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The municipality of Ballarat has a rich and living heritage.

At least 40,000 years ago the Wadawurung and Dja Dja Wurrung Indigenous people called this country home. Their words 'balla arat' mean 'resting place' or 'bent elbow'.

The first white settler - Archibald Yuille - called his property 'Ballaarat' in 1837 and gold was discovered at Buninyong in 1851.

The Eureka Rebellion, one of Australia's defining historic and democratic moments, took place at daybreak on 3 December 1854 when 120 gold miners were attacked by a government force of British soldiers and Victorian police at Ballarat.

We recognise this heritage through:

• the Ballarat Heritage Awards
• heritage grants and loans to help preserve and restore properties
• our Heritage Advisory Committee

View our Heritage database.

You can search using:

• place name
• street name
• heritage overlay

We have many heritage places protected by a heritage overlay. Learn about their heritage significance, history, physical description and photographs.

Visit the Ballarat Planning Scheme to see what planning controls affect a property.

Want more information?

Email eservices@ballarat.vic.gov.au

We offer grants to restore eligible heritage places through the Victoria Heritage Restoration Fund.

You can check your eligibility and apply for a grant.

We offer zero or low-interest loans for restoration works to commercial and residential properties listed within a Heritage Overlay.

How to apply

1. Check the Ballarat Heritage Database to see if your property is located in a Heritage Overlay
2. Read the restoration loads information sheet and restoration loans terms and conditions
3. Complete the restoration loans application form
4. Email the form to info@ballarat.vic.gov.au

Council employ a team of dedicated full-time Heritage Advisors to help guide the decision-making process. Council’s Advisors may be engaged via the Statutory Planning team and are able to provide guidance at pre-application and application stages in consultation with Planning Officers.

With reference to the relevant provisions of the Ballarat Planning Scheme and Heritage Victoria’s development guidelines (below) advice can be provided with regards to the following common projects:

• The extent of demolition works;
• New and replacement buildings in heritage precincts;
• Alterations and additions to existing heritage buildings and other assets;
• The finer grain detailing of new and replacement buildings and alterations and additions, including colours, materials and finishes;
• Restoration and repair works; and
• Vegetation and landscaping

Should you wish to speak with a Heritage Advisor please lodge either a request for written advice or a request for pre-application advice:

Lodge a request for written advice

Lodge a request for a pre-application meeting

If you are considering developing a heritage property, please first refer to the below guidelines prepared by Heritage Victoria. These guidelines should be read in conjunction with Clause 15.03 (Heritage) and Clause 43.01 (Heritage Overlay) of the Ballarat Planning Scheme

• The Heritage Overlay Guidelines - Alterations and Additions - Non significant places
• The Heritage Overlay Guidelines - Demolition
• The Heritage Overlay Guidelines - External painting
• The Heritage Overlay Guidelines - Fences
• The Heritage Overlay Guidelines - Landscaping and trees
• The Heritage Overlay Guidelines - New buildings
• The Heritage Overlay Guidelines - Signs
• The Heritage Overlay Guidelines - Subdivision

The City of Ballarat will soon publish here guidelines for the appropriate placement of solar panels on heritage buildings. These guidelines will seek to strike a balance between heritage conservation principles and the provision of energy efficient utilities in accordance with the Council adopted Environmentally Sustainable Design (ESD) Guidelines (March 2023).

Should you have any queries in the interim, please call the Statutory Planning team via Customer Service 5320 5500.

The Heritage Gaps Review Program is an ambitious and proactive work program to identify and protect places of heritage significance missing from the Ballarat Planning Scheme and to enhance the conservation and management of existing heritage places and precincts.

The City of Ballarat is growing, by 2041 the municipality's population is predicted to increase by 55,000 people. To support this growth, the City of Ballarat will need to facilitate the development of thousands of new dwellings and help drive business and industry growth to support local employment opportunities.

This growth may put pressure on the city's valued heritage assets. The City of Ballarat is undertaking the Heritage Gaps Review Program to help prepare for this challenge now.

This ambitious, multi-year program of strategic heritage work will span the whole municipality, reviewing places and precincts already in the Heritage Overlay, as well as assessing new heritage places for inclusion.

The information collected through the Heritage Gaps Review Program will help identify and address current gaps in the Heritage Overlay, to ensure our heritage assets are managed and conserved into the future. 

This program delivers on the City of Ballarat Council Plan 2021-2025, which identifies Ballarat as ‘Victoria’s heritage city: leading the way as a sustainable, innovative and inclusive community’.

The City of Ballarat recognises that there are many places of heritage significance across the municipality that do not have adequate heritage protection. The study will identify, document and assess these places to consider whether they should be added to the Heritage Overlay in the Ballarat Planning Scheme. 

The Heritage Gaps Review Program will ensure heritage places and precincts clearly demonstrate how and why they are significant.

The City of Ballarat will review the existing Ballarat Planning Scheme, the key statutory tool used to make decisions about Ballarat’s heritage places and precincts. 

This will provide the community, the City of Ballarat and property owners/occupiers with clear guidance for decision making in relation to the conservation and future management and development of heritage places.

The Heritage Gaps Review program will capture the entire City of Ballarat municipality. It will include rural areas, townships and urban areas.

The Heritage Gaps Review Program is a substantial undertaking which will involve numerous consultancy firms, community engagement programs and a significant input from City of Ballarat Officers.  It will take several years to complete the full set of proposed projects within the Program, but we hope to complete it fully by 2030.

• Contact the Heritage Team at City of Ballarat via Customer Service on 5320 5500
• Send an email to heritageteam@ballarat.vic.gov.au
• Visit MySay and keep an eye out for any open consultations

Online: Visit MySay to mark places on the interactive map

Download the nomination form: on MySay, complete the form and email to heritageteam@ballarat.vic.gov.au

Collect a nomination form in person: at libraries (Doveton, Sebastopol, Wendouree, Xin Jin Shan), City of Ballarat Phoenix building, Eureka Centre, Mechanics Institute), you can then return the nomination form to the drop in the ballot box at these locations or email to heritageteam@ballarat.vic.gov.au

The Lake Lighting project was the top priority project identified in the Lake Wendouree Masterplan. This process included three phases of community consultation. The consultation survey received over 1,800 responses with 81.7 per cent of respondents supportive of the project and 8.8 per cent neutral. Over 480 written responses strongly supporting the project were also received. 

The  Steve Moneghetti Track is a permeable granitic sand track that is uneven in places and can hold water after heavy or prolonged rainfall. Lighting the track reduces trip and fall hazards associated with poor lighting on a track with a variable and uneven surface. 

At the February 2022 City of Ballarat Council meeting, Councillors voted to award the project tender to DeAraugo and Lea Electrical Contractors. The contract involves the supply, install and commission of 225 light poles and fittings around the Steve Moneghetti Track and supply, install and commission of 7 light poles and fittings along Morrison Street. 

The City of Ballarat received $2.5 million in funding from the State Government, which was secured via an election commitment in 2018.   

There have been three extensive phases of community consultation conducted as part of the Lake Wendouree Master Plan: 

• Community and stakeholder consultation was held in 2016 and two four-week community consultation periods were held in 2017.   

• The consultation survey received more than 1,800 responses with 81.7 per cent of these responses supporting the project and 8.8 per cent neutral. More than 480 written responses strongly supporting the project were also received.   

• An online consultation was conduct via the City of Ballarat’s mySay page in 2020.  

• This consultation was impacted at the time by COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings. A letter drop to Wendouree Parade residents also took place at the same time. 150 responses were received with the findings showing 45 per cent supporting lighting, 46 per cent did not support lighting, nine per cent were ‘unknown’ and 41 per cent were concerned about the impact to wildlife. Of the 29 responses from residents living around the lake, 48 per cent supported lake lighting, 35 per cent did not support lighting and 17 per cent were ‘unknown’.   

• The online mySay consultation again opened in the summer of 2020-21 and was coupled with the installation of trial lights which were set up to demonstrate the light poles and fittings and how they performed and functioned.    

Additionally, the Planning Permit was advertised for 21 days on site in location around Lake Wendouree and in the Ballarat Times Newspaper from 3 April 2021 to 24 April 2021. Several submissions were made during this process but a State Government change in the Planning Scheme made the project exempt from this process.   

The Heritage Victoria Permit was advertised from 28 July 2021 to 10 August 2021 both on-site at Lake Wendouree and in the Ballarat Courier. Ten submissions were received (all of which also submitted to the Planning Permit). 

Two trial lights were installed near the Olympic Rings at Lake Wendouree in late 2020. The two trial lights which demonstrate the pole style and light spill, include two pole option designs - one with a straight tapered pole and the other with a stepped pole. 

The tapered pole option has been approved through a Planning Permit and Heritage Victoria Permit. 

 The design for the Lake Lighting project has considered a range of factors including but not limited to an independent Biological Impact Assessment, an independent Arborist Assessment, a Cultural Heritage Management Plan, and a Heritage Impact Assessment. This includes not only the fittings and poles, but also the installation to minimise any impacts on the environment.

The lighting design has specifically incorporated low spill LED fittings to limit any spill and glare beyond the path and either side of the path. The spill to the path and either side of it, and the lux level, are required to meet the requirements under the Australian Standard 1158.3.1:2020 Category PP3 for Public Lighting. 

The Ligman light fittings selected for the project are accredited by the International Dark-sky Association.   The lights comply with the City of Ballarat’s Energy Efficient Public Lighting Policy 2009 which states that public lighting installations must utilise energy efficient LED lighting and consider the relevant sections of AS/NZS 1158. The selected fitting complies to this standard and the energy efficient LED lighting directive.

In-ground and low-level cross path illumination lighting was considered through the design process and subsequently not supported because these lights do not meet Australian Standard 1158.3.1:2020 Category PP3 for Public Lighting. 

The Heritage Victoria Permit was approved for the project on 2 September 2021, specifically for the lighting proposed in the Victorian Heritage Listed Botanic Garden precinct. 

This permit was advertised earlier in 2021 and considered the Heritage Impact Statement, consultation with Heritage Victoria, the Arborist Report with specific reference to Tree Protection Zones, and the how the project was to be constructed (underground boring instead of open excavation and trenching).   

The Planning Permit was approved by the Planning Delegated Committee of Council on 27 October 2021. This Planning Permit included the detailed design for the project and approved the use of the proposed light fittings and poles. 

The City of Ballarat has conducted extensive research into the impacts the Lake Wendouree and Victoria Park Link Lighting project may have on the lake and its surrounds and has explored ways of reducing those impacts. 

Download a summary of the Environmental Impact Report.

Download a summary of the Heritage Impact Report.

For more detailed information see:

• The Lake Wendouree Master Plan
• The Wendouree Lake Lighting Biodiversity Impact Assessment
• The Wendouree Lake Lighting Arborist Impact Assessment and Report
• The Wendouree Lake Lighting Heritage Impact Statement

Heritage Victoria-endorsed Lake Wendouree and Victoria Park Link Lighting plans and project documentation:

• Lake Wendouree and Victoria Park Link Lighting Tree and Construction Management Plan
• Lake Wendouree and Victoria Park Link Lighting Detailed Design part 1
• Lake Wendouree and Victoria Park Link Lighting Detailed Design part 2
• Lake Wendouree and Victoria Park Link Lighting Detailed Design part 3