Clunes

Lifestyle & dining

Clunes' main street is its social heart, lined with heritage buildings that now house cafes, a bakery, pubs and independent bookshops that come alive during the Clunes Booktown festival each year. The pace here is unhurried, and much of daily life revolves around the town's strong sense of community and its calendar of local markets and cultural events.

Beyond the main strip, life in Clunes is about the surrounding countryside as much as the town itself, with rolling farmland, historic goldfields and bushland walks all within easy reach for those who enjoy getting outdoors on the weekend.

Shopping

Everyday shopping in Clunes is centred on a handful of independent stores, a general store and a butcher along the historic main street, enough to cover day-to-day essentials. For bigger supermarket runs, fashion and homewares, most residents head to Ballarat, a straightforward drive south that opens up major shopping centres and a full range of retail.

Getting around

Clunes is well positioned for those happy to drive, with Ballarat around 35 kilometres away and Melbourne reachable in about two hours via the Western Highway corridor. The town has a rail link that connects to Ballarat, from which regular V/Line services run through to Southern Cross Station, making it feasible to live in Clunes while working or studying in the city on occasion.

Locally, a car is the most practical way to get around, particularly for reaching neighbouring localities such as Glendaruel and the small towns dotted throughout the Central Highlands.

Schools & families

Families in Clunes have access to Clunes Primary School, a long-standing local school that anchors the town's family community. For secondary schooling, most families look to options in Ballarat, which offers a broader range of government and independent secondary colleges within a manageable drive.

History

Few Victorian towns wear their gold rush history as visibly as Clunes. It was the site of one of the state's earliest gold discoveries in the 1850s, and the wealth that followed left behind an intact streetscape of grand banks, hotels and civic buildings that remains largely unchanged today. That heritage character is central to the town's identity and its appeal to visitors and new residents alike, and has made it a popular backdrop for film and television productions over the years.

The property market

Clunes' property market reflects its small, tightly held nature, with a median house price of $520,000 and recent growth of 6.2 percent. Current listings show a mix of 59 percent houses and 41 percent land, pointing to steady interest from both buyers wanting an established heritage home and those keen to build in a town that has retained its character while attracting fresh interest from tree-changers and investors alike.