With the discovery of gold Ballarat's pastoral paddocks became a seething mass of activity. The influx of miners made Urquhart's survey of Ballarat in late 1851 necessary and the origins of our city began.

Within a relatively short time the Mechanic's Institute and other similar signs of progress and culture were evident and well within the first decade after the golden discovery railways were considered to reduce the remoteness of the city.

Work began in 1858 and took nearly four years. The original line came via Geelong, and early historian Nathan Spielvogel states that 3,000 men were employed and the cost was 1,5 million pounds, The largest problem encountered was the viaduct over the Moorabool river. The magnitude of the task is evident in that the viaduct was 1,450 feet long and 1 1 0 feet high, 420,000 cubic feet of basalt was required, and this was quarried at Lethbridge by 1500 men.

The big day finally arrived, 10th April 1862, and Sir Henry Barkly was to attend for the official opening, however it was not all plain sailing. The Ballarat councillors met and were to be -taken to Geelong to meet and accompany Sir Henry back to Ballarat. The train consisted of two locomotives, two carriages and seventeen empty trucks. It travelled at the perilous speed of fifteen miles an hour but was stranded for thirty minutes at the Caledonian Bridge when it could not pull up the hill due to the increased gradient and a lack of steam. The engines stopped again, after -Meredith when firewood was short and the driver and fireman headed into the bush with their axes to cut a fresh supply. Finally the train arrived in Geelong, four and a half hours after departing Ballarat, and to the disgust of our councillors the Geelong crowd, sick of waiting had consumed their sumptuous breakfast. The return trip began twenty minutes after arrival, 12.20pm and arrived in Ballarat at 3pm. The day had been declared a public holiday in Ballarat, and the inmates of the Benevolent Home were fed on plum pudding in honour of the great event,

The cost of train travel was prohibitive, and on the commencement of regular services on the 12th April only four passengers travelled. Remembering that wages were about three pounds per week, the return fare to Geelong was twenty six shillings. The coach fare was considerably cheaper but it took four and a half hours compared to nearly three for the train.

As the date on the arch of the platform building testifies, it was constructed in 1862, the contractor being S. Amess at a cost of almost 22,000 pounds. It stood in isolation. 'Ballarat - A guide to Buildings and Areas 1851-1940 describes it as being sixteen bays along the platform, each bay being expressed as an arch divided by a series of Tuscan columns, paired at the elliptical arch.The bluestone engine shed was built to the south of the platform area and the goods shed to the north of the main station building was built in 1863. The bluestone base to the water tank, of that era still stands to the south of the old engine shed, which is now referred to as the carriage shed.

In 1877 the footbridge linking the north and south platforms was built together with an entrance lobby and waiting room on the south side, the contractors being Cocks, Brown, and Bonny.

Although Ballarat progressed rapidly, the station building did not and was described as dingy and dark. The Ballarat Star newspaper summed up the feeling on the 13th August 1881 - 'The growing importance of the city renders it necessary that other important alterations should be effected at the local railway station and it would be advisable for the department to take into careful consideration the alteration of the appearance of the buildings so as to make them an ornament to the city instead of a gloomy looking ruin.'


BALLARAT RAILWAY STATION & HORSE-DRAWN CABS C. 1890

The direct line to Melbourne was opened in December 1889, and at this time the earlier southern entrance lobby and waiting room were demolished when the main building was upgraded. The city skyline observed the new clockless tower and the Ionic portico. Occupation of the new buildings on the southern side took place in January 1891, however all was not well. The Ballarat Courier of the time commented that 'the best must be made of a bad job ...' The locals had been advocating an underground passageway rather than the Lydiard Street crossing, which would have also avoided a furore a century later. The book, 'The Golden Steam of Ballarat' which is an exhaustive history of local rail tells us that the stationmaster was not happy as he had superior accommodation in the old building. In his new office the lighting was very poor, it was not dark enough for the gas to be lit but it was too dark for the occupants to read comfortably without artificial lighting.

The Ballarat station complex has been described as having historical, architectural, social and technological significance at the National and State levels. Together with the Sandhurst line, the Geelong - Ballarat railway was the first of the Colonial Governments main trunk lines, opened in 1862 and built to the best British Standards of construction. These standards were never to be repeated and most of the present complex dates from this period. Ballarat is the largest complex to be built at this time. The Government's decision to build one of its first trunk lines to Ballarat recalls the great importance of Ballarat and East Ballarat as an economic centre in the Colony and the largest mining centre of the World famous Victorian Central Goldfields. The complex is expressive of this decision arising from Ballarat's economic importance. For a period during the nineteenth century Ballarat was the Colony's busiest non-metropolitan country station.

Maryborough and Ballarat are the only two Victorian railway stations to have prominent clock towers, and there are only three others throughout Australia.

Ballarat is one of only three surviving nineteenth century station buildings in Australia retaining a substantial and imposing train hall. The train hall and clock tower symbolise Ballarat's importance as a provincial city and simultaneously recall the status of rail travel in the Victorian age. Ballarat's is the largest bluestone goods shed in Victoria and the former engine shed is the only example of the 1860's design to be erected in bluestone.

It is most fortunate that some of the rare bull head rail still survives in the carriage shed. It was secured to the sleepers with wooden keys, being a double sided reversible chair rail and was superseded in 1873.

There was extensive damage to the main down side station building in a disastrous fire in 1981. Unfortunately much of the original timber detailing was lost and to this date not all of the damage has been repaired. However, about a century after it was expected the clock was installed in the tower in 1984.

We are fortunate that so much of our local railway heritage survives.



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