Ballarat, Victoria

Ballarat University Buildings

Ballarat Railway Station
Not long after you pass the big orange sign saying “You are entering Wadawurrung Country,” you pass Pistol Club Road and a “Honey for Sale” sign, then it’s a straight run south (from Daylesford), to the semi-industrial beginnings of Ballarat.

It’s always a puzzle to me that, in an attempt to meet all the needs of modern western society, all the service industries are allowed to clutter up the main approaches into our cities. The brick works, the flooring manufacturers, the transport depots – you name it, they’re all there, lining the streets that take us into our city hearts. It’s hardly enticing. Why can’t they be hidden out the back somewhere? Why can’t we have more appealing leafy avenues showing the way like they do in so many small towns?

But I digress. I went to Ballarat for the first (and only other time), in 2010 – a trip most memorable for two things – the fabulous railway station buildings and rather unfortunate ‘accident’ I had when, distracted by the surrounding architecture, I plonked myself down on a step that wasn’t actually there. The pain was sickening and as I sat there, immobile, on the unyielding stone pavement, I wondered if I’d ever walk straight again. This trip could only be an improvement - as long as I kept my wits about me.

If you like architecture, it’s not hard to like Ballarat. The place is awash with splendid buildings that speak of the city’s early wealth. It was a gold rush boom town. Located on the Yarrowee River in the Grampians region of Victoria, it transformed from a small sheep station to a major settlement after gold was first discovered – rather ironically – at Poverty Point - on 18 August, 1851. News spread fast and suddenly every man and his dog wanted to try their hand at gold prospecting. Within months, migrants from all around the world had arrived.

Long, long before that though, this was Wadawurrung territory (and it still is). Their traditional lands spread 3,000 square miles across what are today the Geelong, Ballarat and Bellarine areas.

The Wathaurung Aboriginal Corporation (WAC), trading as Wadawurrung, is the Regional Aboriginal Party (RAP) for Wadawurrung country. It has a statutory role in the management of Aboriginal heritage values and culture within the region under the Victoria Aboriginal Heritage Act of 2006. An Act if I may say, that seems very recent given Aborigines have peopled this land for thousands of years.

I was only in town for a short time – and I was on a specific mission – so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that I didn’t see a lot of overt references to the Aboriginal history of the place. Apart from an Aboriginal painting on the wall at my first coffee stop and a street art painting of an Aboriginal girl, I saw nothing. But I’m sure it’s all there.

The architecture however, cannot be missed. The city is well known for its well-preserved Victorian heritage and there’s a grandeur and opulence to both the commercial buildings and much of the city’s housing. It dominates every corner and is a clear show of the confidence early settlers had in their city.

The references to gold are all around too and one area of town – Sovereign Hill - is given over to an outdoor museum where visitors can experience the history and excitement of the gold rush era. You can pan for a speck of gold, explore underground mines, visit the Gold Museum and watch Redcoat soldiers (actors in uniform), firing muskets in ways that bring the now-famous Eureka Rebellion of 1854 to mind.

Often known as the Eureka Stockade, the uprising was fought between miners and colonial forces – the only armed rebellion in Australian history in fact. I’m not certain what the miners were revolting against but the military stepped in. The red-coated British soldiers’ role prior to that, had simply been to escort gold safely to Melbourne.

Personally, I’d rather watch jelly set than sit through the re-enactment of some historic battle, so I by-passed Sovereign Hill. Perhaps another time. But I have spent some time day-dreaming about the Welcome Nugget, which was found at Bakery Hill in Ballarat in 1858 by 22 miners. It is still the second largest gold nugget found anywhere in recorded history.

To call it a ‘nugget’ in fact, is a perfect piece of Australian under-statement. It actually weighted 68.98 kilograms – more of a gold boulder than a gold nugget; and it is reported that the first two men to find it fainted at the sight of it. True or not, I completely understand.

A year after it was found, it was melted down by a London mint to make gold coins – but not before several replicas were made, which are now on display in museums in Sydney, Melbourne, Ballarat and even in the Mineralogical Museum at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

So that’s Ballarat’s key historical points in a nutshell. I do regret not having time to visit the Ballarat Botanical Gardens – home to the greatest concentration of public statuary in Australia. This includes the Prime Ministers’ Avenue, where bronze casts of all of Australia’s Prime Ministers feature in a leafy walkway. In fact, within the last week, Tony Abbott was there, giving the thumbs-up to his bronze – the latest in a long line.

But I’ll be back and maybe then, I’ll also find time to chat with some Ballaratians, as they’re known, to find out what they think of their splendid little city.