Mayor’s Message - Friday 26 January 2024

There are plenty of ways to spend your Australia Day in Ballarat.  

The family friendly Picnic in the Park returns this year, as a chance to gather your friends and family for a relaxed afternoon with great food, market stalls, kids’ activities and entertainment.  

You can bring along a picnic or enjoy some delicious food and drink offerings from the on-site food trucks.  

It runs from 11.30am – 3.30pm on Australia Day at Victoria Park, adjacent to the Inclusive Play Space.

It’s a great opportunity to meander through more than 40 market stalls, enjoy some lawn games or kick back on the bean bags and relax to the live music.  

The furry member of your family is also welcome, but please keep your dog on their lead at the event.  

Picnic in the Park is held at one of our city’s greatest locations – the beautiful Victoria Park. It is designed to be an extremely relaxing day, one that takes place in a respectful manner of everyone.

We had so much positive feedback after the first two year’s of the event, so we encourage families to come along and make a day of it.

Early on Australia Day I have the privilege to help more than 60 community members will become new Australian citizens at a special ceremony.

The conferees are from 20 countries, including South Africa, India, Netherlands, UK and USA, and I am thrilled to welcome them all officially to our wonderful city.  

And last night I had the pleasure of attending the City of Ballarat Australia Day Community Awards at the Town Hall.  

We unveiled the Ballarat Citizen of the Year, the Ballarat Young Citizen of the Year and the Community Event of the Year. Full details of the winners are on our website and social media.

The awards are provided by the Australia Day Committee (Victoria) and are administered by Local Government Authorities throughout Australia, on behalf of each council.

We acknowledge there are differing views around Australia Day being on 26 January, but we ask that people be respectful of other’s opinions – that is what makes our country such a great country to live. 

- Mayor Cr Des Hudson