In and Around Ballarat

In June 1927 Bert Ive produced the best surviving Ballarat documentary of the silent era. The footage starts from Blackhill Lookout looking west down MacArthur Street towards Lake Wendouree showing the mining dumps which are unrecognisable today and the electric trams which served commuters from 1905 until 1971. The film presents a modern inland city of post-First World War industry and agriculture, but we are still reminded of the glory days of the gold rush with men holding plaster models of some of the nuggets found during the mining boom, including the 69 kilogram 'Welcome Nugget’ found at Bakery Hill on 9 June 1858, the biggest lump of gold the world had ever seen.

The Eureka Rebellion is represented by the stature of rebel leader Peter Lalor erected in 1893 with the Eureka Stockade plaque on its base. Lalor survived the rebellion and lived to become a parliamentarian.