Ballarat.The city of Ballarat lies just 105km northwest of Melbourne and is the largest inland city in the state of Victoria. It was founded in 1838 and in 1851, when gold was found in the area, it became for a while, Victoria’s largest city. 
Ballarat has enjoyed a rich and prosperous heritage thanks to the Gold Rush.News that the region was home to the richest alluvial goldfield in the world resulted in a population explosion as people came from all over the world seeking fortune. By 1855, Ballarat had grown to a city with a population of 100,000 people. Impressive public and private buildings were built, financed from the wealth generated by the diggings. Notable buildings include Ballarat's Town Hall (built between 1870 and 1872), Her Majesty's Theatre (1875) and Craig's Hotel which was built in several stages between 1853 and 1891.
In 1854 Ballarat was the location for Australia's one and only civil uprising, the "Eureka Stockade", when gold miners revolted against officials in opposition of unfair treatment and extortion. The city's growth slowed after the 1880s and Melbourne quickly overshadowed it in importance, however, Ballarat has endured as a major regional centre and tourist destination, having retained much of its Victorian heritage and unique culture, and is now highly regarded for its grand heritage listed public and private buildings, monuments, statues and expansive gardens. Today Ballarat, now a university town, has a thriving industry based mainly on tourism, engineering, building, the manufacture of automotive parts and information technology. Ballarat is notable for its very wide boulevards and the main street, Sturt Street, is considered to be one of the best main streets in Australia with over 2 kilometres of central gardens known as the Sturt Street Gardens with bandstands, fountains, statues, monuments and memorials. 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 places 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 statues 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 Mt Pleasant in Ballarat who served as a medical orderly at Gallipoli, trained as a doctor on his return and worked tirelessly with minimal resources to save countless lives in Prisoner of War camps during World War II.In late 2006, the Ballarat "Big Miner" was erected at the eastern entrance to Ballarat city. The larger-than-life statue of a miner holding a pick and pan greets visitors as they approach the city from the east. An important asset to Ballarat is Lake Wendouree, a man-made lake covering 200 hectares, located a couple of kilometres west of the town centre.
The lake's reed beds and islands are an important oasis for bird life, although the current drought has caused much of the lake to dry up (2006 - 2009). 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 the drought that has affected the region for 13 years. The gardens are home to many heritage listed trees and contains a mostly non-native, European mix of trees some planted many years ago. The gardens are also 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. A vintage electric tramway operates along Wendouree Parade between the Botanical Gardens and lake foreshore. The town is also home to the award-winning tourist park Sovereign Hill, a recreated 1850s gold mining settlement that is considered to be one of the best tourism theme parks in the world. Ballarat Wildlife Park a popular tourist attraction covers 32 acres (130,000 m2) and includes a large reptile collection.Ballarat is also home to the oldest Jewish synagogue on mainland Australia. The first stone was laid on January 25, 1861, during the Victorian Gold Rush period. The synagogue is located in Bakery Hill.
It is considered to have the best Australian collections outside any capital city in Australia and The University of Ballarat operates the Post Office Gallery in the Wardell designed former Post Office on the corner of Sturt and Lydiard Streets. 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 · Wendouree Centre for Performing Arts (Ballarat Grammar School) – Seating 900 · The 1870 Founders Theatre (University of Ballarat, Mount Helen Campus) - Seating 600 · Gay E. Gough Theatre (Mt. Clear Secondary College) – Seating 350 · The Victoria Theatre (Sovereign Hill) - Seating 300 · Helen Macpherson Smith Performing Arts Theatre (University of Ballarat, Arts Academy Camp Street Campus) – Seating 200 · The Courthouse Theatre (University of Ballarat, SMB Campus) - Seating 140 · Post Office Box Theatre (University of Ballarat Arts Academy, Camp Street Campus) – Flexible Seating up to 100 Additionally the Mechanics Institute hall, which seats 700, is used from time to time for travelling performances and cinema shows. 
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. 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 located at Sovereign Hill and Kryal Castle. December 2006 saw the creation of BTR, an organisation within Ballarat that has begun hosting dance events in Ballarat. Ballarat Ghost Tours, a walking tour focusing on Ballarat's History and supernatural occurrences, operates Wednesday to Sunday and a large cinema complex with several theatres is located behind the facade of the old Regent cinemas in the heart of the city. Around 10 kilometres south of Ballarat's city centre is the small township of Buninyong which lays claim to being Victoria's first inland town and has an interesting collection of historic buildings including the old library (built in 1861) and the stunning Italianate-styled town hall and court house. To the east of town is Mount Buninyong - an extinct volcano rising to a height of 745 metres that offers superb views from several walking tracks around the summit. NOW when you visit Ballarat you'll need somewhere to put your feet up for a night or two won't you? Well we've made that easy for you, just fill in the squares in the little box on the right and we'll take you to our page of the best hotels in Ballarat. Here you'll find not just a list of all the accommodation in Ballarat that has rooms available on the days you want to stay but also their prices, facilities, pictures and just about eveything else you could want to know. Go there now and check it out. Ballarat...........enjoy, John. Our RSS feed will be updated periodically with all the latest travel deals and special offers. Please subscribe by clicking the button to the left (XML/RSS) to receive notice of these updates without any risk or obligation. PLEASE NOTE: If you don't know what an RSS feed is just click this link. Click here to return from Ballarat to The Discount Travel Guide home page. |
The lake hosted rowing events during the 1956 Olympic Games, commemorated by the Olympic Rings monument at the southwestern corner of the lake. 
The Ballarat Fine Art Gallery houses one of Australia's oldest and most extensive collections of early Australian works.