Charing Cross (Bendigo)

Charing Cross (/ˈtʃærɪŋ/ CHARR-ing) is a major junction centrally located in the city of Bendigo, Victoria, Australia.

Like its English namesake, Pall Mall in Bendigo is also in the immediate vicinity of Charing Cross.

[1] After rapid European settlement in the Bendigo Valley following the official discovery of gold on Bendigo Creek in October 1851, the "Charing Cross" junction, together with neighbouring "Pall Mall", was planned in 1858 by the government and district surveyor Richard William Larritt, who planned the original township of "Sandhurst" in his "Plan of the Valley of Bendigo".

The fountain, one of Bendigo's prominent 19th-century landmarks designed by the notable goldfields architect William Vahland, is built on a wide bridge spanning a large viaduct above the Bendigo Creek which runs beneath the intersection.

The main entrance to Rosalind Park is at the north-western corner of Charing Cross, through the Queen's Gardens which feature a prominent statue of Queen Victoria, the reigning British monarch when the city of Bendigo was founded in 1851.

Alexandra Fountain in Charing Cross, c. 1920s, now listed along with the surrounding buildings on the Victorian Heritage Register
A watercolour painting by an unknown 19th-century artist of McPherson's Store in Bendigo in 1853, the present location of Charing Cross and the Alexandra Fountain
Alexandra Fountain in Charing Cross