Our Genealogical Resource Collection is housed at the Eureka Centre, Stawell St, Ballarat East.
The Ballarat & District Genealogical Society's book collection has been inter-leaved with the Ballarat Library's Australiana book collection. Both are now located at the Eureka Centre. The online catalogue remains the same. The Society's items are identified by the label BGS.
Visit the Library Website to search the online catalogue .
Ancestry.com, Find My Past and the British Newspaper Archive are available on public computers at the Eureka Centre. Ballarat & District Genealogical Society's computers may be used by members to access these programs via the internet but as of the end of the year 2019 we must alert potential users that access is extremely slow.
Kimberly, WB, 1894, Ballarat and Vicinity, F. W. Niven & Co., Ballarat.
Index of Biographies. This book is part of the Australiana Research Collection which was relocated in 2019 to the Eureka Centre, Ballarat East.
The research team can do lookups for a nominal donation of $20.00. The original article will be digitised and sent to you via email. Enquiries to
Ballarat West was constituted a municipality on 17 December 1855 and on 14 January 1856, the first council was elected. The municipality became a borough on 21 October 1863 and was proclaimed a city on 7 September 1870.
Chairmen of the Municipality of Ballarat West
1856-57 James Oddie
1858-59 James Stewart MD
1860-61 William Collard Smith
1862-63 Robert Lewis
Mayors of the Town of Ballaarat West
1863-64 Matthew Campbell
1864-65 Joseph Attwood Doane
1865-66 Gilbert Duncan
1866-67, 1867-68 Thomas Davey
1868-69 James McDowell
Mayors of the City of Ballaarat West
1869-70 Thomas Cowan
1870-71 Henry Black Chalmers
1871-72 Robert Lewis
1872-73, 1876-77, 1882-83 Frederick Moses Claxton
1873-74 John Henry Williams
1874-75, 1887-88 William Collard Smith
1875-76, 77 Dan Brophy
1877-78 John Wightman Gray
1878-79 Henry Leggo
1879-80, 1884-85 Alex. Thomas Morrison
1881-82 J Noble Wilson
1883-84, 1890-91 John Hickman (died in office)
1885-86 Charles Salter
1886-87, 1893-94 Thomas Houlden Thompson
1888-89, 1895-96 John Gordon McDonald
1889-90 William Little
1890-91, 1891-92, 1897-98, 1902-03 Charles Collett Shoppee
1892-93 David Cooke
1894-95 Edward Morey
1896-97, 1917-18 Alexander Bell
1898-99 Henry Francis Elliot
1899-1900 John Heinz
1900-01, 1905-06 John Whykes
1901-02, 1906-07, 1913-14 James Job Brokenshire
1903-04, 1908-09, 1914-15 Richard Pearse
1904-05, 1911-12 John Martin Barker
1907-08, 1915-16 Fred Brawn
1909-10, 1916-17, 1920-21 William Duguid Hill
1910-11, 1918-19 Thomas Tuke Hollway
1912-13, 1919-20 George Crocker
Mayors of Greater Ballaarat (amalgamation with Ballaarat East)
1921-22, 1922-23 William Roberts Elsworth
1923-24 Robert John Cooke
1924-25 Abraham Levy
1925-26 Alfred Ernest Nicholson
1926-27 Alfred James Pittard
1927-28, 1942-43 Alex. Mackenzie
1928-29, 1936-37, 1943-44 Joseph Pryor
1929-30 George Bolster
1930-31 Arthur Richards Stewart
1931-32, 1932-33 James Harrison (d 4 Jul 1933)
1932-33 William James Hoare, J Harrison, AR Stewart
1933-34 Alfred John Darling
1934-35 Lazarus L Lederman
1935-36, 1940-41 Michael Martin
1937-38 John Henry Trekardo
1938-39, 1939-40 Alexander Mercer King
1941-42 William John Perkins
1944-45 Robert Hamlin Ramsay
1945-46 Herbert Leslie Coburn
1946-47, 1954-55 Alan Crocker Pittard
1947-48 George Stewart
1948-49 Frederick Charlton Wray
1949-50, 1955-56 Nathaniel Thomas Callow
1950-51 John C Rowe
1951-52, 1965-66 William Ernest Roff
1952-53, 1967-68, 1974-75, Arthur William Nicholson
1953-54 Francis John Cutts
1956-57, 1963-64, 1970-71 Kenneth Crago Webb
1957-58, 1964-65, 1971-72, 1977-78 John Alan Chisholm
1958-59 Gordon Lincoln Scott
1959-60 Frederick Wilson Oliver
1960-61 Alan Arthur Nicholson
1961-62 Arthur Dexter Mason
1962-63, 1968-69 Alexander Elliot Mills
1966-67 Leslie Nicholson
1968-69, 1975-76 Maurice James Brown
1972-73, 1979-80 John Francis McKay
1973-74 Alexander Charles Rizzoli
1976-77 Jessie Margaret Scott
1978-79, 1982-83 Melton Ernest James Foo
1980-81 Alfred Emerson Hancock
1981-82, 1989-90 Donald Henry Woodward
1983-84, 1985-86 Bryan Frederick Crebbin
1985-85 (Bruce) David McKnight
1986-87 James Edward Reeves
1987-88 Neil Steinmann
1988-89 Wanda Violet Chapman
1990-91 Vashti Lloyd
1991-92 Frank Williams
1992-93 James Coghlan
1993-94 Geoff Howard
Ballarat Commissioners (for local government amalgamation)
1994 John Sharpham
1994-95 Vern Robson, Bruce H Clark, Malcolm Lee
Mayors of the City of Ballarat
1996-97 James Coghlan
1997-98, 1998-99, 2008-09, 2009-10 Judy Verlin
1999-2001, 2004-05 John Barnes
2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08 David Vendy
2007-08 Stephen Jones
2010-11 Craig Fletcher
2011-2012 Mark Harris
2012-2013 John Burt
2013-2014 Joshua Morris
2014-2015 John Phillips
2015-2016 Des Hudson
2016-2019 Samantha McIntosh
2019-2020 Ben Taylor
Ballan Old Cemetery Index Provided by L S & G Reynolds
Creswick Cemetery Transcriptions
Linton Cemetery Index 1860-1880 Provided by Di Hughes
Pitfield Cemetery (Cape Clear) Index 1856-1871 Provided by Di Hughes
Genealogical Society of Victoria and B&DGS, 2006 on CD - see BDGS Indexes for sale
This includes the Ballarat Old and New Cemeteries in Central Ballarat. We also have compiled the BALLARAT DISTRICT CEMETERIES INDEX which includes many outlying localities.
If you would like to see the graves of Ballarat pioneers and hear interesting stories of the people who lived in the city built on gold you have two choices - Ballarat Old Cemetery with burials from 1858 and Ballarat New Cemetery which came into parallel use from 1867.
The Society conducts group tours of both cemeteries at a cost of $10 per person. For information and bookings please email
Ballarat has 2 Cemeteries known as the Old and New. The Old Cemetery is located on Creswick Road (Yellow Pin) and the New Cemetery is located on Norman Street (Red Pin)
