Ballarat - Geography

Geography

Ballarat lies at the foothills of the Great Dividing Range in Central Western Victoria. Also known as the Central Highlands, it is named so because of its gentle hills and lack of any significant mountains that are more common in the eastern sections of the Great Dividing Range. The city lies within a mostly gently undulating section of the midland plains which stretch from Creswick in the north, to Rokewood in the south, and from Lal Lal in the south-east to Pittong in the west.

Geologically the area consists of alluvial sediment and volcanic flows originating from now extinct volcanoes such as nearby Buninyong and Warrenheip which are the area's tallest peaks. As a result, the basin contains large areas of fertile agricultural soil. Ballarat itself is situated on an alluvial basin of the Yarrowee catchment and its tributary creeks penetrated by sub-ranges of schists composed of granites and quartz. Along with the visible river and creeks, the catchment basin has numerous active and inactive aquifers and natural wetlands, which are used for urban water supply, agriculture and recreation.

There are numerous densely forested areas around Ballarat, however due to historic wood milling and land clearing there remain no old-growth forests. The major natural bodies of water are in the west and include the former shallow swamps of Lake Wendouree which is central to the city's western suburbs and beyond Winter's Swamp and the large Lake Burrumbeet wetland complex. Almost all of the other numerous bodies of water have been created artificially and include several reservoirs, the largest being the White Swan Reservoir and smaller suburban lakes such as Lake Esmond.

The contiguous urban area of Ballarat covers approximately 90 km2 of the local government area's 740 km.2 Approximately 90% of the urban area's land use is residential and suburban. From the city centre this area extends north to approximately 6 km north to the hills around Invermay, approximately 7.5 km east to Leigh Creek in the foothills of Mount Warrenheip, approximately 7 km west along the plains to Lucas and approximately 8.5 km south along the Yarrowee river and Canadian creek valley to the fringe of Buninyong. The central city is situated low in the valley of the Yarrowee and surrounded by hills such that the city skyline is visible only from the hills and the lower lying inner eastern suburbs. The reach of the Yarrowee toward Ballarat Central becomes a stormwater drain and is completely covered over as it flows under the CBD.