Ballan library opens with ‘civic centre’ model

THE Ballan Library and Community Hub was officially opened with a plaque unveiling and public celebration last Saturday 6 September.

The Member for Eureka Michaela Settle and Moorabool Shire mayor Cr Paul Tatchell opened the facility.

The $7.25 million building on Inglis Street offers traditional library services, digital resources, meeting, study, children and youth spaces, an art gallery space, visitor information, and Maternal and Child Health services.

The project had financial input from the State Government ($5 million), Moorabool Shire Council ($2.25 million), and the Ballan and District Community Hospital ($250,000).

Cr Tatchell said feedback from the community has shaped the design which has a “civic centre” model.

“It’s going to be one of the most important buildings we have in Moorabool. It’s going to service the west,” he said.

“It’s been built at a time where it was hard to get money, and we have waited for a long time for it, but we never expected it to be as big as what it is and to offer so many different services in the one building.

“This civic centre approach to libraries is the future of libraries. It’s fantastic… and everyone in the street is uplifted by it. It’s going to be here on the street forever.

“It’s a meeting place. People can come and have their lunch or have a cup of coffee in the plaza.

“We have a great engineering team, and it all came in on budget.”

Ms Settle said the Ballan Library and Community Hub is a “landmark investment” and “extraordinary community asset” for the town that everyone in the district can enjoy and be proud of.

“I know this facility will make a huge difference to everyone in town, and I couldn’t be more excited to see it officially open and full of life,” she said.

“Moorabool Libraries have offered library services here for a long time, but it was space constrained in the Mechanics’ Institute… and the maternal health care centre was in the back rooms of a kinder. But the community is growing, and these services and spaces needed to grow.

“This project is a testament to what can be achieved when government, council and community work together for the future of Ballan.

“There’s so much activity at the new library; from rhyme time, to afternoon events like the after school science program Wonder Lab.

“The maternal health nurse said it’s wonderful to have a safe, clean, new facility to work in with mums and bubs.”

Two sculptures of an echidna and wombat have been installed in the library’s outdoor plaza space, and were respectively named Snoot the Echidna AKA Detective Spikes and Wally the Wombat AKA Sir Digsalot by an online people’s choice vote.