Ballarat History and Culture

Ballarat is a melting pot of stories stitched together on a backdrop of gold rush history interwoven with art and culture as modern as you like it. There are always new narratives to discover at these two iconic locations.

Sovereign Hill

An expansive open-air living museum of the gold rush era. Old-time streetscapes to wander, underground mine to deep dive and time-worn businesses and shopfronts to explore. Come evening, let an unforgettable sound and light show knock your socks off.

One place but there are many stories

budding art-lover to an Early Start intro-to-the-gallery session.

Visit Sovereign Hill’s Centre for Rare Arts & Forgotten Trades where a swag of lost and re-merging trades and arts are getting new life. Learn something new (but old) in a workshop on dilly bag making, the ancient mariner’s craft of rope splicing or even long bow making.

‘These are exciting times at Sovereign Hill as we constantly explore new ideas and events at our living museum. We are one place but there are many stories of the gold rush, its impacts and legacy and lessons. Here you can immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the 1850s by panning for gold, taking a coach ride, talking to our costumed staff in the streets or exploring our network of mines. But there’s much more to experience with our events calendar always changing giving you new reasons to visit or revisit one of the nation’s tourism icons.’