A 3.4 magnitude earthquake with an epicentre near Boort shook northern Victoria just before 2.30am on Tuesday.
The SES said there had been no reports of damage or calls for assistance relating to the quake, which happened at a depth of 10km.
At 9.45am Geoscience Australia had received 61 "felt reports", which came from as far away as Brunswick West in Melbourne, Stawell to the west and Cohuna and Kyabram to the north and east.
Bendigo residents in California Gully, Maiden Gully, Flora Hill and Bendigo itself logged reports of feeling it.
Paul Haw, who lives outside Boort, 8 or 10km from the quake's epicentre, said it had "really shaken" his house.
"It woke the whole family up - there's eight of us," he said.
"It was right around 2.30 I think.
"It made a lot of noise. It just kept on rattling and sounded like continual thunder for about 30 seconds to a minute. All the windows rattled and everything on the verandah rattled."
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There was a small earthquake in the area about once every five years, Mr Haw said, including one in 2000 that had caused cracks in a few houses.
However, because the quakes were occurring on a clay plain no-one was too frightened by the phenomenon.
"We don't get severe tremors because we've got about 90m of clay under us, which absorbs the shock," he said.
"The grandkids thought it was exciting."
