud is a town in Victoria, Australia, on the Sunraysia Highway. It is in the Shire of Northern Grampians local government area. It is named after French marshal Jacques Leroy de Saint Arnaud Commander-in-chief of the army of the East and one of quite a number of towns, streets etc. named after people and places of the Crimean War. At the 2006 census, St Arnaud had a population of 2272.

St Arnaud is a former gold mining town, situated on the main route between Ballarat and Mildura. The town was settled in the mid 1850s, the Post Office opening on February 1, 1856. ^[2]

The town features many well-preserved historic buildings which line the main thoroughfare of Napier Street, including a generous collection of pubs. A number of attractive gardens exist in town, including Pioneer Park (believed to be Australia's only remaining public park designed by Edna Walling),the Queen Mary Botanic Gardens, the Market Square gardens adjacent to the council offices, and Lord Nelson Park which offers sporting facilities as well as attractions such as the old Lord Nelson Mine and good views from Wilsons Hill.

A short drive south of St Arnaud towards Avoca is the St Arnaud Range National Park, featuring steep, forested terrain, camp sites, and the Teddington Reservoir.

It hosts a lawn tennis tournament over the Easter weekend each year.

For this town of ~2,300 people there are eight or so pubs, meaning that there are 287 people per pub.