Ararat, Victoria

**Ararat** is a city in south-west Victoria, Australia. It is about  west of Melbourne, on the Western Highway. It is the only town in Australia to have started by Chinese people. It is the biggest town, and the centre of the local government area called the Rural City of Ararat. The town is built between mountains with good farming lands all around it. There are about 8220 people living in Ararat.

## History 
Europens first moved into in the area in the 1840s after explorer Thomas Mitchell passed through the area in 1836. In 1841, Horatio Wills, on his way to land further south, wrote in his diary, "like the Ark we rested". He named a nearby hill Mt Ararat. The city was named after the mountain.

### Gold
Gold was first discovered in May or June 1854, by Joseph Pollard at a place called Pinky Point, about  to the west. Within weeks there were more than 9,000 people in the area looking for gold. A Post office opened in the area, called Cathcart, on 1 February 1856. The name was changed to Ararat on 31 August 1857. 

In April 1857, a group of 700 Chinese miners on their way to the Clunes, Victoria gold fields in central Victoria, found gold at the current site of Ararat. This was called the Canton Lead. The town has a regional airport YARA (ARY).

## Prisons
The first prison, the Ararat County Gaol, was built in 1861, and was used a prison until 1887. During that time, three prisoners were hanged, and their graves can still be seen.

## Tourism
Ararat is an ideal base for looking at the areas many natural attractions such as the Grampians National Park, Mt Langi Ghiran, Mt Cole, Mt Buangor State Park, Ararat Hills Regional Park and the Pyrenees Ranges. Ararat is also close to many wineries, which are part of the Grampians Wine Region.

Tourist attractions include: 
*J Ward Museum Lunatic Asylum J Ward started its life as a goldfields prison in 1859. When the gold ran out in the mid 1880s the prison buildings were acquired by the Lunacy Department as a temporary housing for the Criminally Insane. The County Gaol then became a ward (J Ward) of the Ararat Lunatic Asylum where the most depraved and most dangerous men in Victoria were housed in horrific conditions under highest security.  J Ward was decommissioned in 1991 and opened as a museum to the public in 1993.  J Ward  is open to the public and tours are held daily.

*Gum San Chinese Heritage Centre
*Ararat Regional Art Gallery 
*Ararat Railway Heritage Museum
*Langi Morgala Museum
*Wineries
*The Golden Gateway Festival - held every October
*Jailhouse Rock Festival - a rock and roll music festival held at J Ward every March
*Challicum Hills Wind Farm

## Transport
The city is built on the Western Highway  which is the main road between Melbourne and Adelaide. Ararat station has V/Line buses and trains running daily to and from Melbourne, as well as The Overland train service from Melbourne to Adelaide. Since 2008 the Ararat Transit bus service has operated around the city five days a week, providing 86 services on three routes, which join up with the train services.

## Sport
Ararat has an Australian Rules Football team which plays in the Wimmera Football League. The team first played in 1871, and was one of the first four teams to form the Wimmera Football Association in 1902.

Ararat Harness Racing Club has regular meetings at its race track in the town.

Golfers play at the Aradale Golf Club on Grano Street or at the Chalambar Golf Club on Golf Links Road.

## Notable people
*Air Chief Marshal Sir Frederick Scherger was born in Ararat on 18 May 1904.
*Shane Kelly Olympic cyclist and medal winner.

## Royal Australian Navy
Two Royal Australian Navy ships have been named after this town. HMAS *Ararat* (K 34), a World War II Bathurst class corvette, and HMAS *Ararat* (ACPB 89), an Armidale class patrol boat.

## References 
## Other websites 
* FallingRain Map - elevation = 301m (Red dots are railways)
*Ararat Online