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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. Federation University Australia operates the Post Office Gallery in the Wardell designed former Post Office on the corner of Sturt and Lydiard Streets.[168] Sport and recreation Ballarat has a number of large parks, sport fields, organised sporting clubs and associations. 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 is an association football club based in Ballarat, Victoria. They currently (2013) play in the Football Federation Victoria (FFV) State League division Two North-West. Their home ground is Trekardo Park, located in central Ballarat. 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. Eureka Stadium in Wendouree 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. There is currently a campaign to upgrade Northern Oval (currently known as Eureka Stadium) for hosting regular AFL and AFL pre season matches, with an aim to provide a 6000 seat covered grandstand and AFL standard lighting.[169] The Ballarat Football League (founded 1893) is a strong regional league of which there are 6 teams (Ballarat, EastPoint, Redan, Sebastopol, 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.[170] Ballarat Harness Racing Club conducts regular meetings at its racetrack in the city. [171] The Ballarat Greyhound Racing Club holds regular meetings at Sebastopol.[172] 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 the Ballarat Netball Association. Rowing and kayaking is centred on 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 metres (82 feet) 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.[173] The Alfredton Eagles, Ballarat City Brewers and Mounties YC field teams in the Geelong Baseball Association Winter Division. 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;[174] the Midlands Golf Course on Heinz Lane in the northern suburb of Invermay Park which is home to the Midlands Golf Club;[175] 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. The Ballarat Roller Derby League was formed in 2008, and held their first match in 2009. They have two teams who compete in local events, and a combined travelling team, the Rat Pack, who compete in interleague roller derby competitions.[176] 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. Popular culture Ballarat has inspired many visual artists. Eugene von Guerard documented the city's establishment as a gold digging settlement, while Albert Henry Fullwood and Knut Bull depicted the city's boom era streetscapes.[177] Ballarat features prominently in literature and fiction, including "The Boscombe Valley Mystery", a short story from Arthur Conan Doyle's The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1891); 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 Illywhacker (1985) by Peter Carey. Ballarat is also a popular filming location.[178] Australia's second oldest feature film, Eureka Stockade (1907), is the first in a line of films about the historic Ballarat event. The city makes cameos in Dogs in Space (1986), My Brother Jack (2001), Ned Kelly (2003) and The Writer (2005).[179] The 2012 television series The Doctor Blake Mysteries was set and shot in Ballarat.[180] Two ships of the Royal Australian Navy have been named HMAS Ballarat after the city, HMAS Ballarat (J184) and HMAS Ballarat (FFH 155). Notable persons See also: List of people from Ballarat and List of Mayors of Ballarat Bust of Alfred Deakin, first federal minister for Ballaarat at the Prime Ministers Avenue. 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 ministers of Australia were either born in or lived in Ballarat and this was recognised by the city's Prime Minister's Avenue. Alfred Deakin second Prime Minister was the first federal Parliament as MP for Ballaarat.[181] Sir Robert Menzies,[182] and James Scullin[183] were both educated in Ballarat. John Curtin was born in nearby Creswick and his wife Elsie was born Ballarat. Several premiers of the Australian states are were born in Ballarat, including Ballarat born Sir Henry Bolte,[184] Steve Bracks,[185] Thomas Hollway,[186] and Henry Daglish.[187] Additionally Duncan Gillies lived in and represented Ballarat in the Victorian Legislative Assembly before becoming state premier.[188] Outside of politics, other prominent public figures include Peter Lalor, an important historical figure in Australia as the leader of the Eureka Rebellion (1854) and parliamentarian;[189] the inventor George Alfred Julius,who spent part of his childhood there when his father was a local Anglican cleric;[190] the inventor Henry Sutton was born and worked in Ballarat;[191] and Cardinal George Pell, the current Catholic Archbishop of Sydney who was born there. Ballarat has also produced many notable athletes including the Olympic long distance runner Steve Moneghetti and four time Olympic basketball player Ray Borner. A large number of notable Australian rules football identities have come from Ballarat, including Australian Football Hall of Fame members Tony Lockett and Bob Davis. Infrastructure Health Ballarat Base Hospital's Henry Bolte wing (completed in 1994) Drummond St Nth Ballarat has two major hospitals. The public health services are managed by Ballarat Health Services including the Ballarat Base which services the entire region and the Queen Elizabeth Centre for aged care on Ascot Street Sth. The St John of God Health Care centre also on Drummond Street Nth, established in 1915 is currently the largest private hospital in regional Victoria.[citation needed] The Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre (BRICC) on the corner of Drummond and Sturt Street includes a number of facilities focused on cancer treatment.[192] Utilities Ballarat's residents are serviced by a wide range of public utilities including water, gas and electricity, telephony and data communications supplied, overseen and regulated by state based authorities and private enterprise and local council. Water supply as well as sewage collection and disposal are provided by Central Highlands Water.[193] Drinking water is sourced from a network reservoirs all located in the highlands to the east, however the majority is sourced from two main reservoirs—Lal Lal and White Swan. The Lal Lal Reservoir (built in 1970[194] with a capacity 59,500 megalitres (Ml)[195]) is Ballarat's largest water catchment accounting for approximately two thirds of the city's water usage.[196] The White Swan reservoir (built in 1952[194] with a 14,100 Ml (498×106 cu ft) capacity) supplies most of the remainder.[195] Since May 2008, the White Swan has been topped up by water from Bendigo's Sandhurst Reservoir through the Goldfields Superpipe with water originally sourced from the Goulburn River system.[197] Kirks Reservoir (built between 1860 and 1862 with a capacity of 400 Ml) and Gong Gong Reservoir (built in 1877 at Gong Gong with a capacity 1,902 Ml[195]) are historic main water supplies now maintained for emergency use.[198] Other reservoirs supplying Ballarat include Moorabool reservoir (located in Bolwarrah with a capacity of 6,738 Ml), Wilson's Reservoir (located in the Wombat State Forest with a capacity of 1,013 Ml), Beales reservoir (built 1863[199] located at Wallace with a capacity of 415 Ml) and Pincotts reservoir (built 1867[199] located at Leigh Creek with a capacity of 218 Ml).[200] Sewage is managed by two plants—the Ballarat North Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Ballarat South Waste Water Treatment Plant.[201] Residential electricity is supplied by Victorian electricity distributor Powercor,[193] while residential natural gas is supplied by AGL Energy.[193] Telephony services are provided via the Doveton Street (BRAT) telephone exchange[202] which was originally built by the Australian Telecommunications Commission (now known as Telstra) who remains its owner, though Optus now also operates services from this facility. The city's cellular network currently uses Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). Telstra has provided mobile telecommunications to Ballarat since 2003 (initially as CDMA). Optus provided competition with its entrance to the market in 2003 along with significant service upgrades in 2004[203] followed by Vodafone in mid-2009.[204] Data communications are provided by several companies. Telstra was the first company to provide dial-up Internet access via the Ballarat exchange, however the first network for broadband Internet access available in the city was a hybrid optical fiber cable and coaxial cable built by Neighbourhood Cable in 2001.[205] Since then, Telstra and Optus have entered the Ballarat market, providing Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) services for residential Internet access from four main exchanges—Ballarat, Wendouree (Howitt Street), Sebastopol (Skipton Street) and Alfredton (Cuthberts Road). These companies also provide mobile data access Evolved HSPA and since late 2011 3GPP Long Term Evolution (4G). Ballarat's rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN) is seen as vital for the city's growing IT industry.[206][207] During Ballarat's first stage NBN rollout in 2012, 17,800 homes will be directly connected to the network via optical fibre cable.[208] Transport Road A view of the Western Freeway (M8) at Nerrina looking west toward Doodts Road, Ballarat North and Invermay from the Nerrina pedestrian overpass. Road transport and the motor vehicle is the main form of transport. A network of state highways radiate from Ballarat and the Western Freeway (A8) is dual carriageway bypasses the central city to the north of the urban area, providing a direct road connection to Melbourne (approximately 90 minutes), westward to Ararat (approximately 75 minutes) and Horsham. Five freeway interchanges service the urban area, East Ballarat (half diamond) interchange at Victoria Street (C805); Brown Hill interchange (full diamond) at Daylesford-Ballarat Road (C292), Creswick Road interchange (full diamond) at Wendouree (A300); the Mount Rowan interchange (half diamond) at Gillies Road, Wendouree (C307) and the Mitchell Park interchange (full diamond) at Howe Street (C287). 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 a four lane dual carriageway to relieve pressure on these main streets.[209] Other dual carriageway main roads in the west include Howitt Street and Gillies Street.[210] The busiest roads by far are located in the west and south at Albert Street in Redan, Sturt Street in Newington and Gillies Street in Lake Gardens which carry 22,400, 22,000 and 21,500 vehicles per day respectively and all have 4 traffic lanes.[210] 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.[211] In addition to these two companies, numerous private companies service suburban, intercity and interstate routes with coach services. Gold Bus provides additional suburban services as well as the Ballarat School Bus Network.[212] Ballarat railway station is a major regional terminal for coach services. V/Line operates direct services to regional Victorian locations including Melbourne, Geelong, Bendigo, Warrnambool, Mildura, Nhill, Ouyen, Halls Gap, Daylesford, Maryborough as well as the South Australian cities of Adelaide and Mount Gambier. Gold Bus operates direct regional services to links to both Avoca and Maryborough, while Sandlants operates a direct service to Stawell. Bus operates There is also a direct bus service to Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport.[213] Interstate coaches from Greyhound Australia and Firefly Express coaches stop at Ballarat on route between Melbourne and Adelaide. The local taxi fleet consists of over 57 vehicles services in all suburbs and is currently operated by Ballarat Taxis Co-op Ltd.[214] Taxis are the only late night public transport option in the city.[215] Rail Modern fleet of VLocity railcars inside the train shed of Ballarat railway station A tourist tram on Wendouree Parade. Ballarat has historically been a major rail transport hub in Victoria, situated at the junction of the Ballarat line, Ararat line and Mildura lines it currently has several connections for both passenger rail services and freight rail. The city has two passenger railway stations, the hub of Ballarat railway station and suburban Wendouree railway station.[216] From Ballarat station, V/Line operates VLocity trains running at up to 160 km/h (99 mph) east to Melbourne, west and Ararat and north to Maryborough. Since the controversial removal of "flagship" express services in 2011, successive timetable changes have slowed peak hour services to Southern Cross Station, with the current journey taking a minimum of 73 minutes.[217][218] Patronage however has continued to grow.[219][220] The Regional Rail Link project is aimed at separating Ballarat trains from Melbourne's suburban rail network.[221] Interurban services (Ballarat-Melbourne) now run half hourly during weekday peak and hourly on weekends from Ballarat station. A twice daily (56 minute) service connects Ballarat to Ararat while there is a (52 minute) service to and from Maryborough (stopping at Creswick) once a day each way.[222] Victoria's electronic ticketing system, Myki, was implemented on rail services between Wendouree and Melbourne on 24 July 2013.[223] Ballarat is connected to Geelong by rail via the Geelong-Ballarat railway line, which currently operates only for freight (passenger services were withdrawn in 1978) although in 2011, a planning study began for returning of passenger services along the line to investigate connecting both cities to Bendigo via Maryborough and Castlemaine.[224][225][226] There are also several disused railway corridors and stations along the Skipton railway, Buninyong railway. A former branch line built in 1886 to Redan was sold off by VicTrack and finally dismantled in 2010.[227] The freight line forked off the Singleton line at Lake Gardens running south through Alfredton and then east parallel to Latrobe Street, past the Cattle yards and on to Redan (now Delacombe).[227] The once extensive Ballarat tramway network operated between 1887 and 1971 with a small section of remaining track being utilised as a tourist and museum tramway.[228] There have been proposals to extend the network, particularly as a major tourist facility but also to connect it to the railways and return it as a viable component of the Ballarat public transport system, including a strong lobby in both 2001–2002 and 2010–11,[229][230][231][232] however Ballarat City Council has dismissed the proposals.[233][234] Air Ballarat Aerodrome from above 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 [98 ft] wide) as well as extensive sealed aprons, night lighting and NDB Navaid. A Master Plan for the Aerodrome was completed in 2005 followed by an Airport Master Plan in 2013.[235] The report made a series of recommendations and forecasts that included eventual lengthening, widening and strengthening of the existing main runway up to 1,800 metres (5,900 feet), 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.[236] The Ballarat Bicycle Users Group provides advocacy for the growing number of cyclists in the city.[237] 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.[238] |
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