WHAT'S ON

This exhibition presents Ken Searle’s monumental painting, ‘Ballarat’ (1998) alongside an interactive digital representation of the work to allow for community-generated interpretation. This process seeks to draw on local knowledge, lived experience and personal memory.

A public lecture by Daniel Brettig uncovering the complex ties between cricket and politics in Australia.

In 1998, Federation University commissioned Ken Searle to create a painting of Ballarat. He spent several months, at his preferred vantage point of Black Hill, capturing what he described as the "beating heart of the city". Join us for a conversation between Ken Searle and art historian, Dr Chris McAuliffe about the painting, ‘Ballarat’ (1998) and its powerful encapsulation of our city and the changing face of urban Australia.

A public lecture by Professor Alistair Thomson exploring how oral histories illuminate the diverse experiences of Australian families.

Kick off the Ballarat Heritage Festival with local musicians Hap Hayward, Freya Josephine Hollick, and Phil and Trudy Edgeley, as they present a rollicking in-the-round performance of unsung folk songs from the Victorian Goldfields.

Historian Jacqui Sanders and heritage expert Trevor Budge AM reveal the hidden lives of women and children on the Victorian Goldfields. They will share stories of mothers and children who shaped goldfields society and whose memories remain embedded in our historical cultural landscapes. Complimentary afternoon tea to follow.

A two-hour public workshop with Jonathan Butler that will teach you how to narrate the story of your family history.

A public lecture by author Lucy Sussex about the gripping story of Australia’s first female crime writer, Mary Fortune, and her career-criminal son.

A public lecture by Professor Keir Reeves about the long-term impacts of gold on the development of nineteenth-century Victoria.