Ballarat, Victoria

Ballarat Victoria
Ballarat CBD panorama from Black Hill lookout
Ballarat
Population:	78,221 (2006 census)[1] (19)
• Density:	1220/km² (3,159.8/sq mi)
Established:	1838
Postcode:	3350
Elevation:	435 m (1,427 ft)  AHD
Area:	740 km² (285.7 sq mi)
Time zone:  • Summer (DST)	AEST (UTC+10) AEDT (UTC+11)
Location:	110 km (68 mi) NW of Melbourne 82 km (51 mi) NW of Geelong 95 km (59 mi) SE of Bendigo
LGA:	City of Ballarat
State District:	Ballarat East, Ballarat West
Federal Division:	Ballarat
Mean Max Temp Mean Min Temp Annual Rainfall 17.3 °C 63 °F 7.0 °C 45 °F 695.3 mm 27.4 in

Ballarat (pronounced /bæləræt/)^[2] is city in the state of Victoria, Australia located at the foothills of the Great Dividing Range approximately 105 kilometres (65 mi) north-west of the state capital Melbourne. It is the largest inland centre and the third most populous city in the state. The estimated urban area population is 94,088.^[3] The city is part of the wider municipality of the City of Ballarat, which encompasses both the urban area and outlying towns spanning an area of 740 square kilometres (290 sq mi). An inhabitant of Ballarat is known as a Ballaratian.^[4]

It was named by Scottish settler Archibald Yuille who established the sheep run called Ballaarat in 1837^[5] with the name derived from local Wathaurong Aboriginal words for the area, balla arat, thought to mean 'resting place'. The spelling was simplified over time and the historical spelling was officially dropped with municipal amalgamation in 1994.

Ballarat is one of the most significant Victorian era boomtowns in Australia. Gold was discovered in Poverty Point on August 21, 1851 and the area of Ballarat was later found to be a rich alluvial field where gold could easily be extracted. News of the find intensified the Victorian gold rush and brought over 10,000 migrants to the city from around the world within a year, transforming it from a station to a major settlement in the newly proclaimed Colony of Victoria.

It is notable as the site for the Eureka Rebellion, the only armed civil uprising in Australian history, which took place on 3 December 1854. The rebellion's symbol, the Eureka Flag is culturally important to Ballarat and is held at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Australia's oldest and largest regional gallery. Australia's first gold stamp mill was also established at Ballarat in 1854.

Ballarat's prosperity continued until late in the 19th Century, when its importance relative to both Melbourne and Geelong faded with the slowing of gold extraction. However the city endured as a major regional centre hosting the rowing and kayaking events from the 1956 Summer Olympics. It is the commercial capital of the Central Highlands and the largest city in the Goldfields region of Victoria - a significant tourist destination. Ballarat is known for its history, culture and its well preserved Victorian era heritage.

History

Prior to the European settlement of Australia, the Ballarat region was populated by the Wathaurong people, an Indigenous Australian people.^[6] The Boro gundidj tribe's territory was based along the Yarrowee River.

Scottish settlers the Yuille family, Archibald Buchanan Yuille and his brother William Cross Yuille arrived in 1837 and squatted a 10,000 acre sheep run with William Cross buiding a hut at Black Swamp in 1838. While the Yuille's had named the area Ballaarat, outsiders knew it as Yuille's Station and Yuille's Swamp.

On 21 August 1851, John Dunlop and James Regan struck gold at Poverty Point with a few ounces but within days of the announcement prospectors rushed the area. As the Victorian gold rush gathered pace, numerous alluvial and deep mining leads sprang up in the Ballarat district. The Ballarat goldfields had gained an international reputation as a rich goldfield and a huge influx of immigrants from around the world included many from Ireland and China gathering in a collection of prospecting shanty towns around the creeks and hills. Several other notable gold fields were established in the wider area including the Berringa, Clunes, Creswick, Talbot and Enfield but the Ballarat district was the most important settlement in the area and the colony's second largest settlement.

The first Post Office opened on 1 November 1851.^[7] Parts of the district were first surveyed by William Urquhart as early as October 1851.^[8] By 1852 his grid plan and wide streets for land sales in the new township of West Ballarat^[9] contrasted markedly with the existing narrow unplanned streets, tents and gullies of the original East Ballarat settlement.

Civil disobedience in Ballarat led to Australia's first and only armed civil uprising, the Eureka Rebellion (colloquially referred to as the Eureka Stockade) which took place in Ballarat on 3 December 1854. The event, in which 22 miners died, is considered to be a defining moment in Australian history.

During the 1860s Ballarat prospered on gold mining. Confidence of the city's early citizens in the enduring future of their city is evident in the sheer scale of many of the early public buildings, generous public recreational spaces, and opulence of many of its commercial establishments and private housing. The railway came to the town with the opening of the Geelong-Ballarat line in 1862,^[10] As Ballarat grew, the region's original indigenous inhabitants were quickly expelled to the fringe and by 1867 few at all remained.^[6]

Ballarat was proclaimed a city in 1871. During the period from the 1880s to the early 20th century Ballarat made a successful transition from a gold rush town to industrial age city. A direct railway to Melbourne was completed in December 1889.^[11] Many industries and workshops that had been established as a result of manufacturing and servicing for the deep lead mining industry.

During 1901, the Duke of Cornwall and York, later King George V and Duchess journeyed by train on 13 May from Melbourne to Ballarat .^[12]

Following the turn of the century Ballarat's growth had all but stopped. World War I dented the city's population further and the general decline lead to the gradual loss of first provincial status to Geelong.^[13] In response, local lobbyists continually pushed the Victorian government for decentralisation, the greatest success being the Victorian Railways opening the Ballarat North Workshops in April 1917.^[14] The Great Depression proved a further setback for Ballarat, with the closure of many institutions. However it was also brief, the interwar period proved a period of recovery for Ballarat with a number of major infrastructure projects well underway including a new sewerage system. In 1930 an aerodrome was established. By 1931 Ballarat's economy and population had begun a recovery with further diversification of industry though in 1936 Geelong displaced it as the state's second largest city.^[15]. During WWII an expanded Ballarat airport was the base of the RAAF Wireless Air Gunners' School as well as the base for USAAF Liberator bomber squadrons.

In the postwar era, Ballarat's growth continued, expanding significantly to the northwest and an acute post war housing shortage was eased with the establishment of an extensive Housing Commission of Victoria estate on the former Ballarat Common (today known as Wendouree West).^[16] The estate was originally planned to contain over 750 prefabricated houses. Whilst planning for the estate began in 1949, main construction occurred between 1951 to 1962. During the 1970s a further 300 houses were constructed. Private housing in the adjacent suburb of Wendouree closely matched and eventually eclipsed this by the mid 1960s. The suburb of greater Wendouree and Wendouree West had evolved as the suburban middle-class heart of the city.

By the 1970s, Ballarat began to officially recognise its substantial heritage and the first heritage controls were recommended to ensure its preservation. With the opening of Sovereign Hill, the city made a rapid shift to become a major cultural tourist destination.

The city continued to grow steadily and at the national average throughout the late 20th Century. In 2008 the City Council released a plan directing that growth of the city over the next 30 years is to be concentrated to the west of the city centre and through the redevelopment of inner city housing blocks, and other under-developed inner city land in the East that is being redeveloped to create a higher density housing structure.

Geography

Topography

Ballarat lies at the foothills of the Great Dividing Range in Central Western Victoria. Also known as the Central Highlands, it is named so because of its gentle hills and lack of any significant mountains that are more common in the eastern sections of the Great Dividing Range. The city lies within a gently undulating section of the midland plains which stretch from Creswick in the north, to Rokewood in the south, and from Lal Lal in the south-east to Pittong in the west. These plains are made up of alluvial sediment and volcanic flows, and contain large areas of rich agricultural soils.^[17] A large feature of the city is the man-made Lake Wendouree (formerly Yuille’s Swamp), around which many of the inner suburbs are situated.

There are numerous densely forested areas around Ballarat and large bodies of water including the White Swan Reservoir and other lakes, rivers and creeks which are used for urban water use and agriculture.

There are still thought to be large, undiscovered gold reserves around the Ballarat region, with investigations being made by local and national companies to extract potentially as much gold as the Gold Rush days in the mid 1800s.^[18]

Settlement patterns around Ballarat consist of small villages and country towns, some with less than a few thousand people.

Climate

Ballarat has a moderate oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification Cfb)^[19][20] with four seasons. Its elevation, at 435 metres (1,427 ft) above sea level, causes its mean monthly temperatures to tend on average 3 - 4 degrees Celsius below those of Melbourne. The mean daily maximum temperature for January is 25.0 °C (76.8 °F) whilst the mean minimum is 10.8 °C (51 °F) In July, the mean maximum is 10.0 °C (50 °F), with average July minimum is 3.2 °C (38 °F).

The mean annual rainfall is 695 millimetres (27.75 in), with August being the wettest month (77 mm/3.0 in). There are an average of 198 rain-free days per year.

In winter, snow typically falls on nearby Mount Buninyong and Mount Warrenheip. Light snowfall in the city occurs once every few winters. Widespread frosts and fog are also common in and around the city during the cooler months.

Ballarat's highest maximum recorded temperature was 44.1 °C (111.4 °F) on the 7th of February 2009 during the 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave. This is 2.1 °C above the previous record of 42.0 °C , set on the 25th of January 2003. The city's lowest ever recorded minimum was -6.0 °C (21.2 °F) on 21 July 1982.^[21]

In recent years, Ballarat (along with South Eastern Australia) has experienced a severe decrease in average annual rainfall with falls averaging as low as 400 mm (16 in) per year since 2001. This is evident by the recent drying out of Lake Wendouree and substantial water restrictions being imposed on the city and many other regional centres throughout Victoria.

Climate data for Ballarat Aerodrome (YBLT) since 1908
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high °C (°F)	42.0 (107.6)	44.1 (111.4)	37.7 (99.9)	31.5 (88.7)	26.1 (79)	21.6 (70.9)	19.1 (66.4)	23.0 (73.4)	27.9 (82.2)	33.4 (92.1)	37.3 (99.1)	40.6 (105.1)	44.1 (111.4)
Average high °C (°F)	25.1 (77.2)	25.0 (77)	22.2 (72)	17.6 (63.7)	13.6 (56.5)	10.8 (51.4)	10.0 (50)	11.4 (52.5)	13.8 (56.8)	16.6 (61.9)	19.6 (67.3)	22.6 (72.7)	17.4 (63.3)
Average low °C (°F)	10.8 (51.4)	11.4 (52.5)	9.9 (49.8)	7.4 (45.3)	5.7 (42.3)	4.0 (39.2)	3.2 (37.8)	3.7 (38.7)	4.8 (40.6)	6.2 (43.2)	7.8 (46)	9.4 (48.9)	7.0 (44.6)
Record low °C (°F)	0.7 (33.3)	-1.4 (29.5)	-0.6 (30.9)	-4.1 (24.6)	-4.5 (23.9)	-4.6 (23.7)	-6.0 (21.2)	-5.0 (23)	-4.5 (23.9)	-3.6 (25.5)	-1.0 (30.2)	-1.0 (30.2)	-6.0 (21.2)
Precipitation mm (inches)	38.1 (1.5)	43.2 (1.701)	42.3 (1.665)	51.7 (2.035)	65.1 (2.563)	63.2 (2.488)	66.5 (2.618)	74.5 (2.933)	71.7 (2.823)	67.1 (2.642)	55.8 (2.197)	51.3 (2.02)	690.9 (27.201)
Avg. rainy days	7.7	7.2	9.5	12.5	16.1	17.8	19.9	19.5	16.7	15.5	12.8	11.0	166.2
Source: [22]

Extreme weather events

In 1869 a serious flood of the Yarrowee River put most of the lower section of the city including Bridge and Grenville Street undewater.

Between 1905 and 1907, Ballarat experienced a series of winter snowstorms which blanketed the city with snow. In 1909, Ballarat recorded its wettest month with 167.1mm^[23] as well as the highest 24hr rainfall record of 72.1mm.

Prolonged drought caused Lake Wendouree in 2006 and 2007 to dry up completely for the first time in its history.

Snowfalls have occurred in urban Ballarat in November 2006 (light)^[24]; July 2007 (moderate)^[25][26]; June 2008 (light)^[27] and August 2008 (light)^[28].

The city recorded its hottest day on record, when the temperature reached 44.1 °C (111.4 °F) on the 7th of February 2009 during the 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave, beating the previous record by 2.1 °C

Urban structure

Central business district

The central area of Ballarat is known as "Ballarat City" or "Ballarat Central" and is a large mixed use office and retail district. The CBD is anchored between the historic centre of West Ballarat in Lydiard and Sturt Street which have retained stands of commercial and civic buildings of state and national heritage significance and also the historic centre of nearby East Ballarat - Main Street and Bakery Hill. It is bounded to the north by railway lines, extends to the west to Drummond Street, to the south to Grant street and to the east as far as Princes Street spanning the floodplain of the Yarrowee River.

Ballarat's CBD is primarily low-rise. The tallest building in urban Ballarat, a disused silos at 35 metres which are currently being converted into apartments, is located in suburban Lake Wendouree.^[29] The tallest building in Ballarat Central is the seven storey Henry Bolte wing of the Ballarat Base Hospital, while the tallest office buildings in the CBD are all 5 storeys and include the Law Court tower (1941) now Arts Academy on Camp Street and both MLC buildings (1957) on Lydiard Street.

The Ballarat Central area also includes some medium to low density housing. Approximately 89% of housing in Ballarat Central is Single-family detached home with 7% of housing is terraced house, town house or semi-detached with the lowest amount of housing being strata titled units or apartments (6%).^[30] With the exception of Sturt Street's central reservation, and small squares at Civic Hall, Camp Street, Bridge Mall and church grounds there is very little accessible recreational space in Ballarat's CBD.

Retail

Ballarat's main pedestrian mall is Bridge Mall which occupies a section of Bridge Street between Grenville Street and Humffray Street. The largest indoor shopping mall is Central Square Shopping Centre (built 1988) opposite the town hall which includes the major department stores of Myer and Target. Other shopping malls in the CBD include Norwich Plaza built in the 1970s and the City Arcade built in the 1980s. In the CBD there are several supermarkets including two Coles, a Woolworths, an Aldi and a Big W as well as large specialty stores including The Good Guys, JB Hi-Fi, Dick Smith Electronics and branches of the big four retail banks. Bridge Mall, Sturt Street, Armstrong and Mair Street are the major retail streets in the CBD.

Planning

The Ballarat City Council has begun drafting a Central Business District Strategy for the development of buildings, development sites, transport and streescape for the next 20 – 25 years. As part of the proposal it aims to secure funding and private and government interest in the ongoing development of Ballarat's CBD. The draft proposal identifies Mair Street as an alternate East-West traffic route with the potential for hi-rise mixed use development and possibilities for the creation of a 'Civic Heart' for the city where public events can be conducted on a regular basis.^[31]

Suburbs

Beyond the central area Ballarat sprawls out into several suburban areas.

The inner established suburbs were initially laid out around the key mining areas and include Ballarat East, Bakery Hill, Golden Point, Soldiers Hill, Black Hill, Brown Hill, Eureka, Canadian, Mount Pleasant, Redan, Sebastopol and Newington.

The post gold rush era has seen a boom in expansion suburbs extending the conurbation north, south and west. To the west, Ballarat has expanded to Alfredton, Delacombe and Wendouree to the north it has expanded to Ballarat North, Nerrina, Invermay and Invermay Park; and south to Sebastopol, Mount Clear, Mount Helen and more recently merged with the large town of Bunninyong.

Greater Ballarat has some semi-rural suburbs of 2-20 acre blocks within 15 minutes of the CBD that are very popular with families which include Miners Rest and Bunkers Hill.

Wendouree is currently the only major suburban activity centre with a large indoor shopping mall - Stockland Shopping Centre (expanded in 2007^[32]) and also has a number of surrounding retail parks including a strip shopping centre along Howitt Street including the large retail chain Harvey Norman. Elsewhere are small suburban hubs with supermarkets such as IGA (supermarkets) and small stretches of shopfronts.

A Ballarat West Growth Area Plan, a major Greenfield land development has passed through the council and state government, planning for over 14,000 new homes and up to 40,000 new residents effectively doubling the city's urban area and extending the urban sprawl from Sebastopol, Delacombe and Alfredton to Bonshaw, Smythes Creek, Victoria and Cardigan^[33][34] with new activity centres to be developed at Delacombe and Alfredton.

Heritage

Ballarat is renowned for its cultural heritage and decorative arts, especially applied to the built environment, combined with the gold rush, this has created a picturesque urban landscape. In 2003 Ballarat was the first of two Australian cities to be registered as a member of the International League of Historical Cities and in 2006 hosted the 10th World League of Historical Cities Congress.

Many of its features demonstrate the breadth and depth of Ballarat's Heritage,^[35] which are celebrated during heritage weekend in May.^[36]

Avenues and boulevards

Ballarat is notable for its very wide boulevards. The main street is Sturt Street and is considered among one of the finest main avenues in Australia with over 2 kilometres of central gardens known as the Sturt Street Gardens featuring bandstands, fountains, statues, monuments, memorials and lampposts.

Ballarat is home to the largest of a collection of several Avenues of Honour in Victoria. The fifteen kilometre (9.3 mi) long Ballarat Avenue of Honour consists of a total of approximately 4,000 trees, mostly deciduous which in many parts arch completely over the road. Each tree has a bronze plaque dedicated to a soldier from the Ballarat region who enlisted during World War I. The Avenue of Honour and the Arch of Victory are on the Victorian Heritage Register and are seen by approximately 20,000 visitors each year.

Statues and monuments

The city also has the greatest concentration of public statuary in any Australian city with many parks and streets featuring sculptures and statues dating from the 1860s to the present day.

Some of the other unique memorials located in the Sturt Street Gardens in the middle of Ballarat's main boulevard include a bandstand situated in the heart of the city that was funded and built by the City of Ballarat Band in 1913 as a tribute to the bandsmen of the RMS Titanic, a fountain dedicated to the early explorers Burke and Wills, and those dedicated to Monarchs and those who have played pivotal roles in the development of the city and its rich social fabric. The most recent memorial is dedicated to a war hero Sir Albert Ernest Coates. Sir Albert Ernest Coates was a soldier and a surgeon born at Mount Pleasant in Ballarat who served as a medical orderly at Gallipoli, trained as a doctor on his return and was worked tirelessly with minimal resources to save countless lives in Prisoner of War camps during World War II.^[37]

War memorials

Ballarat has an extensive array of significant war memorials, the most recent of which is the Australian Ex Prisoner of War Memorial. The most prominent memorial in the city is the Ballarat Victory Arch that spans the old Western Highway on the Western approaches of the city. The archway serves as the focal point for the Avenue of Honour. Other significant individual monuments located along Sturt Street include those dedicated to the Boer War (1899–1901), the World War II (1939–1945) cenotaph, and Vietnam (1962–1972) (located adjacent to the Arch of Victory).

Parks and gardens

The Ballarat Botanical Gardens until recently were amongst the finest Botanical Gardens in Australia with extensive varieties of native and introduced species of plants and trees. The Gardens have been stressed and significantly underplanted by the caretakers due to stesses imposed by an enduring drought that has affected the region for 13 years. The gardens are also home to many heritage listed trees and contains a mostly non-native, European mix of trees some planted many years ago.

Lake Wendouree hosted the rowing events for the 1956 Summer Olympics, and is normally a large recreational lake that was created out of former wetlands. The Lake has also recently been stressed by the drought and plans are well advanced to address water supply issues with a permanent solution. The gardens are home to the annual Ballarat Begonia Festival, and feature a modern glasshouse and horticultural centre. Also of note is the Prime Minister's Avenue which features bronze busts of every Australian Prime Minister.

Commercial and civic buildings

The legacy of the wealth generated during Ballarat's gold boom is still visible in a large number of fine stone buildings in and around the city, especially in the Lydiard Street area. This precinct contains some of Victoria's finest examples of Victorian era buildings, many of which are on the Victorian Heritage Register or classified by the National Trust of Australia.

Notable civic buildings include the Town Hall (1870–72), the former Post Office (1864), the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery (1887), the Mechanics' Institute (1860, 1869), the Queen Victoria Wards of the Ballarat Base Hospital (1890s), and the Ballarat railway station (1862, 1877, 1888). Other fine buildings include the Provincial Hotel (1909), Reid's Coffee Palace (1886), Craig's Royal Hotel (1862–1890) and Her Majesty's Theatre (1875). A history of Her Majesty's Theatre, the oldest intact and operating lyric theatre in Australia, has been written.^[38]

The Ballarat Fire station located near Bakery Hill, is one of Victoria's oldest fire fighting structures; operated by the Ballarat East brigade - it currently only houses fire trucks. The building was designed in 1864 by architect Henry Caselli as brick masonry; with the construction completed in 1911. Heritage Victoria described the buildings as unusual and sophisticated.^[39] Ballarat is also home to the oldest Jewish synagogue on mainland Australia which is located in Bakery Hill in the Ballarat CBD. The first stone was laid on January 25, 1861, during the Victorian Gold Rush period.^[40]

Preservation and restoration

Restoration is encouraged including a low interest council Heritage Loans Scheme.^[41] and the prevention of demolition by neglect discouraged by council policies.^[42] Since the 1970s,^[43] the local council has become increasingly aware of the economic and social value of heritage preservation.^[44] This is in stark contrast to the 1950s and 60s when Ballarat followed Melbourne in encouraging the removal of Victorian buildings, verandahs in particular. Recent restoration projects funded by the Ballarat include the reconstruction of significant cast iron lace verandahs including the Mining Exchange, Art Gallery (2007), Mechanics institute (2005-)^[45] on Lydiard Street and in 2010 the restoration of the Town Hall and the long neglected Unicorn Hotel facade on Sturt Street.^[46]

Ballarat Citizens for Thoughtful Development formed in 1998 and was incorporated as Ballarat Heritage Watch in 2005 to ensure that the city's architectural heritage is given due consideration in the planning process.^[47]

Environment

Ballarat has a healthy environment in comparison to Melbourne, however as a growing regional city there are issues including pollution, waterway health and invasive species. Air quality is generally good^[48] however woodsmoke from fireplaces is a issue in the winter months.^[49] Ballarat's waterways have historically been effected by heavy pollution from both mining and industry.^[50][51] Introduced species which are a particular pest include the Brown rat, early infestations of which helped the city to earn the nickname "The Rat". Feral Pigeons are also a problem in Ballarat.

The Ballarat Environment Network formed in 1993 to provide a voice for environmental and nature conservation issues in Ballarat and surrounds.^[52] Another large lobby group for sustainability in the city is the Ballarat Renewable Energy And Zero Emissions - BREAZE formed in 2006.^[53] The City of Ballarat released an Environment Sustainability Strategy for the city in 2007.^[54]

While there are no national parks in Ballarat's proximity, Ballarat is bordered by extensive bushland to the north, south and south west and sensitive wetlands to the east. There are a number of nearby state parks and large reserves including the Enfield State Park, Creswick Regional Park and Mount Warrenheip Flora Reserve and Lake Burrumbeet park. Many of these areas have been effected by the introduction of exotic species, particularly introduced flora. Common Gorse is one such problem which has prompted the formation of an official Ballarat Region Gorse Task Force in 1999 to control^[55].

Economy

Ballarat's major industries include the service industries, tourism and hospitality, manufacturing, education and information technology as well as primary industries including agriculture and mining.

As a major service centre for the populous goldfields region, Ballarat has large sectors of employment in retailing, service industries, state and federal government branch offices and agencies and health care.

Tourism and hospitality

Ballarat attracts 2.2 million visitors a year^[56] and the tourism and hospitality industry is a AUD$480 million a year sector which accounts for around 15% of Ballarat's economy and employs around 2,870 people.^[57]

A significant heritage tourism industry has grown substantially in Ballarat since the 1960s. Ballarat is most notable for the award-winning Open-air museum known as Sovereign Hill, a recreated 1850s gold mining settlement opened in 1970. Sovereign Hill is Ballarat's biggest tourism drawcard and is consistently rated amongst one of the best outdoor museums in the world and continues to expand. Sovereign Hill accounts for over half a million of Ballarat's visitors and $40 million in tourism revenue^[58].

Several tourist traps and spin-offs have capitalised on Sovereign Hill's tourism popularity, most of these have sprung up near the eastern entrance of the Western Freeway between Melbourne and Ballarat. They include Kryal Castle (1972), "Gold Rush Mini Golf" (2002) featuring the "Big Miner" (2006) one of Australia's big things (originally proposed to hold the Eureka Flag)^[59] at Ballarat's eastern entrance.

Other tourist attractions include the Eureka Centre; The Gold Museum; Ballarat Botanic gardens and Lake Wendouree; the Tramway museum and Ballarat Ghost Tours. A large number of Ballarat hotels, motels and restaurants service the tourism industry. The Ballarat Tourist Association is an industry based non-profit, membership organisation representing the city's tourism industry.

Mining and gold

Gold historically has been one of the main industries of the Ballarat region.^[60] Gold mining has continued to the present date with a main mine operating and large deposits remaining deep underground. Lihir Gold invested in Ballarat Goldfields in 2006^[61] however downscaled its operations in 2009 due to the expense of extraction^[62] before selling its stake in 2010 to Castlemaine Goldfields.^[63]

Lignite (coal), kaolin (clay) and iron ore have also been mined in the Ballarat region and nearby Lal Lal however many of the resource deposits have since been exhausted.

Manufacturing

According to the 2006 Australian Census, Manufacturing is Ballarat's third largest employment sector, accounting for 14.8% of all workers.^[64]

Ballarat attracts investment from several international manufacturers. The Australian headquarters of Mars, Incorporated was established in Ballarat in 1979 with the main Ballarat factory producing Mars bars for the Australian market^[65]. McCain Foods Limited Australian headquarters was established in Ballarat in 1970and the company continues to expand its operations^[66]. The Ballarat North Workshops is a major manufacturer of public transportation products with current investment from Alstom^[67].

Ballarat also has a large number of home grown companies producing textiles, general industrial engineering, food products, brick and tiles, building components, prefabricated housing components and automotive components.

Education

Ballarat has become a major education centre with the formation of the University of Ballarat which exports education through a large international students program and throughout Australia through Distance education programs.

Information technology

In recent years, a large technology park, the University of Ballarat Technology Park with communications centre has been established, with tenants including IBM and employing over 1,400 people.^[68]

Agriculture

The outskirts of Ballarat are used for agriculture including wine growing and sheep farming. The Ballarat Livestock Selling Centre is the largest cattle exchange in regional Victoria.^[69][70] The Ballarat Agricultural and Pastoral Society formed in 1866 and has run the Ballarat Show annually each November at the Ballarat Showgrounds since that time.^[71]

There are also a number of small forestry operations in Ballarat's Canadian Valley around the suburbs of Mt Clear and Mt Helen areas with pine plantations and mills.^[72]

Demographics

The 2006 Australian national census indicated that the permanent population of the City of Ballarat was 85,196.^[73] Of this the urban population was measured to be 78,221.^[74] Although surging land and house prices in Melbourne coupled with significant recent public transport upgrades between Melbourne and Ballarat has witnessed a significant growth surge. Ballarat's abundance of affordable land and highly established infrastructure have caught the notice of many people and families seeking a family friendly lifestyle. Since 2006 Ballarat has averaged an annual population growth of 1700 and in June 2008 had an estimated resident population of 91,787.^[75] In August 2009 the estimated resident population was 94,000. Whilst most of the city's population can trace their ethnic roots to Anglo-Celtic decendency, 13.6% of the population are born overseas, with New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy the most common places of birth outside Australia. More recently the city has welcomed new arrivals from the Asian sub-continent and Africa.

Almost 15% of the population is over the age of 65, with over a quarter of the population expected to be over the age of 65 by 2021. The median age in Ballarat is 36 years. 46.8% of the population are married, with almost 35% of the population having never been married.^[76]

There were 31,959 households in the 2006 census, with 56.5% of the population having access to the internet at home.^[77]

Religion

Christianity remains the dominant religion in Ballarat, with over 65% of residents claiming Christian affiliation, slightly above the national average of 64%. Catholics (27.1%), Anglicans (15.0%), Uniting Church (11.2%) and Presbyterians (4.0%) remain the largest Christian denominations in Ballarat.

Over 21.6% of Ballarat residents claim no religious affiliation. Minority religious groups include Buddhism, Judaism and Islam and total less than 5% of the population.

Educational attainment

42.5% of the population have completed further education after high school, with only 11.1% of the population holding a bachelor degree or greater, well below the national average.

Media

Newspapers

Ballarat has two local newspapers, both owned by Rural Press Limited, The Courier is a daily, and the Ballarat News, a free weekly. The latter is distributed almost universally across the city every Wednesday, and containing news of community events, advertisements for local businesses, and a real estate and classifieds section.

Radio stations

Local radio stations include '3BA', 'Power FM' and also several community radio stations. There are also local branches of ABC-run ABC Radio, Triple J and ABC Classic FM.

• 102.3 FM - 3BA (local "classic hits" commercial radio station)
• 103.1 FM - Power FM 103.1 FM (local "top-40" commercial radio station)
• 99.9 FM - Voice FM 99.9 - formerly known as 3BBB (local community radio station)
• 107.1 FM - 3JJJ (ABC Youth Radio)
• 107.9 FM - ABC Local Radio (Government-funded local news, current affairs, light entertainment and talkback)
• 621 AM - ABC Radio National (Government-funded, current affairs, arts, science, social interest)
• 105.5 FM - ABC Classic FM (Government-funded, classical music station)
• 103.9 FM - Good News Radio 103.9 (Christian community-based religious station)

Television

Television station BTV Channel 6 Ballarat commenced transmission of test patterns on 17 March 1962. Among the many local programs BTV6 produced, the 90 minute live variety program "Six Tonight" (1971–1983) hosted by local Ballarat identity Fred Fargher, was one of the few live Australian programs of this type being presented in Australia.

In his 1999 book And Now Here's... (Four Decades of Behind the Scenes Fun in Australian Television), Mike McColl Jones fondly remembers local live television variety. "...and in Ballarat, Victoria, a Tonight show ("Six Tonight") was carving its name into Australian television history. The show, hosted by Fred Fargher, ran for 13 years, and managed to attract many of the top name entertainers in the world, simply by offering them a limo ride to this beautiful country centre, a no-pressure spot on the show, and then a great dinner afterwards at one of the city's excellent restaurants. The sheer bravado of the offer enticed some of show business' biggest names."

Today Ballarat is serviced by numerous 'free to air' High Definition and Standard Definition Digital television services. Two television broadcasting stations are located in the city including WIN and GO! (sub-licensees of Nine Network) and PRIME (a sub-licensee of Seven Network). These two stations broadcast relayed services throughout regional Victoria. The city also receives Southern Cross Ten and One (sub-licensee's of Network Ten) that is based in Bendigo but operates a local office. Ballarat television maintains a similar schedule to the national television network but maintains local demographic commercials and local/regional news. In addition to commercial television services, Ballarat receives Government ABC (ABC1, ABC2 and ABC3) and SBS (SBS One and Two) television services.

Subscription television services are provided by Neighbourhood Cable, Austar, and SelecTV.

Education

Ballarat is home to two universities - the University of Ballarat and the Ballarat campus of Australian Catholic University.

The University of Ballarat originated as the Ballarat School of Mines, founded in 1870 and once affiliated with the University of Melbourne. The university consists of six campuses, three of which are in Ballarat—two in the city (Camp Street and SMB campuses), and the main campus in Mount Helen, approximately 6 kilometres (3.75 mi) southeast of the city at the foot of Mount Buninyong.

The Australian Catholic University's Ballarat campus began life as the Aquinas Training College run by the Ballarat East Sisters of Mercy in 1909. It is ACU's only rural campus that is located outside of a capital ciy in Australia.

Ballarat has four State Government-operated secondary schools, of which Ballarat High School (established in 1907) is the oldest. The other schools are Sebastopol College, Mount Clear College, and Ballarat Secondary College. Ballarat Secondary College was formed in 1994 by the amalgamation of Ballarat East Secondary College, Wendouree Secondary College and Midlands Secondary College.

Ballarat has two private day and boarding schools which provide education from Years 1 to 12; Ballarat and Clarendon College and Ballarat and Queens Anglican Grammar School.

The city is well serviced by Catholic schools, with 8 primary schools and 3 secondary colleges, the all-boys St Patrick's College, the all-girls Loreto College, and the co-educational Damascus College, which was formed by the amalgamation of St Paul's Technical School and Sacred Heart College in the 1990s.

Ballarat has several public libraries, the largest and most extensive of which is the City of Ballarat Library, run by the Central Highlands Regional Library Corporation and located on Creswick Road. Another library service is provided by the Mechanics' Institute in Sturt Street, which contains an excellent collection of historic, archival and rare reference material.

Arts and culture

Galleries

The Ballarat Fine Art Gallery houses one of Australia's oldest and most extensive collections of early Australian works. It is considered to have the best Australian collection outside any capital city in Australia.

The University of Ballarat operates the Post Office Gallery in the Wardell designed former Post Office on the corner of Sturt and Lydiard Streets.^[78]

Performing arts

Ballarat has a lively and well established theatrical community with several local ensembles as well as a number of large performing arts venues. Major performing arts venues include:

• Her Majesty's Theatre - Seating 940
• Post Office Box Theatre (University of Ballarat Arts Academy, Camp Street Campus) – Flexible Seating up to 100
• Helen Macpherson Smith Performing Arts Theatre (University of Ballarat, Arts Academy Camp Street Campus) – Seating 200
• The 1870 Founders Theatre (University of Ballarat, Mount Helen Campus) - Seating 600
• The Courthouse Theatre (University of Ballarat, SMB Campus) - Seating 140
• The Victoria Theatre (Sovereign Hill) - Seating 300
• Wendouree Centre for Performing Arts (Ballarat Grammar School) – Seating 900
• Gay E. Gough Theatre (Mount Clear Secondary College) – Seating 350

Additionally the Mechanics Institute hall (seating 700) is used from time to time for travelling performances and cinema shows.

The Ballarat Civic Hall is a large public building constructed in 1958 as a general purpose venue. Its stripped classical design was heavily criticised during its planning, however it has gained some cultural significance to the city with its cavernous spaces holding many significant events over the years. Civic Hall was closed in 2002 and there have been moves to redevelop it for many years^[79] with some calls to retain the building as a venue.

Some notable theatre organisations in Ballarat include BLOC (Ballarat Light Opera Company) founded in 1959^[80]

Ballarat is also the home to Australia's oldest and largest annual performing arts eisteddfod. The Royal South Street Eisteddfod is an all-encompassing performing arts festival and competition event that is conducted over twelve weeks annually.^[81]

Entertainment and nightlife

In the 1970s the Ballarat urban area contained no less than 60 hotels. The introduction of gaming machines in the early 1990s has brought about significant change in the city entertainment precincts. By 2006 at least 20 hotels had closed and some of those that remain have been redeveloped as dining and/or gaming venues. Gaming machines have brought significant revenue to the remaining hotels, sports and social clubs which has enabled many to expand and modernise.

The city has several dance clubs as well as a highly active live music and jazz scene. Hotels are popular meeting places for young people. The city has many fine restaurants, wine bars and eateries as well as themed restaurants . December 2006 saw the creation of BTR, an organisation within Ballarat that has begun hosting dance events in Ballarat.

A large cinema complex consisting of several theatres is located behind the facade of the old Regent cinemas in the heart of the city.

Dance parties are popular within the Ballarat area; however, the director of Ballarat Health Services (BHS), Andrew Rowe, has stated that Ballarat is "an inappropriate place to hold a rave" and has called for the Moorabool Shire Council to forbid raves (such as the one held at Kryal Castle) around the immediate Ballarat area.^[82]

Sport

Ballarat has a number of large parks, sport fields, organised sporting clubs and associations.

Australian rules football and cricket are highly popular in the city. Basketball, horse racing and rowing are also popular.

The city is excellently equipped with indoor stadiums and training centres for most sports. The city has three international standard cricket ovals, an international standard athletics track, two Olympic sized pools as well as an indoor 25 metre (82 ft) competition short course pool.

Notable sporting teams in Ballarat include the North Ballarat Roosters (who share an AFL affiliation with North Melbourne Football Club) who compete in the Victorian Football League and the Ballarat Miners and Ballarat Lady Miners who play at the WIN Minerdome which played host to games in the 2006 Commonwealth Games and compete in the South East Australian Basketball League. The region is home to the strong Ballarat Football League and Central Highlands Football League. Ballarat, Lake Wendouree and North Ballarat City have teams in the Ballarat Football League. The Ballarat Football Club, formed in 1860, remains one of the oldest football clubs in the world.

The city has an amateur football (soccer) competition, known as the BDSA and is home to the Ballarat Red Devils who play in the FFV State League division Two North-West.

Ballarat has excellent horse and greyhound racing tracks, and the Harness Racing centre is considered to be among the best in Australia. The Ballarat Turf Club schedules around 28 race meetings a year including the Ballarat Cup meeting in mid-November.^[83] Ballarat Harness Racing Club conducts regular meetings at its racetrack in the city. ^[84] The Ballarat Greyhound Racing Club holds regular meetings at Sebastopol.^[85]

Ballarat is home to numerous rowing clubs, and annually hosts the Victorian Schools Rowing Championships. Lake Wendouree plays host to the annual 'Head of the Lake' rowing regatta- contested by Ballarat High School, Ballarat and Clarendon College, Ballarat Grammar School, St Patrick's College and Loreto College. The city hosted rowing events for the 1956 Olympic Games.

Ballarat's Eastern Oval hosted a game in the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Plans are currently in progression to upgrade Northern Oval (currently known as Eureka Stadium) for hosting regular AFL pre season matches, with an aim to accommodate seating for 20,000 people.^[86]

Ballarat was also the first place in Australia to hold organised baseball games in 1857. Ballarat is now home to the Ballarat Brewers who field three teams in the Geelong Baseball Association Winter Division, A Grade, A Reserve and C Grade teams.

Golfers play at the course of the Ballarat Golf Club on Sturt Street in the suburb of Alfredton^[87] or at the course of the Midlands Golf Club on Heinz Lane.^[88]

Infrastructure

Transport

Road

The main mode of transport in Ballarat is the road network and the automobile. The dual carriageway freeway - the Western Freeway connects Ballarat to Melbourne and also bypasses the city on its way to Ararat and Horsham. A network of state highways from Ballarat including the Midland Highway which runs north toward Creswick from Creswick Road and south toward Geelong from Skipton Road, the Glenelg Highway to Mount Gambier and the Sunraysia Highway near Ballarat which connects the city with Mildura. Sturt Street and Victoria Street, both dual carriageways carry the bulk of the east-west CBD traffic, while Mair Street is planned to become dual carriageway to relieve pressure on these main streets. Other dual carriageway main roads in the west include Howitt Street and Gillies Street. The remainder of Ballarat's roads are mainly secondary single carriageways and service lanes in the inner suburbs.

Ballarat is also served by an extensive public bus service branded as Ballarat Transit which is currently operated mainly by Ballarat Coachlines and Davis Bus Service.^[89] The taxi system operates in all suburbs and is currently operated by Ballarat Taxis Co-op Ltd.

Regional coaches operated by V/Line connect Ballarat with other regional centres such as Warrnambool, Bendigo, Mildura and Maryborough. There is also a direct bus service to Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport.^[90]

Rail

Ballarat is historically a major railways hub in Victoria with several connections for both passenger services and freight.

The main railway line, the Ballarat Line opened in 1862 and runs from Ballarat railway station to Melbourne and currently has regional connections to Ballan, Bacchus Marsh and Melton. The Ararat Line continues in the opposite direction and connecting Ballarat to its western suburbs at Wendouree railway station^[91] as well as the town of Beaufort and the city of Ararat. Since the completion of the Regional Fast Rail project V/Line has operated a 64-minute express service on VLocity trains running at up to 160 km/h (99 mph) which is popular with commuters to Melbourne.^[92] Intercity VLocity services now run half hourly during weekday peak and hourly on weekends from Ballarat station.

A section of the Mildura Railway Line re-opened in 2010 with a twice daily medium speed VLocity service aimed at connecting commuters from Maryborough and Creswick to Ballarat.^[93]

A state government Regional Rail Link project will effectively separate Ballarat trains from Melbourne's suburban rail network.^[94]

The Ballarat to Geelong (the Geelong-Ballarat railway line) currently operates as a freight line only (passenger services were withdrawn in 1978). Ballarat has several disused railway corridors and stations including the Skipton railway line, the Buninyong railway line and the Ballarat Cattle Yards railway line.

Historic tramway network

Ballarat once operated an extensive tramway network which began in 1887, however it was closed in 1972 and replaced by buses. A small section of track remains used as a tourist and museum tramway.^[95] There have been proposals to extend the network, particularly to connect it to the railways and return it as a viable component of the Ballarat public transport system.^[96]

Air

Ballarat Airport located 8 km (5 mi) North-West of the CBD consists of two sealed runways (each approximately 1,400 m/4,600 ft length and 30 m/100 ft wide) as well as extensive sealed aprons, night lighting and NDB Navaid. In 2005 the City of Ballarat commissioned a Master Plan 2004-2014,^[97] that outlined future development and growth of the Airport. The report made a series of recommendations and forecasts that included eventual lengthening, widening and strengthening of the existing main runway up to 1800 metres (5,900 ft), consideration for expansion of the passenger terminal and recommendations for future use of aprons and development of future structures supporting larger aircraft and increased frequent usage. It is forecast that by 2012-15 regular domestic passenger services using 40-50 seat commuter aircraft may feasibly commence.

Cycling

Ballarat has a long history of cycling as a form of transport and recreation. The current cycling network continues to grow and consists of several marked on-road routes and 50 kilometres of segregated bicycle facilities including several main routes :Ballarat–Skipton Rail Trail, Yarrowee River Trail with connections to the Gong Gong Reservoir, Buningyong Trail, Sebastopol Trail, and the Lake Wendouree shared path.^[98] The Ballarat Bicycle Users Group provides advocacy for the growing number of cyclists in the city.^[99] The popularity of cycling in Ballarat is also demonstrated by the large number of spectators and participants drawn to cycling sporting events held in the city.^[100]

Utilities

Central Highlands Water supplies Ballarat with water. The main reservoir is the White Swan reservoir which is topped up through the Goldfields Superpipe sourced from the Goulburn-Murray waterway system. Secondary supplies include the Gong Gong Reservoir.^[101]

Ballarat's data communications services now come from several providers, however for a long time the city went without broadband services. An extensive private broadband network was built by Neighbourhood Cable, now Telstra and Optus also provide broadband services. No announcement of Ballarat's rollout of the National Broadband Network has yet been made however it is seen as vital for the city's growing IT industry.^[102][103]

The main electricity supplier to Ballarat is Powercor with a number of smaller suppliers also servicing the residential market.

Health

Ballarat has major hospitals in Ballarat Base Hospital which services the entire region and the Queen Elizabeth Centre. Private hospitals include a St John of God Health Care centre, established in 1915 and is currently the largest private hospital in regional Victoria.

Notable residents

A great many notable people's origins are in the Ballarat region with the most prominent local celebrities being high ranking politicians and sportspeople.

Several former Prime Minister of Australia were Ballaratians (recognised by the city hosting the Prime Minister's Avenue) - Alfred Deakin, Sir Robert Menzies, James Scullin and John Curtin. Several Premiers of the Australian states are also from Ballarat including Victorian premiers Sir Henry Bolte, Steve Bracks, Duncan Gillies, Thomas Hollway and West Australian premier Henry Daglish.

Outside of politics, other prominent public figures include Peter Lalor an important historical figure in Australia as the leader of the Eureka Rebellion (1854); the inventor George Alfred Julius who spent part of his childhood in the town, his father being the Anglican vicar; Cardinal George Pell, Catholic Archbishop of Sydney.

Ballarat has also produced many outstanding athletes including such sporting greats. Olympic long distance runner Steve Moneghetti is one of the city's favourite sons. A large number of great Australian rules football identities have come from Ballarat, the greatest being Tony Lockett AFL Legend and record holder of most goals scored in a career; Premiership coach Mick Malthouse and Geelong Football Club legend Bob "Woofa" Davis.

In popular culture

Ballarat has inspired many visual artists, with several celebrated works depicting the city. In the Australian Collection of the Ballarat Art Gallery are some of Eugene von Guerard's works documenting the city's establishment as a gold digging settlement, Albert Henry Fullwood's depictions of boom era streetscapes and Knut Bull's View of Ballarat Across Lake Wendouree.^[104]

Historic Lydiard Street features prominently in national television advertisement advertisements including the Gold Lion award (Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival)^[105] and Australasian Writers and Art Directors Association award winning "The Regulars" (2009) for Victoria Bitter^[106] and "What About Me" (2010) Safe Driver Rewards campaign for for AAMI.^[107]

Ballarat is also a popular filming location^[108] with the city making cameos in film including My Brother Jack (2001), Ned Kelly (2003 film) and The Writer (2005).^[109]

Ballarat also features prominently in literature and fiction, including the King Billy of Ballarat and Other Stories (1892) by Morley Roberts, The Fortunes of Richard Mahony (1917) by Henry Handel Richardson, Murder on the Ballarat Train (1993) by Kerry Greenwood and The Supply Party by Martin Edward (2009).

The town of Ballarat, California is named after Ballarat.

Two ships of the Royal Australian Navy have been named HMAS Ballarat after the city, HMAS Ballarat (J184) and HMAS Ballarat (FFH 155).

Sister cities

The City of Ballarat's sister cities are:

Inagawa, Hyōgo, Japan, 1988 Taixing, China, 1998 Peterborough, United Kingdom Ainaro, East Timor

References

Bibliography

History books

• Bate, Weston. Lucky City: The First Generation of Ballarat 1851-1901 (1978)
• Bate, Weston. Life After Gold: Twentieth-Century Ballarat Melbourne University Press (1993)
• Carboni, Raffaello. The Eureka Stockade (1980) first published (1855)
• Goodman, David. Gold Seeking: Victorian and California in the 1850s (1994)
• Jacobs, Wendy. Ballarat: A Guide to Buildings and Areas 1851-1940 Jacob Lewis Vines Conservation Architects and Planners (1981)
• Lynch, John. The Story of the Eureka Stockade: Epic Days in the early fifties at Ballarat, (1947?)
• Fleet, James. The History of Gold Discovery in Victoria
• Moloney, John. Eureka, (1984)
• Serle, Geoffery. The Golden Age: A History of the Colony of Victoria, 1851-1860, (1963)
• Freund, P with Sarah V, Her Maj: A History of Her Majesty's Theatre, Ballarat (2007)
• Ballarat City Council
• Victorian Heritage Register, Heritage Victoria

External links

• Ballarat City Council

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