revisiting primary school history

It's amazing how much time they spend in primary school teaching you facts there is no chance you will remember by the time you are 32. Even though I remember Sovereign Hill fondly and extremely vividly, the historical significance of Ballarat really was lost on me as a 6 year old. So today I revisited grade 2 australian history and gave myself a 3 hour tour of Ballarat.

Interesting facts about Ballarat

The original Eureka flag still exists and can be seen (in a very dark room) at the Art Gallery of Ballarat - quite an awesome site for its sheer size and its historical significance...gave me goosebumps and all that....



Lake Wendouree. This was a lake until 3 years ago, now, as you can see, it is bone dry. Humorously, It is thought that the name Wendouree comes from the local Aboriginal word "wendaaree" which means "go away." Local legend has it that after a European camping on the swamp asked a local Aboriginal woman the name of the swamp, she responded with "wendaaree". In other words, piss off. Didn't really work, but it was worth a try.