Ballarat

Ballarat, or Ballaarat, a municipal town and city in the province of Victoria, Australia, 60 miles N.W. of Melbourne. Situated in the midst of the chief gold-field, it has since 1851 grown to be the second city in the province. The Yarrowee Creek divides East from West Ballarat, the latter having been recognised as a city in 1870. The streets of both together cover an area of more than 11 square miles. There are many fine public buildings, and railways communicating with Melbourne, Ararat, and Maryborough. The suburb of Sebastopol has sprung up recently and attained considerable size. Gold digging is still the main industry, but as the surface supply of the alluvial soil has been nearly exhausted, mines have now to be sunk to a great depth. Iron-founding, agriculture, and sheep-farming are also carried on. Ballarat is the seat both of a Church of England and a Roman Catholic bishopric.