This historic town in country Victoria also has a spiritual side

On a warm day in late spring, the Great Stupa of Universal Compassion is prepping for the annual Vegecareian Festival. The Animal Justice Party is neatening stacks of flyers, and family pets that look like flokati rugs are waiting to be blessed by a Buddhist monk. Someone in satin - and on stilts - is spruiking Latin dance classes.

The Great Stupa is a multi-faith village and monument built on 85 hectares of ironbark forest, 20 minutes' north-west of Bendigo. At 50 metres high and 50 metres wide at the base, it claims to be the biggest stupa in the Western world. It's a place of pilgrimage, spiritual refuge, and a cultural and educational centre.

Me, I am making a beeline to see the new ceiling, Kalachakra Mandala, which has, just a week earlier, been consecrated by His Eminence Khensur Jhado Rinpoche.

A circular illuminated multilayer relief, the ceiling comprises 100 large panels of a polycarbonate chosen for its rigidity, longevity, lightness of weight and its kaleidoscope of colours. It is 20m x 20m of dedication.

An estimated 25,000 hours of work over three years was needed to complete the ceiling, whose geometric patterns and colours symbolise the universe. A dozen volunteer artists from Bendigo, Castlemaine, Kyneton and Melbourne worked on the mandala, assisted by thangka specialists Garrey and Krissy Foulkes.

The Great Stupa's other headliner is the Jade Buddha for Universal Peace, which is supposed to bring good luck, protection and prosperity, while also promoting inner peace, harmony and mindfulness. Like a pizza with the lot.

The 2.5-metre-tall Jade Buddha is four tonnes of cool lustrousness, carved from an 18-tonne boulder of nephrite jade called Polar Pride, unearthed in Canada's Yukon region 25 years ago.

It was carved in Thailand by master carvers and, after a world tour of several years, delivered to the Great Stupa in 2018. Considered the largest Buddha carved from gemstone-quality jade in the world, the $1 million statue adds to its stature by "reigning" from atop a 1.5-metre-tall alabaster throne.

Not all of the Jade Buddha's offcuts became bangles, pendants and beads. There's a 250-kilogram jade "halo" that is exhibited separately because of its weight, and the 3.5-tonne Green Tara, a female deity.

I inquire about human blessings from the monk, in case the Jade Buddha is not feeling benevolent, but he kindly explains that there is, today, only enough for the furry flock.

Travellers love regional Victoria's former gold rush hub as much for the stories about the people who shape it as for its food, history and culture.

At Barraport, 120 kilometres north-west of Bendigo via Boort in the Loddon Valley, is the Spanner Man Sculpture Garden, where Andrew and Janet Piccoli showcase the very singular work of Andrew's farmer father, John Piccoli.

Here, rustic chic has a whole new meaning. The lush grounds are filled with farm machinery, aviaries of colourful birds and about three dozen sculptures John made from spanners - everything from a mermaid and fighting stallions to a jackeroo shearing a merino and intricate garden seats and tables. The sculptures have a surprising fluidity. The tallest, a marlin, is more than seven metres tall, made from 3500 spanners and weighing 1200 kilograms. A wagon hitched to a Clydesdale weighs 3.5 tonnes and puts 6000 spanners to work.

John Piccoli, who died in 2021, contracted polio in 1949, aged eight, and spent his life in a wheelchair. Sculpting was his hobby and upon retiring, his raison d'etre. This is the bloke who'd go to a swap meet and come away with a job lot of 24,000 spanners, ready to be welded into something he'd dreamed up. No sketches, just imagination.

Darcy Baird is looking sharp in his tram conductor's cap. Which is just as well because he's rarely out of it. As a manager and head guide of the recently launched Bendigo Tramways Depot Discovery Tour, he gets to give visitors behind-the-scenes access to Bendigo's Heritage Rail Workshop, where some 50 historic and modern trams are awaiting their overhaul.

Bendigo Tramways claims to operate a peerless working collection of heritage trams with a fleet of 45 trams across an array of classes and including signature trams such as the 15 Vintage Talking Trams, the Toast Rack Tram, the Yarn Bomb Tram, the Santa Tram, and the arty Dja Dja Wurrung Tram.

The Heritage Rail Workshop employs craftsmen skilled in the dark arts of boiler-making, wheel turning and white-metal-bearing pouring, as they restore heritage trams in their entirety or repurpose them into classrooms, cafes, accommodation or picnic shelters.

Soaring four levels high on one section of the copper-panelled facade of the new Bendigo Law Courts, is Racquel Kerr's representation of the creation being, Bunjil (the wedge-tailed eagle), one of many works by the Djaara people throughout a building that, in 2023, received the William Wardell Award for Public Architecture.

There are some 40 language touchpoints in the building. Words and expressions in the Djaara language have a spoken recording, guiding the pronunciation.

A courtyard paved to symbolise a smoking ceremony and landscaped to symbolise the distinctive granite outcrops, water features and native flora of Dja Dja Wurrung culture shows how First Nations culture is being integrated. Djaara artist Rebecca Phillips shows us the pavement art she created with Aunty Marilyne Nicholls, called Yaram Yaram Mirndayi (Chain of Ponds Serpent), reflecting a vital freshwater ecosystem that existed along the Bendigo Creek before urbanisation. The five ponds represent fire, earth, air, water and spirit/community, and tell the story of creation.

Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation Board chair Bec Phillips is a strong believer in education thorough storytelling.

"Our people have been sharing stories for thousands of years," she says.

"Stories are the best way to teach and reach people: they're easier to remember. There are lessons you can draw from. This is how we keep our voice true and share knowledge."