Mayor’s Message - Friday 7 February 2025

It was an exciting day for our city and the wider region last Friday, with the Australian Government announcing that the Victorian Goldfields has officially been added to Australia's World Heritage Tentative List.

This is a major step forward for the City of Ballarat and our local government counterparts, as we have been advocating for UNESCO World Heritage Listing of the Victorian Goldfields for 35 years.

The World Heritage bid is the initiative of a regional partnership made up of the 15 local councils and the Victorian Goldfields Tourism Executive, led by us and the City of Greater Bendigo.  

To have now reached the tentative list is no small feat as to achieve UNESCO recognition, the Victorian Goldfields must be actively on this list for a minimum of 12 months.  

While this may seem like a long wait period, it will allow us the time to refine our submission in preparation for the final nomination.  

Australia can only make one nomination to UNESCO per year and there are many other places from around Australia in the queue. It is therefore vital that all aspects of our submission are well researched and form a strong part of the overall Victorian Goldfields bid.

Ballarat is widely acknowledged as one of the foundation bookends to the whole listing, and we know that our iconic historic urban landscape, along with the story of Eureka, will be integral to the success of the World Heritage bid. We envisage it will feature prominently in the final nomination submitted to UNESCO.

If we are successful in our bid, achieving UNESCO World Heritage status will bring extensive benefits to the region’s local communities.  

A 2024 economic assessment found that the listing could see 2.5 million new visitors to the Victorian Goldfields Region over 10 years, with an estimated visitor spending increase into local economies of over $500 million.

Now that we have achieved this milestone, we will continue to engage with the community, and regional leaders in Ballarat, Bendigo and surrounds to gather support of the historic bid.  

We want to ensure the Victorian Goldfields is recognised on a global stage, conserving it for future generations to appreciate and enjoy.

- Mayor Cr Tracey Hargreaves