Welcome to Clunes

An historic gold mining town located in the heart of Victoria's Central Goldfields region, just north of Ballarat and about an hour and 20 minutes drive west of Melbourne CBD. Blessed with history, vintage, environment and nature, Clunes is an idyllic destination for the weekend getaway, or just a country drive day trip.

Dotted with dusty antique and collectable stores, vineyards and wineries, rustic bed & breakfasts and scenic walks, the Victorian Goldfields area is a hidden treasure trove for the adventurous and curious. All this makes Clunes a popular weekend destination for bushwalkers, gold prospectors, treasure hunters, collectors, vintage car clubs, history buffs and families seeking to escape to the country.

Clunes is host to the annual Booktown event, held on the first weekend in May, which brings together thousands of booksellers, writers and speakers from all over the nation and overseas. Booktown is staged right across the town, inside heritage bluestone buildings, on the quartz streets, under charming old awnings, in the shade of majestic european trees planted by the first settlers and easily increases the town population by a factor of 20 over the weekend.

A short drive west of Clunes the intrepid explorer will discover magical Talbot, our nearest neighbour. On the third Sunday of each month, Talbot hosts the award winning farmers' market boasting hundreds of true blue farmers' market stalls. Organic produce, gourmet cheeses, ducks, geese, chickens, pigs, olive oils, wines, straw bales (good for the garden), arts & crafts, breads, coffee, delicious hot foods, home baked cakes, tools & hardware and everything country. For added effect bring your wellingtons and tweed coat, you'll fit right in.

There's so much going on in the Clunes area we can't say it all here. Instead, keep an eye on the blog roll below (or even subscribe) to stay informed of the vibrant, creative community that is Clunes.

Book Lovers Alert: Carmel Bird, book signing and reading

Jonathon Wallen - 02/02/2010

Coming up at the bookshop, March 12th 5:30-7:30pm. Carmel Bird will be reading from, and talking about, her latest novel "Child of the Twilight". All welcome, entry is free, copies of the book will be on sale and Carmel will be available for book signings. The Clunes Community Bookshop is on the corner of Service st and Fraser st.

Clunes Neighbourhood House welcomes the new look Clunes.org

Pam Ridd - 11/01/2010

Clunes Neighbourhood House and friends welcome the "new look" for the website and look forward to members of the Community contributing to it.

Bookshop - 4th December 2009

Marc Muehlhaeuser - 01/12/2009

"We are scheduled to open the bookshop this coming Friday and to mark the occasion we are having a ‘soft launch’ between 5.30 pm and 7.00 pm. This will primarily be for our volunteers as well as local traders with the main launch being undertaken later in the month. Please come along on Friday to view our new enterprise and to share in a few drinks and nibbles." (Tim Hayes)

Clunes Artists Market

Ann Jeffree - 01/12/2009

Our Inaugural Artists Market is happening this month - Sunday December 13. We are looking forward to launching this new vehicle for local artists and hope that it will be successful in helping them to sell their product and market themselves to the public. On a personal note, Sue Collier and I have been enjoying getting together and producing our mosaic items we are preparing for the market. I hope to see you there at the market! :-) Ann

Clunes.org revisited

Jonathon Wallen - 30/11/2009

Welcome to the brand new version of clunes.org! Soon this site will be launched to replace the existing clunes.org website, providing a place for all Clunes folks and friends to publish their events, photos, business info, random thoughts etc. If you are a Clunes resident, or friend of Clunes, you are welcome to register for this site and start contributing to its content and creativity. Just click the 'register' link at the top of the page to get started.

New Image Gallery - Clunes - Historic, Charming, Accessible

Jonathon Wallen - 16/10/2009

These beautiful images of Clunes are kindly provided to us by professional photographer Neil Newitt. Neil's images capture the magic of Clunes like no other, be sure to drop into his studio gallery on Fraser street when you visit.