{"id":35853,"date":"2025-09-12T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/themooraboolnews\/?p=35853"},"modified":"2025-09-10T20:48:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T10:48:29","slug":"ballan-library-opens-with-civic-centre-model","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/themooraboolnews\/news\/ballan-library-opens-with-civic-centre-model\/","title":{"rendered":"Ballan library opens with &#8216;civic centre&#8217; model"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>THE Ballan Library and Community Hub was officially opened with a plaque unveiling and public celebration last Saturday 6 September.<\/p>\n<p>The Member for Eureka Michaela Settle and Moorabool Shire mayor Cr Paul Tatchell opened the facility.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/09\/IMG_2766_50867.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The new Ballan Library and Community Hub is at 127 Inglis Street.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>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).<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 601px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038 \" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/09\/IMG_2740_56704.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"601\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An art gallery space is part of the centre.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Cr Tatchell said feedback from the community has shaped the design which has a &#8220;civic centre&#8221; model.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s going to be one of the most important buildings we have in Moorabool. It&#8217;s going to service the west,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;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.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This civic centre approach to libraries is the future of libraries. It&#8217;s fantastic&#8230; and everyone in the street is uplifted by it. It&#8217;s going to be here on the street forever.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_35863\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-35863\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-35863\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/09\/IMG_2700_59572-1-rotated.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/09\/IMG_2700_59572-1-rotated.jpg 800w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/09\/IMG_2700_59572-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/09\/IMG_2700_59572-1-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/09\/IMG_2700_59572-1-768x1152.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-35863\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Six-year-old Zach from Lal Lal named Snoot the echidna sculpture.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s a meeting place. People can come and have their lunch or have a cup of coffee in the plaza.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We have a great engineering team, and it all came in on budget.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ms Settle said the Ballan Library and Community Hub is a &#8220;landmark investment&#8221; and &#8220;extraordinary community asset&#8221; for the town that everyone in the district can enjoy and be proud of.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_30038\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30038\" style=\"width: 601px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-30038\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/09\/IMG_2728_61785.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"601\" height=\"400\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30038\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The adult library section upstairs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I know this facility will make a huge difference to everyone in town, and I couldn&#8217;t be more excited to see it officially open and full of life,&#8221; she said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Moorabool Libraries have offered library services here for a long time, but it was space constrained in the Mechanics&#8217; Institute&#8230; 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.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This project is a testament to what can be achieved when government, council and community work together for the future of Ballan.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s so much activity at the new library; from rhyme time, to afternoon events like the after school science program Wonder Lab.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The maternal health nurse said it&#8217;s wonderful to have a safe, clean, new facility to work in with mums and bubs.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_35864\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-35864\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-35864\" src=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/09\/IMG_2722_66479-1-rotated.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"900\" srcset=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/09\/IMG_2722_66479-1-rotated.jpg 800w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/09\/IMG_2722_66479-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/09\/IMG_2722_66479-1-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/28\/2025\/09\/IMG_2722_66479-1-768x1152.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-35864\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Moorabool Libraries early years and youth staff Elisa Stornebrink, Chrystal Stewart and Erin Strugnell ran an arts and crafts activity during the opening event.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Two sculptures of an echidna and wombat have been installed in the library&#8217;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&#8217;s choice vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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. &nbsp; The $7.25 million building on Inglis Street offers traditional library services, digital resources, meeting, study, children and youth [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/themooraboolnews\/news\/ballan-library-opens-with-civic-centre-model\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":35862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-35853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ballan library opens with &#039;civic centre&#039; 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