Ballarat East, Victoria

Ballarat East Ballarat, Victoria
Former East Ballarat Civic Area on the corner of Barkly and East Streets. The Ballarat Fire Station is on the left, the old Library and Ballarat Secondary College are on the right.
Ballarat East
Coordinates	37°33′48″S 143°52′08″E / 37.5632°S 143.869°E / -37.5632; 143.869Coordinates: 37°33′48″S 143°52′08″E / 37.5632°S 143.869°E / -37.5632; 143.869
Population	5,773 (2015)
Postcode(s)	3350
Location	3 km (2 mi) from Ballarat Central
LGA(s)	City of Ballarat
State electorate(s)	Buninyong Wendouree
Federal Division(s)	Ballarat
Suburbs around Ballarat East: Soldiers Hill Black Hill Brown Hill Bakery Hill Ballarat East Eureka, Warrenheip Golden Point Canadian Canadian

Ballarat East is a suburb of Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. The suburb covers a large area east of the City of Ballarat. It is the oldest area in Ballarat and, between 1859 and 1921, was once also a municipality known as Ballarat East, under its own council, the Ballarat East Town Council. The population of Ballarat East was estimated to be 5,733 in 2015. Although amalgamation occurred nearly a century ago, many residents still perceive themselves as distinct from other "Ballaratians" and as 'working class'. The residents of Ballarat East played an integral role in the Eureka Rebellion and Battle of Eureka Stockade, although the site of this battle is now an island suburb within the East called Eureka. Much of the suburb is subject to heritage overlays because of its local significance, with most dwellings dating between the 1860s and 1940s.

The discovery of goldfields in 1851 led to heavy immigration. In 1854, in their resistance of an arbitrary tax, gold miners in the area came into armed conflict with the authorities. A commission was appointed to investigate their grievances and a charter was granted to the town in 1855. Ballarat East Post Office opened on 1 December 1857 and was replaced by the Bakery Hill office in 1992.

The Ballarat East goldfield, which consisted of three distinct areas known as Ballarat East, Ballarat West and Nerrina, produced over 1.9 million ounces of gold from vein systems and over 16 million ounces from adjacent alluvial deposits. At the turn of the 20th century, these alluvial goldfields were the richest ever opened. As these surface deposits were exhausted the quartz reefs at deep levels were exploited and several mines worked at depths exceeding 600 metres.

Main Street developed into the principal commercial area in the Ballarat district. Its mostly tents and timber buildings were destroyed by a series of fires during the 1860s and the commercial area shifted to the planned area of Ballarat West, specifically Sturt and Lydiard Streets.

Ballarat East was one of the first areas of Ballarat to gain municipal status. In 1859 the newly formed Ballarat East Town Council acquisioned land in what was to become the Barkly Street civic area and on 26 December 1861 the foundation stone was laid for the Ballarat East Town Hall which was built in a Renaissance Revival architecture style and set in formal gardens. It was completed the following year along with the Ballarat East Free Library next door and the Ballarat fire station, a new headquarters for the fire brigade formed in 1856) was erected a few years later in 1864.