History
The post office opened on August 1, 1856, after the first gold rush started in 1852. At first, the town was called Korong until 1858. The railway came in 1883, connecting Wedderburn with Charlton and Bendigo through Inglewood.
In 1980, a big gold nugget called the Hand of Faith was found near Wedderburn in Kingower. It weighed over 27 kilograms (952 oz). The nugget was sold for more than a million dollars to the Gold Nugget Casino in Las Vegas, where it is shown today. This find caused another gold rush in Wedderburn, but this time people used metal detectors instead of picks and shovels.
Present day
One of the main places tourists like to visit is Hard Hill Reserve. Here, you can imagine what life was like long ago when people lived in tents on the goldfields. Besides gold, people use to extract the oil from eucalyptus leaves. A copy of a eucalypt still is now at the site and can be started for tourist groups by arrangement. There is an original rock crushing battery and a puddler machine which were used to extract the gold. Wedderburn is a popular place for people with gold detectors. They sometimes still find small gold nuggets.
The main office for the Shire of Loddon is in Wedderburn. It also has a school from preschool to year 12 that serves nearby towns, a busy Community Centre with a Tourist Information Centre and many community services, a Medical Centre, and some factories and service businesses. In the middle of town is Donaldson Park Recreation Reserve. It has a football field, netball courts, a hockey field, a trotting track, lawn bowling greens, tennis courts, and a swimming pool.
In the centre of the town is Soldiers Memorial Park. As part of the 100-year ANZAC remembrance, the Loddon Shire Council made a large bronze statue of two famous local soldiers, Albert Borella and Albert Jacka, who both won the Victoria Cross in World War One.
Wedderburn has a Visitor Radio Station at FM 87.6. At the start of every hour, it shares a bulletin about community events for the next month.
