Turn pages for a trip back in time

THE Ballarat Historical Society is turning ninety this year and to celebrate the milestone the group is hosting a range of exciting events at the Ballarat Heritage Festival.

A hard cover picture book celebrating photos from the organisations collection is being launched on Saturday, 20 May by City of Ballarat mayor Cr Des Hudson at Barkley Square in Ballarat East.

Titled Ballarat’s 90 Golden Years, the book highlights interesting images taken between 1933 and 2023.

The society began to collate the images from in 2004 as part of their Capture the vison project and now culminates with the publishing of the book.

Society president Marion Littlejohn said the group wanted to focus on a different period of history than the goldrush, which usually gets a lot of attention in Ballarat.

“One of the biggest parts of the collection that we own is a huge collection of photographs but its mainly 19th century,” she said.

“In 2004 we thought nobody’s collecting photos of today, so we better put our skates on.

“We actively started collecting photos of what’s happening now like the knocking down of St John of God Hospital and redevelopments.

“One of our members, Andrew Wallace, who’s the vice-president, said why don’t we do a book to balance the books that are out there of Ballarat photos.”

The book is being published thanks to a grant from the City of Ballarat and donations from the community.

Alongside this book launch will be a photographic exhibition of the groups extensive collection with photos revealing how much the Ballarat streets have changed over the years.

For those who want to take their historical experience further, the society is also running 45-minite heritage walks around Ballarat East starting at Barkley Square.

The tour will move at a leisurely pace, stopping at significant buildings in the area.

“In honour of our founder Nathan Spielvogal, who was a very active member of the Jewish community and was a supporter of the Ballarat East area, we are going to run walks starting from our display in Barkly Square,” Ms Littlejohn said.

They will leave at 11:30am and 2.30pm on Saturday, 20 May and Sunday, 21 May and will be free for society members or $5 for the general public.

Ms Littlejohn said its crucial we don’t forget Ballarat’s history.

“Our history makes what we are today, and Ballarat has such a unique history,” she said.

“We’ve probably got one of the biggest collections of intact Victorian era buildings in the world and we need to cherish them.”

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