Australian History
Book Details

Lucky City

The First Generation at Ballarat 1851-1901

Weston Bate

Ballarat was a makeshift boom town that matured to become a 'Golden City', a 'City of Gardens and Sculptures'.

Awards

FAW Local History Award 1978

About this Title

Ballarat was not a typical goldfield. The lava flows that created the fertile Western District of Victoria helped to bury the original streams and reefs so that there was little surface alluvial gold. In a tantalizing search for fabulous underground river beds the youthful migrants of the 1850s overcame immense obstacles. They were both thrifty and speculative, using the profits of one bonanza to pursue another--and were probably goaded by officialdom into the famous Eureka rebellion of 1854.

Lucky City explores the interaction of man with the environment and of particular men and ideas with the urban situation. It shows how, from a makeshift boom town, the city matured and sponsored such images of itself as 'Golden City', 'City of Gardens', 'City of Sculptures'. It sees its pioneers as heroic adventurers. The book also examines relationships with a fertile hinterland from which pastoral, agricultural, timber-milling and mining activity sustained Ballarat as a regional market-place and industrial centre. It looks at the spread of Ballarat's influence in technology, unionism and national feeling right across Australia, as well as charting its rivalry with Bendigo and its resentment of Melbourne's dominance.

Weston Bate has produced a lively case study of a migrant community. The book is written with academic insight but should delight the general reader because of the clarity of the prose and the human focus. Typical of the approach are fascinating illustrations, deftly integrated into the text and covering the whole panorama of Ballarat life.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
Prologue: Pastoral Prelude

PART I: SKIRMISH
1 Golden Point
2 Out in the Gullies
3 Centre Stage
4 Eureka

PART II: BONANZA
5 Under the Basalt
6 Main Street Heyday
7 Sinews of a City
8 Seedbed of Democracy
9 Melting-pot
10 East and West

PART III: CONSOLIDATION
11 Goodbye to Growth
12 Mining 1870-1900
13 Railway Centre
14 Golden City
15 Foundation-stone of Empire and Nation

Appendices
Abbreviations
Notes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author

Weston Bate's strong commitment to local and regional history began with A History of Brighton, first published in 1962 (second edition, 1983). After service in the R.A.A.F. during World War II, he completed a B.A. and then an M.A. at the University of Melbourne, where he studied under Manning Clark, Max Crawford, Kathleen Fitzpatrick and John O'Brien. He taught at Brighton Grammar School, Melbourne Grammar School, Bradfield College (Berkshire), Monash and Melbourne universities, and from 1978 until 1989 held the foundation chair of Australian Studies at Deakin University, Geelong. He is President of the Royal Historical Society of Victoria and, as one outcome of a growing interest in photographs and objects as historical evidence, chairs the Museums Advisory Board of Victoria. He has been historical consultant and Gold Museum committee member at Sovereign Hill for many years.

978-0-522-84157-2