All About Ballarat
Ballarat - The Heart of Provincial Victoria
One of the Largest regional cities of Victoria, Ballarat is well placed to take advantage of the excitement and benefits of city living as well as being able to enjoy the relaxed feel of a clean and comfortable country lifestyle. Accommodating a growing population of approximately 85,000 people, Ballarat provides all the services you would expect to find in a city of its size.
With abundant shopping, restaurants, entertainment and sporting facilities Ballarat provides its residents with all the facilities required to make living in the city a pleasure. The city has a strong sense of history, which is evident in the magnificent CBD areas especially in Sturt, and Lydiard Streets where the streetscape and many of the older buildings have been carefully restored highlighting many of their magnificent heritage features.
The municipality covers some 739 sq/km making it a spacious city, which also has a history of good planning, and development, which is evident in many of the picturesque streetscapes and shopping districts. Ballarat serves as a regional headquarters for many professional, retail, commercial, education, health and welfare services.
The private and public hospitals provides excellent quality health care and are both extremely well equipped with the latest technology and highly trained staff.
The main campus of the University of Ballarat is located only a short distance from the CBD with a TAFE campus located within the CBD itself. Ballarat University is highly regarded due to its many achievements and its focus on quality tertiary education. The Australian Catholic University Aquinas Campus also offers excellent undergraduate courses. ACU is particularly renowned for its nursing and teaching degrees. Educators, Industry leaders and local Government all share a close working relationship attuned to the growing and changing needs of a vibrant and progressive community.
This is particularly evident in the push to develop the IT sector in Ballarat. Industry in Ballarat has a strong presence especially in the areas of food and industrial component production. Leading Manufacturers such as Mars Confectionary, Bendix Mintex and McCains Foods all provide significant employment for the city. Given the promotion of Ballarat as a leading IT city the Ballarat Technology Park was developed to provide business with information technology support.
The ever-expanding city is well serviced by a building and construction industry that is able to meet construction requirements of a large and small nature. Recent development in the city has seen the construction of a number of significant commercial, retail and health care buildings. Property prices in Ballarat remain competitively priced both for industrial and residential buyers.
A number of housing opportunities exist for a variety of types of requirements. Entertainment in Ballarat is readily available and suits all ages, including a strong and vibrant hospitality sector with a variety of restaurants and cafes.
The Ballarat night life is also highly regarded and provides a number of alternatives for a good night out. Ballarat is proud to boast a number of cultural treasures including Her Majesty’s Theatre which plays host to a multitude of local, national and international acts and the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery which houses the finest art collection in regional Australia.
Ballarat’s booming tourism industry has as its backbone one of Victoria’s best-known tourist attractions Sovereign Hill. Also providing reasons to visit and live in Ballarat are the Wild Life and Reptile Park, Lake Wendouree and the Botanical Gardens and the many festivals held in the city. The tourism industry is said to attract approximately 3 million visitors a year to the city as well as providing a $300 million boost to the local economy.
First class sporting and recreational facilities in and around Ballarat produce a lifestyle that has the perfect mix of city and country. If what you desire is a relaxed, leisurely lifestyle along with economic and educational opportunities for the whole family, Ballarat is the logical choice to live.
For further information on Ballarat visit the City of Ballarat Website.