Over the past 160 years, the Hustlers Reef Reserve has been a mine, a wasteland and a recreation reserve.
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Now residents and visitors alike can learn more about its history while enjoying its surrounds, with the Hustlers Reef Gold Miners Heritage Walk now open.
The 30-minute walk features six new signs that tell the story of site from the 1850s, including the community that campaigned to have it restored.
Aldo Penbrook from the Hustlers Reef Advisory Committee said the project to turn the site back into a place for the community began about 20 years ago.
In that time, he said, residents of the area began to clean it up and revegetate the reserve with native plants.
"We want it to be seen as a community meeting place, where people can come and contemplate and learn about their local history, and meet other community members," Mr Penbrook said.
The site is named after Thomas Hustler, an ex-convict who established a mine on the site.
It closed in 1921, but there are still 20 kilometres of underground workings below the surface.
City of Greater Bendigo mayor Margaret O'Rourke said Hustlers Reef was intrinsic to Bendigo's history.
"Bendigo wouldn't be the city it is today without the gold rush that occurred," Cr O'Rourke said.
Visitors and residents alike still wanted to understand the city's history, she said, and the walk was a great way to do it.
Approximate location of the start of the walk; story continues below map
The walk begins in Niemann Street and is recommended for fit and able walkers, due to its steepness.
There are still remnants of mining history to be discovered - neighbouring resident Jan Monro's granddaughter Mai last year found a button that was made by the draper JT Hill in the late 1800s, and was probably from the trousers or shirt of a miner.
The signs were funded by the state government's Local History Grants.
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