Editing Ballarat (section)

=== Gold rush era ===
{{further|Victorian gold rush}}
[[File:Ballarat 1853-54 von guerard.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Painting by [[Eugene von Guerard]] of Ballarat's tent city in the summer of 1853–54.]]
The first publicised discovery of gold in the region was by [[Thomas Hiscock]] on 2 August 1851, in Buninyong to the south.<ref>Griffiths Peter M, "Three Times Blest A History of Buninyong 1737–1901", Ballarat Historical Society pp13</ref> The find brought other prospectors to the area and on 19 August 1851, more gold was found at Poverty Point.<ref name="The Courier 1851-11-05">{{cite news|title=Victoria|date=5 November 1851|work=The Courier|page=2}}</ref> Within days, a gold rush began, bringing thousands of prospectors to the Yarrowee Valley, which became known as the Ballarat diggings. Yields were particularly high, with the first prospectors in the area extracting between half an ounce<ref>Ballarat Diggings: From the Correspondent of the Geelong Advertiser. pg 2. The Argus. 13 September 1851.</ref> (which was more than the average wage of the time) and up to five ounces of alluvial gold per day. As news of the [[Victorian gold rush]] reached the world, Ballarat gained an international reputation as a particularly rich goldfield. As a result, a huge influx of immigrants occurred, including many from Ireland and China, gathering in a collection of prospecting [[shanty town]]s around the creeks and hills. Within a few months, numerous alluvial runs were established, several deep mining leads began, and the population had swelled to over 1,000 people.<ref name="Ballarat Population 1852">{{cite news|title=Victoria – Mount Alexander|date=11 December 1852|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|page=2|access-date=6 May 2012|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12942220}}</ref>

{{wide image|Ballarat George Rowe SLNSW FL4317605.jpg|750px|Bird's-eye view of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia, 1858, by George Rowe}}
The first post office opened on 1 November 1851, the first to open in a Victorian gold-mining settlement.<ref name="a">{{cite web|last=Phoenix Auctions History|title=Post Office List|url=http://www.phoenixauctions.com.au/cgi-bin/wsPhoenix.sh/Viewpocdwrapper.p?SortBy=VIC&filter=*Ballarat*|access-date=20 March 2021}}</ref> Parts of the district were first surveyed by [[William Swan Urquhart|William Urquhart]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oolac.com/dictionary/en/en/tag/Ballarat|title=OOLAC – #Ballarat|work=oolac.com|access-date=22 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161023053637/https://www.oolac.com/dictionary/en/en/tag/Ballarat|archive-date=23 October 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> as early as October 1851.<ref>{{cite web|last=James|first=Ken|title=The surveying career of William Swan Urquhart, 1845–1864|url=http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/provenance/no8/SurveyingCareer1.asp|work=Public Record Office Victoria|publisher=Victoria State Government|access-date=19 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027064407/http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/provenance/no8/SurveyingCareer1.asp|archive-date=27 October 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> By 1852 his [[grid plan]] and wide streets for land sales in the new township of West Ballarat,<ref name="Ballarat: A Guide to Buildings">{{cite book|last1=Jacobs|first1=Wendy|last2=Nigel|first2=Lewis|last3=Elizabeth|first3=Vines|last4=Richard|first4=Aitken|title=Ballarat: A Guide to Buildings and Areas 1851–1940|publisher=Jacobs Lewis Vines Architects and Conservation Planners|year=1981|page=11|isbn=0-9593970-0-0}}</ref> built upon a [[plateau]] of [[basalt]], contrasted markedly with the existing narrow unplanned streets, tents, and gullies of the original East Ballarat settlement. The new town's main streets of the time were named in honour of [[police commissioner]]s and [[gold commissioner]]s of the time, with the main street, Sturt Street, named after [[Evelyn Pitfield Shirley Sturt]]; Dana Street named after [[Henry Dana]]; Lydiard Street after his assistant; Doveton Street after Francis Crossman Doveton, Ballarat's first gold commissioner; Armstrong after David Armstrong; and Mair Street after William Mair.<ref name="HIS 2011-10">{{cite web|url=http://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308213340/http://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/|archive-date=8 March 2016|title=Heritage Impact Statement – Civic Hall|access-date=14 May 2012|date=October 2011|work=City of Ballarat}}</ref> These officials were based at the government encampment (after which nearby Camp Street was named), which was strategically positioned on an escarpment with an optimal view over the district's diggings.

The first newspaper, ''The Banner'', published on 11 September 1853, was one of many to be distributed during the gold-rush period. Print media played a large role in the early history of the settlement.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cornfield|first1=Jason|last2=Wickham|first2=Dorothy|last3=Gervasoni|first3=Clare|title=The Eureka Encyclopedia|publisher=Ballarat Heritage Services|year=2004|page=391|isbn=1-876478-61-6}}</ref> Ballarat attracted a sizable number of miners from the Californian 1848 gold rush, and some were known as Ballafornians.<ref>K. T-. Livingston, Richard Jordan, Gay Sweely (2001) ''Becoming Australians: the movement towards federation in Ballarat and the nation'' p.34. Wakefield Press</ref>

[[File:Eureka stockade battle.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Troopers storm the rebels' stockade during the 1854 [[Eureka Rebellion]].]]
Civil disobedience in Ballarat led to an armed civil uprising, the [[Eureka Rebellion]] (colloquially referred to as the "Eureka Stockade") which took place in Ballarat on 3 December 1854. The event, in which 22 miners were killed, is considered to be a defining moment in Australian history.

The city earned the nickname "The Golden City" in the 1850s.<ref>Perkin, Corrie [http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/arts/golden-city-of-ballarat-comes-into-the-picture/story-e6frg8n6-1225768084821 Golden city of Ballarat comes into the picture] The Australian 1 September 2009.</ref> The gold rush population peaked at almost 60,000, mostly male diggers, by 1858.<ref>{{cite news|title=Gold Rush Population Peak 1858-9-23|date=23 September 1858|work=The Star|page=2|access-date=6 May 2012|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page6460448?zoomLevel=1}}</ref> However the early population was largely itinerant. As quickly as the alluvial deposits drew prospectors to Ballarat, the rate of gold extraction fluctuated and, as they were rapidly worked dry, many quickly moved to rush other fields as new findings were announced, particularly [[Castlemaine, Victoria|Mount Alexander]] in 1852, [[Fiery Creek (Victoria)|Fiery Creek]]<ref name="Fiery Creek 1855-11-03">{{cite news|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article708233|title=Colonial News.|newspaper=[[The Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser]]|location=New South Wales, Australia|date=3 November 1855|access-date=3 June 2020|page=3 (Supplement to the Maitland Mercury)|via=Trove}}</ref> in 1855, and [[Ararat, Victoria|Ararat]] in 1857. By 1859, a smaller number of permanent settlers numbering around 23,000,<ref name="The Argus 1860-08-20">{{cite news|title=Summary for Europe – Introduction|date=20 August 1860|work=The Argus|page=5}}</ref> many of whom had built personal wealth in gold, established a prosperous economy based around a shift to [[Underground mining (hard rock)|deep underground gold mining]].

Confidence of the city's early citizens in the enduring future of their city is evident in the sheer scale of many of the early public buildings, generous public recreational spaces, and opulence of many of its commercial establishments and private housing. A local steam locomotive industry developed from 1854 with the Phoenix Foundry operating until 1906.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Butrims|first1=Robert|last2=Macartney|first2=David|title=The Phoenix Foundry: Locomotive Builders of Ballarat|publisher=Australian Railway History Society|year=2013|isbn=978-0-646-90402-3}}</ref> The railway came to the town with the opening of the [[Geelong-Ballarat railway line|Geelong–Ballarat line]] in 1862 and Ballarat developed as a major [[railway town]].<ref name="rg">{{cite web|url=http://www.railgeelong.com/lineguide/geelong|title=Rail Geelong – Geelong Line Guide|publisher=railgeelong.com|access-date=23 April 2008}}</ref> As the city grew the region's original indigenous inhabitants were quickly expelled to the fringe and by 1867 few remained.<ref name="history"/>