Coordinates	45°30′″N73°40′″N
type	city
name	Ballarat
state	vic
pop	96,097
pop footnotes	(June 2010 SD)
poprank	19th
density	1220
elevation	435
elevation footnotes	AHD
coordinates
est	1838
area	740
timezone	AEST
utc	+10
timezone-dst	AEDT
utc-dst	+11
postcode	3350
stategov	Ballarat East, Ballarat West
fedgov	Ballarat
lga	City of Ballarat
maxtemp	17.3
mintemp	7.0
rainfall	695.3
dist1	110
dir1	NW
location1	Melbourne
dist2	82
dir2	NW
location2	Geelong
dist3	95
dir3	SE
location3	Bendigo }}

Ballarat () is a city in the state of Victoria, Australia, approximately north-west of the state capital Melbourne situated on the lower plains of the Great Dividing Range and the Yarrowee River catchment. It is the largest inland centre and third most populous city in the state and the fifth most populated inland city in Australia. The estimated urban area population is 96,000. It is the administrative centre for the City of Ballarat, which encompasses both the urban area and outlying towns spanning an area of . Inhabitants of Ballarat are known as Ballaratians.

It was named by Scottish settler Archibald Yuille who established the sheep run called Ballaarat in 1837 with the name derived from local Wathaurong Aboriginal words for the area, ''balla arat'', thought to mean "resting place". The present spelling was officially adopted in 1996.

Ballarat is one of the most significant Victorian era boomtowns in Australia. Gold was discovered at Poverty Point on 18 August 1851, and the district was found to be a rich alluvial field where gold could easily be extracted. News of the finds intensified the Victorian gold rush bringing over 10,000 migrants to the city from around the world within a year and transforming it from a station to a major settlement in the newly proclaimed Colony of Victoria. Australia's first gold stamp mill was established at Ballarat in 1854.

It was the site of the Eureka Rebellion, the only armed civil uprising in Australian history, which took place on 3 December 1854 at the Eureka Mining Lead, and the event is controversially identified with the birth of democracy in Australia. Many significant Australian cultural icons are also a legacy of Ballarat's gold rush boom. The rebellion's symbol, the Eureka Flag has become a national symbol and is held at the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Australia's oldest and largest regional gallery. Other nationally significant heritage structures include the Ballarat Botanical Gardens, established 1857, the best example of a regional botanic gardens in Australia with the greatest concentration of public statuary including the official Prime Ministers Avenue; the longest running lyric theatre building, Her Majesty's, established 1875; the first municipal observatory, established 1886; and the earliest and longest memorial avenue, the Avenue of Honour, established between 1917 and 1919.

Proclaimed a city in 1871, its prosperity continued until late in the 19th century, after which its importance relative to both Melbourne and Geelong rapidly faded with the slowing of gold extraction. It has 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

Prehistory and European settlement

Prior to the European settlement of Australia, the Ballarat region was populated by the Wathaurong people, an Indigenous Australian people. 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 sheep run with William Cross building a hut at Black Swamp in 1838. Outsiders originally knew of the settlement as Yuille's Station and Yuille's Swamp. Archibald Yuille named the area "Ballaarat" which is thought he derived from local Wathaurong Aboriginal words for the area, ''balla arat''. The meaning of this word is not certain, however several translations have been made and it is generally thought to mean 'resting place'. In some dialects, ''balla'' means "bent elbow" which is translated to mean reclining or resting and ''arat'' meaning "place".

1850s: Gold rush

On 19 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. Parts of the district were first surveyed by William Urquhart as early as October 1851. By 1852 his grid plan and wide streets for land sales in the new township of West Ballarat 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.

The city earned the nickname "The Golden City" in the 1850s and during the 1860s prospered greatly 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, As Ballarat grew, the region's original indigenous inhabitants were quickly expelled to the fringe and by 1867 few at all remained.

Victorian city and decline

During the period from the 1870s to the early 20th century Ballarat made a successful transition from a gold rush town to industrial age city.

Ballarat was proclaimed a city in 1871. Gong Gong reservoir was built in 1877 to alleviate flooding and to provide a permanent water supply. A direct railway to Melbourne was completed in December 1889. Many industries and workshops that had been established as a result of manufacturing and servicing for the deep lead mining industry.

Local boosterists at the turn of the century adopted the nickname "Athens of Australia", first used to describe the city by the prestigious Irish-Australian jurist and politician of the early 20th century Sir John Madden.

On 13 May 1901, the Duke of York (later King George V) and his wife, the Duchess of York, travelled by train from Melbourne to Ballarat.

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 led to the gradual loss of first provincial status to Geelong. 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. The Great Depression proved a further setback for Ballarat, with the closure of many institutions.

Since the 20th Century

While deep, the depression 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, Ballarat Airport was established. By 1931 Ballarat's economy and population was recovering strongly with further diversification of industry although in 1936 Geelong displaced it as the state's second largest city. During World War II 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 Post-war era, Ballarat's growth continued, expanding significantly to the northwest and an acute 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). 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 at the national average throughout the late 20th Century and early 21st Century. In 2008 the City of Ballarat 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

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. 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. The central city is situated low in the valley of the Yarrowee catchment and surrounded by hills such that the city skyline is visible only from the hills and the lower lying inner eastern suburbs. The reach of the Yarrowee toward Ballarat Central becomes a stormwater drain and is completely covered over as it flows under the CBD.

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.

City and Suburbs

Ballarat's is a primarily low-rise city though apart from the area around Ballarat Airport there are few established height limits for buildings. There are two principle activity centres within the urban area, the Central Business District (CBD) and Wendouree. The tallest building in urban Ballarat is the seven storey Henry Bolte wing of the Ballarat Base Hospital (1994). Beyond the central area urban Ballarat extends into several suburban areas. Settlement patterns around Ballarat consist of small villages and country towns, some with less than a few thousand people.

The Central Business District (located in Ballarat Central) is a large mixed use office and retail district. Ballarat's CBD (along Lydiard, Sturt Streets, Armstrong, Doveton and Dana Streets) along with the historic centre of East Ballarat – Main Street and Bakery Hill has retained stands of commercial and civic buildings of state and national heritage significance. The CBD area 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. It includes a major retail area.

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, 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; to the east to Warrenheip and south to Sebastopol, Mount Clear and Mount Helen with the urban area encroaching the large town of Bunninyong.

Wendouree is currently the only major suburban activity centre with a large indoor shopping mall – Stockland Shopping Centre (expanded in 2007) 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.

Unlike Melbourne, Ballarat does not have a defined urban growth boundary. This has put continuing pressure on the city council to approve development applications for subdivisions outside of the city fringe. In response to lobbying by landholders the Ballarat West Growth Area Plan, a major Greenfield land development plan was prepared and has approved by the city and state government to allow for planned fringe communities consisting of 14,000 new homes and up to 40,000 new residents effectively doubling the city's urban area by extending the urban sprawl from Sebastopol, Delacombe and Alfredton west toward Bonshaw, Smythes Creek and Cardigan with a new suburb to be known as Lucas to be created. New activity centres are to be developed at Delacombe and Alfredton.

Climate

Ballarat has a moderate oceanic climate (Köppen climate classification ''Cfb'') 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 whilst the mean minimum is In July, the mean maximum is , with average July minimum is .

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. Like much of Australia, Ballarat experiences cyclical drought and heavy rainfall. Flooding of the Yarrowee catchment occurs occasionally. In 1869 a serious flood of the Yarrowee River put most of the lower section of business district including Bridge and Grenville streets underwater and causing the loss of two lives. Prolonged drought (an average annual rainfall with falls averaging as low as per year since 2001) caused Lake Wendouree to dry up completely for the first time in its history between 2006 and 2007. More recently higher rainfall levels have been recorded including in the 24 hours to 9 am on 14 January 2011, ending a four-day period of flooding rains across much of Victoria and Tasmania, and contributing to the wettest January on record, with a total of of rain for the month.

Light snowfall typically falls on nearby Mount Buninyong and Mount Warrenheip at least once a year but only in the urban area during heavy winters. Widespread frosts and fog are more common during the cooler months. Snow has been known to fall heavily. Heavy snow seasons occurred in 1900–1902, 1905–1907 (with record falls in 1906) and moderate snow seasons during the 1940s and 1980s. The most recent snowfalls to have occurred within the urban area were between 2006–2008 with falls in November 2006 (light); July 2007 (moderate); June 2008 (light) and August 2008 (light).

Ballarat's highest maximum recorded temperature was on 7 February 2009 during the 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave. This is above the previous record of , set on 25 January 2003. The lowest ever recorded minimum was at sunrise on 21 July 1982.

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, however woodsmoke from fireplaces is a issue in the winter months. Ballarat's waterways have historically been affected by heavy pollution from both mining and industry. 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. Another large lobby group for sustainability in the city is the Ballarat Renewable Energy And Zero Emissions – BREAZE formed in 2006. The City of Ballarat released an Environment Sustainability Strategy for the city in 2007.

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, Mount Warrenheip Flora Reserve Mount Buninyong Reserve and Lake Burrumbeet park. The region is home to a large koala population with protected areas established in the city's outer southern and eastern settlements.

Many parts of urban Ballarat have been affected 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.

Economy

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

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.

Service industries

Ballarat is the main retail economy in the region. Central to the retail district is a pedestrian mall known as Bridge Mall. There are shopping malls, the largest of which are Central Square Shopping Centre (completed in 1988) opposite the town hall which includes the major department stores of Myer (located within the 1870s Mitchell building) and Target. Additionally the city has each of the major supermarkets, speciality stores and branches of the big four Australian retail banks.

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.

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.

Tourism and hospitality

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

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.

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 (although the original proposal appeared larger and for the miner to hold the Eureka Flag) 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. Gold mining has continued to the present date with a main mine operating and large deposits remaining deep underground. 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. Lihir Gold invested in Ballarat Goldfields in 2006 however downscaled its operations in 2009 due to the expense of extraction before selling its stake in 2010 to Castlemaine Goldfields.

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.

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. McCain Foods Limited Australian headquarters was established in Ballarat in 1970 and the company continues to expand its operations. The Ballarat North Workshops is a major manufacturer of public transportation products with current investment from Alstom.

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.

Agriculture

The outskirts of Ballarat are used for agriculture including wine growing and animal husbandry. The Ballarat Livestock Selling Centre is the largest cattle exchange in regional Victoria. 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.

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.

Renewable energy

The Ballarat region has a rapidly growing renewable energy industry, in particular due to its abundant wind energy, attracting significant investment and generating revenue for local landholders and local councils. The region is also a source of bountiful geothermal energy, solar power and biomass.

Through the Waubra Wind Farm the Ballarat region produces more than enough wind energy to power every home in the city, however the electricity produced goes to the national grid. Additional nearby facilities include the first community-owned wind farm in Australia at Hepburn Wind Project at Leonards Hill which produces enough electricity to power the town of Daylesford as well as approved proposals for Chepstowe, Lal Lal, Mount Mercer and proposed facilities at Mount Egerton and Ballan.

Ballarat Solar Park opened in 2009 at the Airport site in Mitchell Park is Victoria’s first ground mounted, flat plate and grid-connected photovoltaic farm. Built by Sharp Corporation for Origin Energy is a 14,993 sqm produces the equivalent energy needs of around 150 homes.

Demographics

The 2006 Australian national census indicated that the permanent population of the City of Ballarat was 85,196. Of this the urban population was measured to be 78,221. 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. 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.

The average income of Ballarat, while lower than Melbourne, is higher than average for regional Victoria. Ballaratians in the 2007/08 financial year earned on average A$38,850 a year with the highest earners living in the city's inner and northern suburbs and the lowers earners living in the city's southern suburbs.

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

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.

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.

Governance

In local government, the Ballarat region is covered by the City of Ballarat. The council was created in 1994 as an amalgamation of a number of other municipalities in the region with the council chambers located at the Ballarat Town Hall in central Ballarat. The City is made up of 3 wards, each represented by three councillors elected once every four years by postal voting. The Mayor of Ballarat is elected from these councillors by their colleagues for a one year term.

In state politics, Ballarat is located in the Legislative Assembly districts of Ballarat East and Ballarat West, with both of these seats currently held by the Australian Labor Party.

In federal politics, Ballarat is located in a single House of Representatives division – the Division of Ballarat. The Division of Ballarat has been a safe Australian Labor Party seat since 2001, and was the seat of the second Prime Minister of Australia, Alfred Deakin.

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 – Triple J (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, GEM HD and GO! (sub-licensees of Nine Network) and Prime7, 7Two, 7mate (a sub-licensee of Seven Network). These two stations broadcast relayed services throughout regional Victoria. The city also receives Southern Cross Ten, One HD and Eleven (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 and some other local/regional programming. In addition to commercial television services, Ballarat receives Government ABC (ABC1, ABC2, ABC3, ABC News 24) and SBS (SBS One and Two) television services.

On Friday 5 May 2011, Analog television transmissions ceased in most areas of regional Victoria and some border regions including Ballarat and surrounding areas. All local free-to-air television services are now broadcasting in digital transmission only. This was done as part of the Federal Government`s plan for Digital terrestrial television in Australia, where all analogue transmission systems are gradually turned off and replaced with modern DVB-T transmission systems.

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 the 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 eight primary schools and three 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 a collection of historic, archival and rare reference material.

Arts and culture

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.

Restoration of historic buildings is encouraged including a low interest council Heritage Loans Scheme. and the prevention of demolition by neglect discouraged by council policies. Since the 1970s, the local council has become increasingly aware of the economic and social value of heritage preservation. 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–) on Lydiard Street and in 2010 the restoration of the Town Hall and the long neglected Unicorn Hotel façade on Sturt Street.

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.

The Ballarat Botanical Gardens (established in 1858) are recognised as the finest example of a regional botanical gardens in Australia and are home to many heritage listed exotic tree species and feature a modern glasshouse and horticultural centre and the Prime Ministers Avenue which features bronze busts of every past Australian Prime Minister. The gardens are home to the annual ''Ballarat Begonia Festival''.

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.

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. Some of the other notable 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 , 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 war hero Sir Albert Coates.

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).

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 historic buildings include the Provincial Hotel (1909), Reid's Coffee Palace (1886), Craig's Royal Hotel (1862–1890) and Her Majesty's Theatre (1875), the oldest intact and operating lyric theatre in Australia.

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''. 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 25 January 1861, during the Victorian Gold Rush period.

Events and festivals

Ballarat is home to many annual festivals and events. The oldest large annual event is the Ballarat Agricultural Show (since 1859), currently held each year at the Ballarat Showgrounds.

Lake Wendouree is featured in many including the most prominent, the Begonia Festival (since 1953) and it now attracts over 100,000 visitors from around Australia. SpringFest (since 2001) now attracts more than 15,000 people from around Victoria and features market stalls and activities around the lake.

Ballarat Heritage Weekend (since 2006) celebrates the city's heritage with activities such as historic vehicles and displays in and around the CBD and also attracts visitors from around Victoria. Other minor cultural festivals include the Ballarat Writers Festival, Ballarat International Foto Biennialle and the Goldfields Music Festival.

Entertainment

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

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 with some calls to retain the building as a venue.

Ballarat has its own symphony orchestra, the Ballarat Symphony Orchestra which was formed in 1987.

Some notable theatre organisations in Ballarat include BLOC (Ballarat Light Opera Company) founded in 1959.

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.

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.

A large cinema complex consisting of several theatres is located behind the façade 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. BTR is an organisation founded in 2006 that has begun hosting dance events in Ballarat.

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.

Sport and recreation

Ballarat has a number of large parks, sport fields, organised sporting clubs and associations. Australian rules football and cricket are the most popular spectator and participation sports in Ballarat, while basketball, netball, horse racing and rowing have large followings. There are stadiums, both indoor and outdoor as well as training facilities for most sports.

Australian rules football is played at semi-professional and amateur levels with a large number of players at numerous venues, both dedicated such as Eureka Stadium and shared with cricket. The North Ballarat Roosters based out of Eureka Stadium compete in the Victorian Football League and currently have an affiliation with national Australian Football League (AFL) club the North Melbourne Kangaroos. 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. The Ballarat Football League (founded 1893) is a strong regional league of which there are 3 teams (Ballarat, Lake Wendouree and North Ballarat City) from Ballarat. The Ballarat Football Club (founded 1860) remains one of the oldest football clubs in the world. A team from Buninyong competes in the regional Central Highlands Football League.

Cricket is also played extensively with three international standard cricket ovals. Ballarat's Eastern Oval hosted a game in the 1992 Cricket World Cup.

Horse racing and greyhound racing are popular, with dedicated facilities. 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. Ballarat Harness Racing Club conducts regular meetings at its racetrack in the city. The Ballarat Greyhound Racing Club holds regular meetings at Sebastopol.

Basketball is played at various levels with the Ballarat Miners and Ballarat Lady Miners who competing in the South East Australian Basketball League and playing out of the WIN Minerdome. The venue hosted basketball games for the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Netball is similarly popular, with many netball clubs affiliated with local Australian rules clubs including Wendouree, East Point, Eureka, North Ballarat, Redan, Brown Hill and a the Ballarat Netball Association.

Rowing and kayaking is centred around Lake Wendouree and the sport is particularly popular with the schools. The lake hosts the Victorian Schools Rowing Championships as well as 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.

Association Football (known locally as soccer) is played mostly at an amateur level, with a competition known as the Ballarat District Soccer Association (BDSA). The Ballarat Red Devils play in the FFV State League division Two North-West.

Athletics facilities include an international standard athletics track at Llanberris Reserve on York Street Golden Point which is an Athletics Victoria venue and home to local athletics and little athletics clubs.

Swimming and water sport is facilitated at two Olympic sized pools as well as an indoor 25 metre (82 ft) competition short course pool. The main facility is the Ballarat Aquatic Centre located at Gillies Street Lake Gardens in the city's west.

Baseball was first organised in Australia at Ballarat in 1857. The Ballarat Brewers field three teams in the Geelong Baseball Association Winter Division, A Grade, A Reserve and C Grade.

Golf is played at four main venues which include the Ballarat Golf Course on Sturt Street in the Easter suburb of Alfredton, home to the Ballarat Golf Club; the Midlands Golf Course on Heinz Lane in the northern suburb of Invermay Park which is home to the Midlands Golf Club; the Eureka Golf Course at Elford Street in the eastern suburb of Ballarat East and in the southern suburb of Buninyong at the Buninyong Golf Course.

Lake Wendouree is a large recreational lake that was created out of former wetlands and hosted the rowing events for the 1956 Summer Olympics. Victoria Park is an expansive reserve with tree lined avenues and sporting fields in suburban Newington. The suburbs feature some privately run wildlife parks including Ballarat Wildlife Park in Ballarat East and Ballarat Bird World in Buninyong.

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. Several other artists have painted depictions of historic events such as the Eureka Stockade.

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

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

Ballarat also features prominently in literature and fiction, including The Boscombe Valley Mystery (1891) from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, 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).

Popular nicknames used by locals for the city include "The 'Rat", a shortened version of the name derived from the brown rat, the name and symbol was further popularised by Rebellion Brewery's The Rat beer. Another enduring nickname is Golden City which dates back to the gold rush and appears in several names including Golden City Hotel (1856) and the Golden City paddlesteamer (1885) and in numerous non-fiction works.

Infrastructure

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.

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.

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.

Ballarat's electricity supply is provided and maintained by Victorian electricity distributor Powercor.

Transport

Road

The main mode of transport in Ballarat is the road network and the automobile. The Western Freeway is dual carriageway in Ballarat providing a connection to Melbourne (approximately 90 minutes) and bypassing the central city on its way westward to Ararat (approximately 75 minutes) and Horsham. A network of state highways from Ballarat. The Midland Highway is a dual carriageway which runs north along Creswick Road to the Western Freeway interchange but becomes a single carriageway north of Ballarat to Creswick (approximately 25 minutes) and runs south as the dual carriageway of Skipton Road to Magpie before becoming a single carriageway to Geelong (approximately 87 minutes). The Glenelg Highway connects directly to Mount Gambier and the Sunraysia Highway west of Ballarat which connects directly to 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 or service lanes to 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. 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.

Rail

Ballarat has historically been a major railway hub in Victoria, situated at the junction of the Ballarat line, Ararat line and Mildura lines it currently has several connections for both passenger services and freight.

Ballarat has two passenger railway stations, the hub of Ballarat railway station and suburban Wendouree railway station out of which V/Line operates VLocity trains running at up to east to Melbourne, west and Ararat and north to Maryborough. The busiest service is the peak hour express (64 minutes) to Melbourne which has become highly popular with commuters. The Regional Rail Link project is underway to separate Ballarat's trains from Melbourne's suburban rail network for more regular services. Interurban services (Ballarat-Melbourne) now run half hourly during weekday peak and hourly on weekends from Ballarat station. A twice daily (53 minute) service connects Ballarat to Ararat while there is a (57 minute) service to and from Maryborough (stopping at Creswick) once a day each way.

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

Ballarat once operated an extensive tramway network which began in 1887, however it was closed in 1971 and replaced by buses. A small section of track remains used as a tourist and museum tramway. 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.

Air

Ballarat Airport located 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, 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. The Ballarat Bicycle Users Group provides advocacy for the growing number of cyclists in the city. 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.

Notable residents

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

Several former Prime Minister of Australia were from Ballarat (recognised by the city's 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 Western Australia 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 when his father was a local Anglican cleric; and Cardinal George Pell, the current Catholic Archbishop of Sydney.

Ballarat has also produced many notable athletes including the Olympic long distance runner Steve Moneghetti. A large number of notable Australian rules football identities have come from Ballarat, including Tony Lockett, an AFL Legend player and record holder of the most goals scored in a career; premiership coaches Mick Malthouse and Geelong Football Club legend Bob Davis. North Melbourne forward Drew Petrie is also from the town.

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?)

Flett, James. ''The History of Gold Discovery in Victoria''

Moloney, John. ''Eureka'', (1984)

Serle, Geoffrey. ''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

Ballarat – Tourism Victoria – Government tourism site.

Category:Ballarat Category:Mining towns in Victoria (Australia) Category:Australian Aboriginal placenames

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