You are here: Home > Ballarat Tourist Attactions > About Ballarat

About Ballarat

Ballarat is the largest inland city in Victoria, Australia, and the third largest inland city in Australia. It is approximately 105 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, with an urban population of 90,200 people.

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 was derived from local Aboriginal dialect meaning 'resting place'. Settlement flourished in the early 1850s when gold was discovered. With a huge influx of population and wealth as a major participant in the Gold Rush, Ballarat was, for a time, Victoria's largest city.

Ballarat is notable as the site for Australia's only armed civil uprising, colloquially referred to as the Eureka Stockade but more correctly titled the Eureka Rebellion, which took place on 3rd December 1854. The event, in which 22 miners died, is considered a defining moment in Australian history. The purpoted site of the rebellion contains an historical park and a memorial to the event. The remains of the original Eureka Flag are on public display in the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery.

* This article uses material from Wikipedia.