Ballarat, located 100km west of Melbourne is steeped in history. A lasting monument to the pioneering adventurers who left their distant home-lands in search of prosperity.

Early pastoral settlement began in the late 1830's then in 1851 gold was discovered at nearby Clunes followed by finds at Buninyong & in Ballarat itself.

This prompted a gold-rush to the region, at one stage there were 60,000 diggers scouring the soils around Ballarat.

When gold was first discovered the government deemed that mining for gold without a license was illegal. Those without a license were dragged off to 'The Logs' & chained up. Resentment grew among the miners & in 1854 a Ballarat Reform League was established to represent the diggers against increasing aggravation by officials on the fields. This culminated in the famous 'Eureka Rebellion' of 3rd. Dec. 1854.

During the 1860's Ballarat became an exporter of expertise & machinery to other goldfields around Australia, and around the world.

By 1918, when the last mine closed, some 60,000 tons of gold had been removed including 43 nuggets weighing over 100 ounces (2.8kg.) each. At nearby Molaguil in 1869, the purest, large nugget in the world was recorded. 'The Welcome Stranger' measured 53cm long & 26cm thick & weighed a staggering 69.9kg. of pure gold.

Today Ballarat is a thriving community of around 80,000 people, & is a communications & industrial centre for a large area of western Victoria - of course the occasional nugget is still found floating around the backyard.