Review: Bendigo Ernest Hotel

Clare AchesonBy Clare Acheson
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Bendigo’s former commercial bank is transformed into an intimate design hotel, thanks to the careful eye and exquisite touch of two established career creatives.

Regional cities hold the nation’s most precious gems. But, like all valuable stones, they could do with a good polish every so often to revive their glimmer. Nestled in Bendigo’s central Rosalind Park, the Bendigo Ernest Hotel is the latest establishment to buff the colonial edges of Victoria’s gold-mining city, while tastefully celebrating its colloquial charm.

Bendigo Ernest Hotel entry
The city’s oldest bank building has been reimagined as the exquisite Bendigo Ernest Hotel.

The backstory

Opened in early 2022, the 10-suite property combines majestic architecture, impossibly high ceilings and features from its colourful past (including a bullet hole in an original window pane; a memento from a heist) with the fresh viewpoint of directorial duo David Cook-Doulton and Martin Shew.

Bendigo Ernest Hotel artworks
Artworks by Melbourne Studio School director Richard Birmingham and Archibald finalist David Bromley adorn the walls of the hotel.

The boutique hotel is the pair’s first collaborative venture, however, you wouldn’t know it when walking into the impeccably styled welcome lounge. Skills garnered through decades working in marketing, hospitality and creative services are expertly applied to a new medium to replace regional guesthouse clichés with elevated touches.

Named after Cook-Doulton’s grandfather, who was a vocal supporter of his creative endeavours during his formative years, the Ernest Hotel is part-residence, part-stage for lesser-heard voices and experts of craft. It’s this intentional dismantling of power within the city’s oldest banking building that so cleverly softens the space and connects historical and contemporary narratives in unexpected ways.

The rooms

Each of the hotel’s bespoke suites is a design-lover’s dream and themed around an artist’s work selected from Cook-Doulton’s private art collection, which is the product of 20 years’ patronage. The boutique hotel features works by Melbourne Studio School director Richard Birmingham and Archibald finalist David Bromley.

The interiors at the Bendigo Ernest Hotel in Victoria, Australia
Expect to be welcomed by plush velvet and felt couches.

Expect to be welcomed by plush velvet and felt couches, plaid wool blankets, softly lit wishbone seating and plumes of a woody fragrance custom-designed for the space by Melbourne-based aromatherapy consultancy Aromacare.

Stroll into the walk-in bank vaults and find two micro lounges that feature works by female artists that highlight the inequality of labour value between genders.

Dedication to balanced aesthetics is something that the whole team takes seriously. Staff are educated in the composition of each room so spaces can be reset daily, to create an experience that is reassuringly consistent, no matter if it’s your first or 101st stay.

The guest bed at Bendigo Ernest Hotel in Victoria, Australia
The exquisite styling inside the guest rooms at Bendigo Ernest Hotel.

While the bathrooms might feel a bit retro (we predict a renovation is on the horizon), every lamp, bathrobe, cushion and appliance complements the artwork to cocoon visitors in visual harmony during their stay. Weekend guests may also meet Fletcher, the owners’ affable Airedale terrier, whose coiffed curls are as much a part of the decor as the ochre espresso cups.

Above all else, the Bendigo Ernest Hotel is a modern take on traditional hospitality with a sincere passion for old tales and new memories at its core. A heartfelt reminder that Victoria holds treasure troves of hidden wonders within its colonial shrouds, if you only know where to look.

Details

A wide shot of the guest bed at the Bendigo Ernest Hotel in Victoria, Australia
The hotel offers a modern take on traditional hospitality with a sincere passion for old tales and new memories at its core.

Address: Bendigo Ernest Hotel , 10–12 View Street, Bendigo, Vic

Verdict: A welcoming art-lovers retreat that unearths local history and celebrates fresh perspectives, where each luxurious detail tells a story.

Score: 4.5/5

We rated: The pet-friendly, accessible ground-floor suite, perfect for dog owners and visitors who need accessible shower facilities.

We’d change: Being an older building, single glazing is retained in some rooms leading to early-morning street noise.

Green credentials: Local artists, furniture designers and producers are on display, cutting down on the carbon footprint.

Notes: Weekday stays are charged at a reduced rate and are ideal if you are planning a visit to Bendigo Art Gallery outside of busy weekend hours. Look out for the team’s second destination, Hotel Vera in Ballarat, which is due to open later this year.

All AT reviews are conducted anonymously and our writers pay their own way – so we experience exactly what you would.
Clare Acheson
Clare Acheson is a creative strategist based in Melbourne. When she isn't helping brands connect with audiences and communities, she can be found documenting her travels in search of art, music and culinary experiences, to bring fresh perspectives to readers who savour the little things.
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This luxe trawler tour is redefining Victoria’s seafood experience

    Chloe CannBy Chloe Cann
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    Victoria’s ‘mussel capital’ is the source of exceptional shellfish used by top chefs far and wide. Step aboard a beautifully refurbished trawler to see how these plump and juicy bivalves are sustainably cultivated.

    A curtain is slowly winched from the placid, teal waters just off Portarlington , like a floating garland beside our boat. The ropes heave with blue mussels, the star attraction of our tour. But as we reach to pluck our own, it’s quickly clear they’re not alone; a mass of weird and wonderful creatures has colonised the ropes, turning them into a living tapestry. ‘Fairy’ oysters, jelly-like sea squirts, and tiny, wriggling skeleton shrimp all inhabit this underwater ecosystem.

    We prize our bivalve bounty from the ropes, and minutes later the mussels arrive split on a platter. The plump orange morsels are served raw, ready to be spritzed with wedges of lemon and a lick of chilli as we gaze out over the bay. They’re briny, tender and faintly sweet. “This wasn’t originally part of the tour,” explains Connie Trathen, who doubles as the boat’s cook, deckhand and guide. “But a chef [who came onboard] wanted to taste the mussels raw first, and it’s now become one of the key features.”

    A humble trawler turned Hamptons-style dreamboat

    inspecting bivalve bounty from the ropes
    Inspecting the bounty. (Image: Visit Victoria/Hannyn Shiggins)

    It’s a crisp, calm winter’s day, and the sun is pouring down upon Valerie, a restored Huon pine workhorse that was first launched in January 1980. In a previous life she trawled the turbulent Bass Strait. These days she takes jaunts into Port Phillip Bay under the helm of Lance Wiffen, a fourth-generation Bellarine farmer, and the owner of Portarlington Mussel Tours . While Lance has been involved in the fishing industry for 30-plus years, the company’s tour boat only debuted in 2023.

    holding Portarlington mussels
    See how these plump and juicy bivalves are sustainably cultivated.

    It took more than three years to transform the former shark trawler into a dreamy, Hamptons-esque vessel, with little expense spared. Think muted green suede banquettes, white-washed walls, Breton-striped bench cushions, hardwood tables, bouquets of homegrown dahlias, and woollen blankets sourced from Waverley Mills, Australia’s oldest working textile mill. It’s intimate, too, welcoming 12 guests at most. And yet there’s nothing pretentious about the experience – just warm, down-to-earth Aussie hospitality.

    As we cruise out, we crack open a bottle of local bubbles and nibble on the most beautifully curated cheese platter, adorned with seashells and grey saltbush picked from the water’s edge that very morning. Australasian gannets soar overhead, and I’m told it’s not uncommon for guests to spot the odd seal, pod of dolphins, or even the occasional little penguin.

    The sustainable secret behind Victoria’s best mussels

    blue mussels off Portarlington
    Blue mussels sourced just off Portarlington.

    Connie and Lance both extol the virtues of mussels. They’re delicious. A lean source of protein and packed with omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B12, iron, selenium, and zinc. They’re cooked in a flash (Connie steams our fresh harvest with cider and onion jam). And they’re also widely regarded as one of the most sustainable foods in the world.

    Portarlington mussels with lemon and chilli
    Mussels served with lemon and chilli.

    “Aquaculture is [often] seen as destructive, so a lot of our guests are really surprised about how environmentally friendly and sustainable our industry is,” Lance says. “[Our mussels] would filter 1.4 billion litres of water a day,” he adds, explaining how mussels remove excess nitrogen and phosphorus from the water. “And through biomineralisation, we lock carbon into mussel shells.”

    a hand holding a Portarlington mussel
    Mussels are a sustainable food.

    Despite their glowing list of accolades, these molluscs have long been seen as the oysters’ poorer cousins. “It was a really slow start,” explains Lance, who says that in the early days of his career, “you could not sell mussels in Victoria”.

    But word has slowly caught on. Chefs as globally acclaimed as Attica’s Ben Shewry and even René Redzepi of Noma, Denmark, have travelled to these very waters just to try the shellfish at the source, sharing only the highest praise, and using Lance’s mussels in their restaurants.

    guests sampling Portarlington mussels onboard
    Sampling the goods onboard. (Image: Visit Victoria/Hannyn Shiggins)

    According to Lance there’s one obvious reason why the cool depths of Portarlington outshine other locations for mussel farming. “The water quality is second to none,” he says, noting how other regions are frequently rocked by harvest closures due to poor water quality. “We grow, without a doubt, some of the best shellfish in the world.” And with Lance’s bold claims backed up by some of the industry’s greatest names, perhaps it won’t be much longer until more Aussies uncover the appeal of Portarlington’s mussels.