From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 11 July

The closure of the camera shop on the Sturt Street Boulevard is a sad sign of the times. It proves: Ballarat is too close for its own good to Melbourne.

AT first hearing it may sound nonsensical, but if you extrapolate the thought you may arrive at the same conclusion: It is too easy to travel to Melbourne to shop. That notion is the death rattle for any city and its traders.

Ballarat is not the sleepy, regional hollow, which once it was. Today, it is a major, important regional city which services a large area of Victoria. Its importance is determined by population, and will, in the next 25 years, increase exponentially. Now is the time for Ballarat to start considering its raison d’être; to set in place those plans and policies which will serve the city, and its residents, for the next century. How to achieve that result is the unenviable conundrum for the city council, and the rest of the city’s population.

We live in the most extraordinary of times. The technological and medical achievements are revolutionary, in every sense. From the advent of the first Sputnik satellite to the ubiquitous mobile telephone, we have witnessed the most astonishing changes in our lives.

The more often you read the prophetic opening paragraph of Charles Dickens’ novel, A Tale Of Two Cities, the more it embraces modernity: ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.’

Rejecting the pessimism, and embracing the optimism, there are lessons to be learned from the closing of Ballarat’s only camera shop.

Unlike Geelong, which has twice the population; and Bendigo, which has the advantage of distance from Melbourne; Ballarat is disadvantaged by its central geographical position. That which was once a benefit is now a millstone and proving a fatal, double-edged sword. Ballarat is becoming a satellite suburb of Melbourne.

The dilemma is not unique to Ballarat, but a way of encouraging and supporting its local traders needs to be found.  If the situation is not resolved, and the number of empty shop fronts is an indication of the depth of the problem – Ballarat might well become a city of restaurants and cafés.

The situation is further exacerbated by the spread of the Sturt Street Boulevard shopping precinct, a legacy from the city’s golden days.

Hopefully, the proposed plans to revive the shopping potential of the Mall will bring customers and traders back to the area; however, that does not of itself resolve the issues. The closure of the camera shop means there is no longer a facility for the developing of photographs in Ballarat. While other outlets offer limited photographic assistance, years of professional expertise will be lost. That is cause for serious concern.

The seismic shift in shopping traditions is an international phenomenon. Australia has survived the demise of corner stores and milk bars. Now it must find a way of competing with on-line shopping and the ease of the travel.

Many of us grew-up with our mothers ‘dealing’ with a particular trader, and she remained loyal, unless he upset the apple cart. In which case she ‘took her custom elsewhere’.

It’s not so simple today, but we must seek a solution.

Roland can be heard with Brett Macdonald each Monday at 10.45am on Radio 3BA or contacted via [email protected].