Ballarat Panorama from Black Hill lookout
Ballarat is Victoria”s larges inland city,& situated in the Central Highlands. Today Ballarat is a bustling city featuring many galleries,& museums,& and antique and craft shops. It has excellent recreational facilities,& and beautiful gardens and parks,& making is most attractive to visitors. For your pleasure there are Trash and Trivia Markets at Showgrounds,& Creswick Rd,& each Sun. jan: Organs of the Ballarat Goldfields. Feb: Super Southern Swap meet. Mar: Begonia Festival,& Antique Fair. Apr: Eureka Jazz Festival. July: Winter Festival. Aug-Nov: Royal South Street Eisteddford. Nov: Springfest Extravaganza,& Ballarat Cup.
History
Miners swearing allegiance to the Southern Cross on 1 December 1854 — watercolour by Charles Doudiet
The site of the city was originally a stock station established by William Cross Yuille and Henry Anderson in 1838 and named Ballarat (originally under the spelling Ballaarat), which is generally believed to be derived from local Aboriginal dialect meaning ‘resting place’.
The settlement, originally known as Ballarat, flourished in the early 1850s when gold was discovered, the Post Office opening on November 1, 1851. The area where gold was found was situated northeast of Ballarat, about 3 miles (4.8 km) away. An estimated 200,000 ounces of gold are said to have been extracted from an area of approximately 1 square mile (3 km2). With several other notable gold fields in the Ballarat area including the Berringa, Clunes, Creswick, Talbot and Enfield Gold Fields, Ballarat quickly became the wealthiest city in the district. Additionally there were several other notable gold fields in the Ballarat area including the Berringa, Clunes, Creswick, Talbot and Enfield Gold Fields.
The township's main street, Lydiard Street in 1857 looking west from the government camp in 1857 with the post office, formerly situated on the southwest corner of Mair Street, on the right
In 1930 an aerodrome was established, which was ceded to the Commonwealth in 1940 as part of the Empire Air Training Scheme. During WWII the base was a RAAF Wireless Air Gunners’ School as well as the base for USAAF Liberator bomber squadrons. During the war the airport was expanded and consisted of three sealed runways of which two were over 2,000 metres (6,550 ft) long and 45 metres (150 ft) wide. The aerodrome remained the RAAF School of Radio until 1961 when it was returned to civil operations. The City of Ballarat is the civil operator of the aerodrome. The site is now listed on the Victorian Heritage Register for its social and historic significance.
After World War II, Ballarat expanded significantly to the northwest. 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).[10] 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 by the 1970s as the suburban middle-class heart of the city.
The intersection of Lydiard and Sturt Street in 1899 was the heart of a bustling city of trams, horses and pedestrians.
From the late 1970s and early 1980s urban growth slowed in Wendouree and began expanding to the Southern and Western corridors of the city. 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. Throughout the 20th century Ballarat maintained steady economic and population growth, keeping pace with that of the Australian national average without ever experiencing any significant growth surges. Steady population and economic growth has enabled the city to mature and preserve much of its historical grandeur and beauty whilst accommodating thoughtful and modern development. Ballarat’s modern architecture was designed to blend with the old with examples being the City Library, the Law Courts and Justice Centre and the Ballarat Base Hospital.
Urban Structure
The southwest corner of the city's main intersection at Lydiard and Sturt Streets
The central area of Ballarat, known as “Ballarat City”, includes the locality of Bakery Hill has a large mixed use office and retail district centred around Sturt Street (which spans the floodplain of the Yarrowee River) and Lydiard and Bridge Streets set on the higher ground at each side and bounded at the north by the main railway line. Lydiard and Sturt Street in particular contain significant and well preserved stands of commercial and civic buildings of state and national heritage significance. Additional major retail and industrial streets in the CBD include Armstrong and Mair Streets. Approximately 89% of housing in Ballarat Central is separate with 7% of housing is terraced or semi-detached and just 6% strata titled units or apartments. Beyond which Ballarat sprawls out into several suburban areas.
The inner established suburbs were initially laid out around the key mining areas and include Ballarat East, Soldiers Hill, Black Hill, Brown Hill, Eureka, Caledonian, Canadian, Redan, Sebastopol, Newington.
A view over Eureka toward Ballarat East from Sovereign Hill open air museum
The post gold rush era has seen a boom in planned suburbs, particularly in the north and west of the CBD, including Alfredton, Wendouree, Ballarat North and parts of Nerrina, Invermay and Invermay Park, Sebastopol, Delacombe, Mount Clear and Mount Helen.
Ballarat also has some more rural suburbs of 2-20 acre blocks within 15 minutes of the CBD that are very popular with families which include Miners Rest, Smythes Creek and Bunkers Hill.
The suburbs encroach nearby towns such as Buninyong which are considered to be part of Greater Ballarat.
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,[19] which are celebrated during heritage weekend in May.
Visit more Australian Towns
