Selected highlights from the penultimate day of Ballarat Heritage Festival on Saturday, 23 May, all of it enjoyed to the fullest with my partner in just about everything, Shane Jones.
It’s our favourite time of year in this part of the world. For us, as for many people (judging by the hoards lining the platforms of Ballarat Railway Station), the festival wouldn’t be complete without a steam train ride.
For Shane and I, however, the day’s high point was Charmaine Channell’s imaginatively conceived and exquisitely realised exhibition, The Grand Old Dames of Ballarat at The Old Butchers Shop Gallery, in which Ballarat’s historic buildings were gloriously personified.
Gloria - Art Gallery of Ballarat, gouache on paper (directly above), incorporates numerous works from the permanent collection of the Art Gallery of Ballarat, including my painting, Vorticist 2, 2004. (See detail below, followed by the actual work).
Highlights (in no particular order) included the legendary Ballarat People Who Promenade, of which Shane Jones and I are proud members.
Pictured below: Promenaders founders, Megan Finlayson (AKA Queen Victoria) and Bryan Putt, followed by random views snapped during our eventful stroll through the city.
Among the exhibitions we visited on day 3 were: THINKING OF PLACE IV: FLEET at Post Office Gallery (pictured below)
- and The Coburn Collection at Ballarat Town Hall. (Last three photos).
Ballarat Heritage Festival 2026 ran from 21-24 May.
