What is "buninyong"

Buninyong is a suburb of Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. The town is on the Midland Highway, south of Ballarat on the road to Geelong. It is the site of the first inland town proclaimed in Victoria and was where gold was first discovered in the area, leading to the large Gold Rush of the 1850s. The population at the was 3,244.

The name originates from an Aboriginal word also recorded as 'Buninyouang', said to mean 'man lying on his back with his knees raised', which is in reference to the shape of Mount Buninyong. European settlers named it Bunnenyong and the name later simplified to its current form.