City of Ballarat

Template:About Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox Australian place The City of Ballarat is a local government area in the west of the state of Victoria, Australia. It covers an area of Template:Convert and, in June 2023, had a population of 118,137.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is primarily urban with the vast majority of its population living in the Greater Ballarat urban area, while other significant settlements within the LGA include Buninyong, Waubra, Learmonth and Addington.

The city is governed and administered by the Ballarat City Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Ballarat, it also has a service centre located in Buninyong. The city is named after the main urban settlement lying in the centre-south of the LGA, Ballarat, which is also the LGA's most populous urban area with a population of 105,471.<ref name=ABSSUA>Template:Cite web Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018.</ref>

History

The City of Ballarat was formed on 6 May 1994 from the amalgamation of the City of Ballaarat, Shire of Ballarat, Borough of Sebastopol and parts of the Shire of Bungaree, Shire of Buninyong, Shire of Grenville and Shire of Ripon.<ref name="Gazette" />

The City of Ballarat's predecessor LGAs (green) as they were in 1994. The administrative centres of the former LGAs are marked by green dots.

Council

Current composition

Template:Victoria LGA ward map The council has nine elected Councillors, each representing a municipal electoral ward.<ref name=Council>Template:Cite web</ref> The current Council, elected in November 2024, is:<ref name=VEC>Template:Cite web</ref>

Ward	Party		Councillor	Notes
Alfredton	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Damon Saunders
Brown Hill	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Ted Lapkin
Buninyong	Template:Australian party style|	Liberal	Ben Taylor	Deputy Mayor
Central	Template:Australian party style|	Liberal	Samantha McIntosh
Delacombe	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Tracey Hargreaves	Mayor
Golden Point	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Tess Morgan
North	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Jim Rinaldi
Sebastopol	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Des Hudson
Wendouree	Template:Australian party style|	Independent	Jay Morrison

Administration and governance

The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Ballarat Town Hall Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre in Ballarat, and its service centre in Buninyong.

The council's main offices are in a modern extension behind the Town Hall called The Phoenix. In 2009 the council voted to move to a new headquarters at Civic Hall on Mair Street,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which would turn the heritage listed Town Hall building into a public general purpose venue.

2023 Council Review

Prior to the 2024 Election, The Victorian Electoral Commission conducted a review into the electoral structure of multiple Victorian Councils including the City of Ballarat.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> As part of this review it was deemed that from the 2024 Election, the council would take up nine single-councillor wards, namely:

• Alfredton Ward
• Brown Hill Ward
• Buninyong Ward
• Central Ward
• Delacombe Ward
• Golden Point Ward
• North Ward
• Sebastopol Ward
• Wendouree Ward

Election results

2012

2012 Victorian local elections: Ballarat

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
Template:Australian party style |	Independents		20,676	37.70		2
Template:Australian party style |	Independent Liberal		19,849	36.19		5
Template:Australian party style |	Independent Labor		9,829	17.92		1
Template:Australian party style |	Greens		4,489	8.19		1
Formal votes			54,843	97.30
Informal votes			1,524	2.70
Total			56,367	100
Registered voters / turnout			72,725	77.51

Central Ward Template:Election box begin Template:Election box candidate AU party Template:Election box candidate AU party Template:Election box candidate AU party Template:Election box candidate AU party Template:Election box candidate AU party Template:Election box candidate AU party Template:Election box candidate AU party Template:Election box candidate AU party

Template:Election box turnout
Template:Election box end

North

Template:Election box turnout
Template:Election box end

South

Template:Election box turnout
Template:Election box end

Townships and localities

The 2021 census, the city had a population of 113,763 up from 101,686 in the 2016 census<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	71	65
Template:VICcity	9,220	11,822
Ascot	96	93
Template:VICcity	164	180
Template:VICcity^	107	114
Template:VICcity	5,328	5,378
Template:VICcity	5,623	5,937
Template:VICcity	3,925	4,041
Template:VICcity	2,126	2,124
Template:VICcity	84	82
Template:VICcity^	21	25
Template:VICcity	210	949
Template:VICcity	3,582	4,489
Template:VICcity^	3,714	3,797
Template:VICcity	261	270
Template:VICcity^	232	249

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	3,609	4,098
Template:VICcity	754	1,064
Template:VICcity	667	957
Template:VICcity	0	0
Template:VICcity	71	80
Template:VICcity^	3,170	3,279
Template:VICcity	6,297	5,408
Template:VICcity^	392	408
Template:VICcity^	70	90
Template:VICcity	626	633
Template:VICcity^	103	110
Template:VICcity	52	49
Template:VICcity	11	12
Template:VICcity	2,107	2,217
Template:VICcity	9	6
Template:VICcity	835	900

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	1,814	1,692
Template:VICcity	1,695	1,801
Template:VICcity	2,882	2,878
Template:VICcity	438	396
Template:VICcity	1,014	2,994
Template:VICcity	371	368
Template:VICcity	3,095	3,829
Template:VICcity	868	887
Template:VICcity	29	29
Template:VICcity	3,390	3,671
Template:VICcity	2,975	3,011
Template:VICcity	2,203	2,225
Template:VICcity	294	295
Template:VICcity	962	970
Template:VICcity	1,900	1,844

Population
Locality	2016	2021
Template:VICcity	2,889	3,000
Template:VICcity	97	105
Template:VICcity^	258	244
Template:VICcity	10,032	10,194
Template:VICcity^	1,467	1,762
Template:VICcity	2,803	2,813
Template:VICcity^	232	234
Template:VICcity	39	46
Template:VICcity^	669	721
Template:VICcity^	97	104
Template:VICcity^	275	308
Template:VICcity	51	52
Template:VICcity	10,445	10,376
Template:VICcity	97	96
Template:VICcity	*	3,440

Template:Columns-end ^ – Territory divided with another LGA
* – Not noted in 2016 Census

Sister cities

The City of Ballarat's sister cities are:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Col-begin Template:Col-break

• Inagawa, Hyōgo, Japan
• Ainaro, East Timor

See also

• List of localities in Victoria
• Ballarat

External links

• Ballarat City Council official website
• Metlink local public transport map
• Link to Land Victoria interactive maps Template:Webarchive
• Template:Victorian local government areas pre-1994 vs present map link