Old mine shafts and a Bendigo house: what can a buyer check?
A building inspection cannot see underground, but it can record cracking, sloping floors and sticking doors that suggest movement. Check the address in the state Historical Mining Activity dataset, which records more than 1,000 shaft locations in each of Golden Square, Long Gully, Eaglehawk and Golden Gully, and talk to your conveyancer if both point the same way.
Why Bendigo has so many recorded shafts
Bendigo was one of the richest goldfields in the world, and its houses grew up around the mines. The City of Greater Bendigo's Residential Heritage Design Guidelines explain that in the 1860s, miners working for the deep reef companies could build on gold-bearing Crown land held under a Miner's Right, so cottages clustered around the mines where people worked.
The state keeps a record of old shafts in the Historical Mining Activity dataset on DataVic. Its description says the locations were collected from 1869 by various methods, mainly in Ballarat and Bendigo. We counted the shaft records inside the boundary of each suburb:
| Suburb | Shaft locations recorded |
|---|---|
| Golden Square | 1,910 |
| Long Gully | 1,568 |
| Eaglehawk | 1,404 |
| Golden Gully | 1,211 |
| Kangaroo Flat | 918 |
| California Gully | 716 |
| Maiden Gully | 605 |
| Quarry Hill | 189 |
| Epsom | 28 |
| Strathfieldsaye | 16 |
| Huntly | 4 |
The dataset warns that one shaft can be mapped several times from different sources, so treat these as counts of records, not of shafts. A high number does not mean a particular house is at risk. It means the ground in that suburb was worked heavily, and it is worth checking the address.
What a building inspection can tell you
A pre-purchase building inspection to AS 4349.1 is visual. It cannot see underground, and it will not tell you whether a shaft is under the house. What it can do is record the signs that something has moved:
- cracking in brickwork, plaster or concrete, and its pattern
- floors that slope or bounce
- doors and windows that stick or no longer close
- gaps opening between walls and ceilings or around frames
- leaning retaining walls, paths or fences
Ask the inspector to describe any cracking in enough detail to compare later, and to say whether it looks recent.
What to do with the findings
- Look up the address in the Historical Mining Activity dataset. A planning property report, which lists zones and overlays, does not show shafts.
- If the report notes movement and the dataset shows workings nearby, ask your conveyancer whether a structural engineer's or geotechnical opinion is worth getting before your deadline.
- Under regulation 51 of the Building Regulations 2018, you can ask council for details of building permits, final inspection certificates and current building notices or orders for the property. A past order about structural problems is worth knowing about.
Timing
At a Victorian auction there is no cooling-off period, so do these checks before auction day. For a private sale, a building and pest condition in the contract gives you a deadline to work to. The buyer checklist covers both.
Related services
Questions
Does a planning property report show mine shafts?
No. It lists the planning zones and overlays for the land. Look up old shafts in the Historical Mining Activity dataset on DataVic.
Is a suburb with many recorded shafts unsafe?
Not in itself. The dataset counts records, some of them duplicates, and says nothing about the ground under a particular house. A high count is a reason to check the address and read the inspection report carefully.
Sources: Historical Mining Activity dataset (DataVic); City of Greater Bendigo, Residential Heritage Design Guidelines (May 2026); ABLIS, AS 4349.1-2007 pre-purchase inspections; Building Regulations 2018 (Vic), regulation 51; Consumer Affairs Victoria, buying at auction.
Last checked: 2026-10-30.