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Ballarat is the largest inland city in Victoria, Australia, approximately 120 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, with a population of 87,000 people. The city lies at 441 metres (1,447 feet) above sea level and covers an area of approximately 740 square kilometres.

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The site of the city was originally a stock station established by William Cross Yuille and Henry Anderson in 1838 and named Ballaarat, which was derived from aboriginal words which mean camping place.

It was founded in the early 1850s when gold was discovered there, and, with a huge influx of population and wealth, was for a time Victoria's largest city. The legacy of the wealth generated is still visible in a large number of fine stone buildings in and around the city, especially in the Lydiard Street area which contains some of Victoria's finest examples of Victorian era buildings many of which are classified by the National Trust of Australia.

Ballarat is notable as the site for Australia's only armed civil uprising, the Eureka Stockade which took place in 1854. The site contains a historical park and a memorial to commemorate the event.

The Ballarat Botanical Gardens are amongst the finest Botanical Gardens in Australia. Lake Wendouree hosted the rowing for the 1956 Olympic Games, and is a large recreational lake created out of former wetlands.

Today, Ballarat's major industries include tourism, food products, brick and tile manufacture, education and information technology services.

Residents have their own independent local newspapers, 'The Courier', and the 'Ballarat News'. Local radio stations are 'The Voice', 'Power FM' and 'Noise FM'. Ballarat has its own television broadcasting facilities which provide regional television for most of the eureka district. WIN, PRIME, and Southern Cross Ten license Nine Network, Seven Network, and Network Ten content respectively and maintain a similar schedule but with local demographic commercials and local

Ballarat experiences a temperate climate with four seasons. Because of its elevation, at 450 metres above sea level, mean monthly temperatures tend to be on average 2-3 degrees below those for Melbourne. The mean daily maximum temperature for January is 24.9° Celsius, while for July it is 10°C . The mean annual rainfall is 705 mm, with August being the wettest month (77 mm). There are an average of 198 rain-free days per year. In winter, snow occasionally falls on nearby Mount Buninyong, and in very cold winters, has been known to fall in the city centre.