Little of that now remains but there is a large foundry which makes train and vehicle parts and there is also a rubber factory. The Thales Australia (formerly ADI Limited) is an important heavy engineering company. Australia Defence Apparel is another key defence industry participant making military and police uniforms and bulletproof vests. Intervet (formerly Ausvac) is an important biotechnology company, producing vaccines for animals.
Farming and agriculture
The surrounding area, or "gold country", is quite harsh rocky land with scrubby regrowth vegetation. The Box-Ironbark forest is used for timber (mainly sleepers and firewood) and beekeeping.
Sheep and cattle are grazed in the cleared areas. There are some large poultry and pig farms. Some relatively fertile areas are present along the rivers and creeks, where wheat and other crops such as canola are grown. The area produces premium wines, including shiraz, from a growing viticulture industry. Salinity is a problem in many valleys, but is under control. There is a relatively small eucalyptus oil industry.
Bendigo provides services (including a large livestock exchange) to a large agricultural and grazing area on the Murray plains to its north.
Gold mining
One of the major revolutions in gold mining (during the Victorian gold rush) came when fields like Bendigo but also Ballarat, Ararat and the goldfields close to Mount Alexander turned out to have large gold deposits below the superficial alluvial deposits that had been (partially) mined out. Gold at Bendigo was found in quartz reef systems, hosted within highly deformed mud stones and sandstones or were washed away into channels of ancient rivers. Tunnels as deep as 2000 or even 3000 feet (600 to 900 metres) (Stawell) were possible.
Until overtaken in the 1880s by the Western Australia goldfields, Bendigo was the most productive Australian gold area, with a total production of over 20 million
