BENDER ABBAS, Persia, seaport in the Strait of Ormuz. It was once of considerable commercial importance but its trade has di minished within recent years. The chief ex ports passing through this port are fruit, tobacco, wool, carpets and opium, amounting to about $2,300,000 a year. The population, about 20,000, is composed of Armenians, Arabs and Kurds, beside the native Persians.
BENtIGO, formerly SANDHURST, Aus tralia, city in Bendigo County, Victoria, on Bendigo Creek, fully 100 miles north-northwest of Melbourne with which it has direct railway communication. It is one of the chief cities in the colony and an important railway centre. Along one side of its main street (Pall Mall) there are fine buildings of brick and stone, and facing these, in Rosalind Park, are the elegant government buildings and the law courts, which together cost nearly f.80,000. Other buildings worthy of mention are the handsome town-hall mechanics' institute, with library and school of mines; free librSty; temperance, masonic and other halls; hospital, benevolent asylum; some fine banks; .Anglican, Wesleyan, Presbyterian and other churches; Roman Catholic cathedral, art gallery, jail, state and other schools, etc.
The public parks comprise, besides the Rosalind Park, the fine Botanic Gardens and two others largely used for sports. The streets are lighted by gas and electricity, and there is an excellent water supply from large reservoirs near the town. The chief industry of the district is gold mining, which gives employment to 5,000 miners. Other important industries are brew ing, iron-founding, stone-cutting, granite-pol ishing, tanning and the manufacture of pottery, bricks, tiles, cordials, etc. Agriculture and viti culture are carried on in the district and there is a trade in wine and fruits. Bendigo was founded at the time of the gold discovery in 1851, it became a municipality in 1855, a borough in 1863 and a city in 1871. Nearly L70,000,000 worth of gold has been obtained here, much of it from quartz reefs. Pop. (1911) 39,417, including about 300 Chinese. Consult Mackay, 'History of (1901).