The town hall (1872) at the corner of Main St and Joyce Lane is the has a clock that chimes on the hour and two figures of diggers working on a gold-washing cradle appear to the sound of Westminster chimes. If you can arrive at two minutes before 9.00 a.m., noon, 3.00 p.m., 6.00 p.m. and 9.00 p.m. the song 'With A Swag Upon His Shoulder' is played.

Stawell - Stawell visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Stawell' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from Victoria.

Stawell is a former gold mining town in the Wimmera region of Victoria in Australia about 230 kilometres north-west of Melbourne and 30km north of Ararat. Stawell is the service centre for the Grampians. The city has a population of approx. 7,000 and is home to one of the richest professional foot races in the world, the Stawell Gift.

The Mukjarawaint Aborigines occupied the area prior to white settlement. The first European to pass through the townsite was explorer Thomas Mitchell in 1836. The first station was Concongella in 1841. Gold was discovered nearby in 1853, by 1857 there were an estimated 20 000 miners in the area. Gold continues to be found in Victoria's largest operating mine.

The original town centre and administration buildings were established near the Pleasant Creek goldfields during the gold rush of 1853 and was named Pleasant Creek but was renamed to honour Sir William Foster Stawell (1815-89), the Chief Justice of Victoria. However, as the alluvial gold began to diminish in the 1860s, the population and economic activity began to shift north-east to the Big Hill area where a new settlement, known as Quartz Reefs, developed around the quartz gold found at the foot of the hill. Thus the original townsite became known as Stawell West. The two areas were amalgamated into the borough of Stawell in 1869.

The town's Main Street features fine examples of historic buildings including the Town Hall, with its animated clock and Westminster Chimes. Stawell's excellent range of accommodation and strong commercial centre makes it an ideal base for exploring the Grampians Ranges and nearby wineries.

Big Hill Rd leads up to the Pioneers Memorial and lookout from whence there are fine views of the town, the present goldmining operations to the south-east and the Grampians to the west.