I don't have a name for this 1857 building, so I'm calling it the Eagle Building. It's at the northeast corner of Dana Street and Doveton Street (Highway A300).


This 1869 building at #211 Dana St. appears to rename itself every time there's a new MP for Ballarat. It started out as a bank built for James Oddie & Co., but I don't know which bank.


Continuing along Dana Street, #205 and #203, the latter of which dates to 1888.


The 1884 Ballarat Central Uniting Church is at the southeast corner of Dana Street and Lydiard St. South.


This original 1881 gas lamp has been preserved in the roundabout at those two streets, an anachronistic setting but better than the scrap heap. Keep reading for the next one.


Starting north on Lydiard Street, I come to the 1880 Chancery House in Renaissance Revival style.


The 1855 (Anglican) Cathedral of Christ the King is across the street from there.


I know #41 Lydiard St. South dates to 1881, but I don't know what its original name or use was.


Back to the west side of the street, this is Craig's Royal Hotel. In 1853, it started life as The Ballarat, becoming Bath's Hotel when bought by that owner. In 1857, Mr. Craig bought it, and it became Craig's Hotel. The 1867 visit to Ballarat, at the time a developing frontier town, by Prince Albert is what made the hotel Royal.


Her Majesty's Theatre didn't start life as a theatre at all, but as an Academy of Music. That was to throw off the Victorian elites who would shun something as base as a theatre in 1875.


The 1864 Union Bank, and the tower of Town Hall behind it. Not sure why I didn't turn down Sturt St. for more Town Hall photos, but too late now.


Various views of the 1905 National Mutual Insurance Company building. There's a small tower at top center of the roof.


I promised you more old gas lamp. This one's in the dead centre of the Lydiard Street / Sturt Street intersection.


Look right, and the 1915 Titanic Memorial Bandstand is in the middle of the Sturt Street Gardens, which are in the middle of Sturt St. It's nice to erect a bandstand in memory of the musicians who played the ship to its (and their) grave, but the Titanic was not anywhere near Ballarat and none of the occupants were from here.


Look left, and there's another monument to death. The Burke & Wills Fountain was erected in 1867 to commemorate those men's fatal 1861 expedition to northern Australia and partway back.


Behind the fountain is the Australian and New Zealand Bank, Ltd. (ANZ Bank now), coincidentally also erected in 1867.


Finally, the old 1864 post office is on the northeast corner of Lydiard and Sturt Streets. The tower was added seamlessly in 1885.

Continue north through downtown
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