# City of Ballarat

The City of Ballarat is a local government area in the west of the state of Victoria, Australia. It covers an area of 739 square kilometres (285 sq mi) and, in June 2023, had a population of 118,137. It is primarily urban with the vast majority of its population living in the Greater Ballarat urban area, while other significant settlements within the LGA include Buninyong, Waubra, Learmonth and Addington. It was formed on 6 May 1994 from the amalgamation of the City of Ballarat, Shire of Ballarat, Borough of Sebastopol and parts of the Shire of Bungaree, Shire of Buninyong, Shire of Grenville and Shire of Ripon.
The city is governed and administered by the Ballarat City Council; its seat of local government and administrative centre is located at the council headquarters in Ballarat, it also has a service centre located in Buninyong. The city is named after the main urban settlement lying in the centre-south of the LGA, Ballarat, which is also the LGA's most populous urban area with a population of 105,471.

## Council
### Current composition

The council is composed of three wards and nine councillors, with three councillors per ward elected to represent each ward. The current Council, elected in 2020, in order of election by ward, is:
| Ward | Party | Councillor | Notes |
| Central | Independent | Mark Harris | |
| Central | Liberal | Samantha McIntosh | |
| Central | Greens | Belinda Coates | |
| North | Liberal | Amy Johnson | |
| North | Independent | Peter Eddy | Deputy Mayor, Former CEO of Basketball Ballarat |
| North | Labor | Daniel Moloney | |
| South | Labor | Des Hudson | Mayor |
| South | Liberal | Ben Taylor | |
| South | Independent | Tracey Hargreaves | Yoga instructor and anti-vaccination advocate |

### Administration and governance

The council meets in the council chambers at the council headquarters in the Ballarat Town Hall Offices, which is also the location of the council's administrative activities. It also provides customer services at both its administrative centre in Ballarat, and its service centre in Buninyong.
The council's main offices are in a modern extension behind the Town Hall called The Phoenix. In 2009 the council voted to move to a new headquarters at Civic Hall on Mair Street, which would turn the heritage listed Town Hall building into a public general purpose venue.

### 2023 Council Review

Prior to the 2024 Election, The Victorian Electoral Commission conducted a review into the electoral structure of multiple Victorian Councils including the City of Ballarat. As part of this review it was deemed that from the 2024 Election, the council would take up nine single-councillor wards, namely:
* Alfredton Ward
* Brown Hill Ward
* Buninyong Ward
* Central Ward
* Delacombe Ward
* Golden Point Ward
* North Ward
* Sebastopol Ward
* Wendouree Ward

## Election results
### 2024

2024 Victorian local elections: Ballarat :
| Party | Party | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change |
| | Independents | Independents | 35,499 | 51.50 | +21.93 | 4 | 1 |
| | Independent Liberal | Independent Liberal | 15,177 | 22.02 | −3.37 | 2 | 1 |
| | Independent Labor | Independent Labor | 9,955 | 14.44 | −10.67 | 3 | 1 |
| | Greens | Greens | 8,294 | 12.03 | −4.91 | 0 | 1 |
| Formal votes | Formal votes | Formal votes | 68,925 | 97.10 | −0.87 | | |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | Informal votes | 2,057 | 2.90 | +0.87 | | |
| Total | Total | Total | 70,982 | 100.00 | | 9 | |
| Registered voters / turnout | Registered voters / turnout | Registered voters / turnout | 86,108 | 82.43 | −0.18 | | |

### 2020

2020 Victorian local elections: Ballarat :
| Party | Party | Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change |
| | Independent | Independent | 20,266 | 29.57 | −17.82 | 3 | 1 |
| | Independent Liberal | Independent Liberal | 17,403 | 25.39 | −1.92 | 3 | 1 |
| | Labor | Labor | 17,213 | 25.11 | +11.62 | 2 | |
| | Greens | Greens | 11,614 | 16.94 | +4.13 | 1 | |
| | Australia First | Australia First | 1,391 | 2.03 | +2.03 | 0 | |
| | Animal Justice | Animal Justice | 659 | 0.96 | +0.96 | 0 | |
| Formal votes | Formal votes | Formal votes | 68,546 | 97.97 | | | |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | Informal votes | 1,420 | 2.03 | | | |
| Total | Total | Total | 69,966 | 100.0 | | | |
| Registered voters / turnout | Registered voters / turnout | Registered voters / turnout | 84,694 | 82.61 | | | |

### 2016

2016 Victorian local elections: Ballarat :
| Party | Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats | Change |
| | Independent | Independent | 27,257 | 46.39 | 2 | 1 |
| | Independent Liberal | Independent Liberal | 16,043 | 27.31 | 4 | 1 |
| | Labor | Labor | 7,925 | 13.49 | 2 | |
| | Greens | Greens | 7,527 | 12.81 | 1 | |
| Formal votes | Formal votes | Formal votes | 58,752 | 100.0 | | |

### 2012

2012 Victorian local elections: Ballarat :
| Party | Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats |
| | Independents | Independents | 20,676 | 37.70 | 2 |
| | Independent Liberal | Independent Liberal | 19,849 | 36.19 | 5 |
| | Independent Labor | Independent Labor | 9,829 | 17.92 | 1 |
| | Greens | Greens | 4,489 | 8.19 | 1 |
| Formal votes | Formal votes | Formal votes | 54,843 | 97.30 | |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | Informal votes | 1,524 | 2.70 | |
| Total | Total | Total | 56,367 | 100 | |
| Registered voters / turnout | Registered voters / turnout | Registered voters / turnout | 72,725 | 77.51 | |
Central Ward
2012 Victorian local elections: Central Ward :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Independent Liberal | Samantha McIntosh | 4,355 | 26.10 |
| | Greens | Belinda Coates | 3,197 | 19.16 |
| | Independent Liberal | John Burt | 3,006 | 18.02 |
| | Independent | Mark Harris | 2,379 | 14.16 |
| | Independent | Glen Crompton | 1,337 | 8.01 |
| | Independent | Jenny Overington | 1,051 | 6.30 |
| | Independent | Matthew Freeman | 836 | 5.01 |
| | Independent | Gary Fitzgerald | 523 | 3.13 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 17,163 | 75.22 |

### North

2012 Victorian local elections: North Ward :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Independent Liberal | Vicki Coltman | 4,963 | 28.38 |
| | Independent | John Philips | 4,046 | 21.02 |
| | Independent Liberal | Amy Johnson | 3,908 | 20.30 |
| | Labor | Daniel Moloney | 2,901 | 15.07 |
| | Labor | Scott Hebbard | 1,894 | 9.84 |
| | Independent | Allan Carter | 1,535 | 7.98 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 19,735 | 79.57 |

### South

2012 Victorian local elections: South Ward :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Labor | Des Hudson | 5,034 | 26.62 |
| | Independent Liberal | Joshua Morris | 3,617 | 19.13 |
| | Independent | Peter Innes | 3,075 | 16.26 |
| | Independent | Jim Rinaldi | 2,930 | 15.49 |
| | Independent | Stephen Pelchen | 1,726 | 9.13 |
| | Greens | David Eldridge | 1,292 | 6.83 |
| | Independent | Sundram Sivamalai | 849 | 4.49 |
| | Independent | Matt Mattson | 889 | 4.80 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 19,469 | 77.55 |

## Townships and localities

The 2021 census, the city had a population of 113,763 up from 101,686 in the 2016 census
Population :
| Locality | 2016 | 2021 |
| Addington | 71 | 65 |
| Alfredton | 9,220 | 11,822 |
| Ascot | 96 | 93 |
| Bakery Hill | 164 | 180 |
| Bald Hills^ | 107 | 114 |
| Ballarat Central | 5,328 | 5,378 |
| Ballarat East | 5,623 | 5,937 |
| Ballarat North | 3,925 | 4,041 |
| Black Hill | 2,126 | 2,124 |
| Blowhard | 84 | 82 |
| Bo Peep^ | 21 | 25 |
| Bonshaw | 210 | 949 |
| Brown Hill | 3,582 | 4,489 |
| Buninyong^ | 3,714 | 3,797 |
| Bunkers Hill | 261 | 270 |
| Burrumbeet^ | 232 | 249 |
Population :
| Locality | 2016 | 2021 |
| Canadian | 3,609 | 4,098 |
| Cardigan | 754 | 1,064 |
| Cardigan Village | 667 | 957 |
| Chapel Flat | 0 | 0 |
| Coghills Creek | 71 | 80 |
| Creswick^ | 3,170 | 3,279 |
| Delacombe | 6,297 | 5,408 |
| Durham Lead^ | 392 | 408 |
| Ercildoune^ | 70 | 90 |
| Eureka | 626 | 633 |
| Glen Park^ | 103 | 110 |
| Glendaruel | 52 | 49 |
| Glendonald | 11 | 12 |
| Golden Point | 2,107 | 2,217 |
| Gong Gong | 9 | 6 |
| Invermay | 835 | 900 |
Population :
| Locality | 2016 | 2021 |
| Invermay Park | 1,814 | 1,692 |
| Lake Gardens | 1,695 | 1,801 |
| Lake Wendouree | 2,882 | 2,878 |
| Learmonth | 438 | 396 |
| Lucas | 1,014 | 2,994 |
| Magpie | 371 | 368 |
| Miners Rest | 3,095 | 3,829 |
| Mitchell Park | 868 | 887 |
| Mount Bolton | 29 | 29 |
| Mount Clear | 3,390 | 3,671 |
| Mount Helen | 2,975 | 3,011 |
| Mount Pleasant | 2,203 | 2,225 |
| Mount Rowan | 294 | 295 |
| Nerrina | 962 | 970 |
| Newington | 1,900 | 1,844 |
Population :
| Locality | 2016 | 2021 |
| Redan | 2,889 | 3,000 |
| Scotchmans Lead | 97 | 105 |
| Scotsburn^ | 258 | 244 |
| Sebastopol | 10,032 | 10,194 |
| Smythes Creek^ | 1,467 | 1,762 |
| Soldiers Hill | 2,803 | 2,813 |
| Sulky^ | 232 | 234 |
| Tourello | 39 | 46 |
| Warrenheip^ | 669 | 721 |
| Wattle Flat^ | 97 | 104 |
| Waubra^ | 275 | 308 |
| Weatherboard | 51 | 52 |
| Wendouree | 10,445 | 10,376 |
| Windermere | 97 | 96 |
| Winter Valley | * | 3,440 |
^ – Territory divided with another LGA * – Not noted in 2016 Census

## Sister cities

The City of Ballarat's sister cities are: