Islamic Society of Ballarat is hosting an open day at the Mosque of Ballarat on 16 April. Details in the pot below.

The post below is cross posted from the blog of the Ballarat Interfaith Network, Beside The Creek.

Ballarat Interfaith Network

is happy to promote

for the

Islamic Society of Ballarat

an opportunity to visit

the Mosque of Ballarat

on 16 April 2016

details below

The theme of the event is

'Come to Common Terms'

Lecture by Sheikh Waseem Razvi on interfaith dialogue

Is it still Miners -v- Troopers in #Ballarat #Eureka ?

 A friend has forwarded the letter below:

 

 Reclaim the Radical Spirit of the Eureka Rebellion 

Dawn Service at the Eureka Memorial - #Ballarat

Picture from here

Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 05:06:39 +0000
From: anarchistage@yahoo.com
Subject: Lack of respect

We were saddened by the lack of respect shown to the miners and soldiers who were killed during the Eureka uprising on the 3rd December 1854, in Ballarat during the celebrations that were held on Wednesday to mark the 160th Anniversary of the uprising.  It's a pity the City of Ballarat continues to refuse to fly the Eureka flag on the main flagpole of the Town Hall on the anniversary of the Eureka massacre to acknowledge their sacrifice.  We were surprised when we walked from the Eureka Stockade site to the Old Ballarat Cemetery on Wednesday as part of the yearly Reclaim the Radical Spirit of the Eureka Rebellion Celebrations that the Eureka flag was not flying over the miners' mass grave and the British flag was not flying over the soldiers' graves.  We were saddened to see neither gravesite had any flowers placed on them (fortunately we had a spare Eureka flag that was attached to the flagpole and some flowers for the miners).  I'm confident if the same disrespect was shown to the graves of those who have died fighting in the name of this country on Anzac Day, there would have been an outcry.  The miners buried in the Old Ballarat Cemetery paid the ultimate sacrifice so we can enjoy many of the rights and liberties we take for granted today.  It's not much to ask the City of Ballarat, a city whose name is synonymous with the Eureka Rebellion, to ensure the Eureka flag is flown over the miners' mass grave and the British flag is flown over the soldiers' graves on the anniversary of the day they died.  Lest We Forget. 

Dr. Joseph TOSCANO / Convenor Reclaim the Radical Spirit of the Eureka Rebellion Celebrations
Level 1/21 Smith Street, Fitzroy VIC 3065
Tel: 0439 395 489

Editorial note:  There are remnants of the Miners -v- Troopers alive and well and, if you speak to some locals, still influential. For instance, there is the Ballaarat Club (please note the old spelling and the name of their restaurant) and the Old Colonists Club.

Eureka 160 @ St Paul's will be celebrated December 3 - remembering the people of Ballarat then and now

 

Father Constantine Osuchukwu is pleased to welcome you

to a very different celebration of Eureka

- at St Paul's we are celebrating humanity:

the international people of Ballarat 160 years ago

and the multicultural city that Ballarat is to-day.

There will be music, poetry, spirituality - and supper.

This week - on Wednesday December 3 - 

the 160th Anniversary of the Eureka Rebellion

will be commemorated and celebrated in Ballarat.  

Please go here to see all that is happening at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka.

and there is

Commemorating Radical Eureka Events

And this year there is a new - and somewhat different - event 

on the Eureka Calendar - at St Paul's Bakery Hill in Ballarat.
St Paul's is the site of the establishment of the Ballarat Reform League.

Walkabout on the Yarrowee River, #Ballarat, Saturday 15 November 2pm. Picnic at the Nerrina Wetlands

From Photo Shoot with Aldona Kmiec

Advocacy @ St Paul's is going walkabout 

this coming Saturday afternoon 15 November. 

We are going walkabout on the Yarrowee River. Our guide for the afternoon will be Hedley Thomson who is the Executive Officer of the Ballarat Environment Network. We meet at 2pm on the southern side of the bridge over the Yarrowee on the corner of Esmond and Oliver Streets. Please bring your picnic baskets. We will picnic in Nerrina Wetlands. The Ballarat Environment Network has done heaps of work along the Yarrowee and Hedley will be able to tell you all about it.

To encourage you here are photos from a recent photo shoot on the river close to the bridge at the corner of Esmond and Oliver Streets.

Eureka history in #Ballarat - Women of the Goldfields

Post by Erin M McCuskey.

BEING KEPT ON ICE? What is happening in #Ballarat, #StArnaud, #Castlemaine, #Central Highlands #Western Victoria

Picture from here

Many Australians will have watched 4 Corners last night. Australians will have seen #Ballarat get an ingnominious mention in despatches.

Victoria is heading for a state election on 29 November. It will be of interest to see if, as a result of national media attention, all political parties will make promises - futile or otherwise - to address the almost complete lack of attention to what is happening in central and western Victoria. 

There are people living outside the metropolis of Melbourne. 

There are causes other than the Victorian Premier's racing interests.

Many people in the seat of Wendouree in Ballarat will have received a letter from sitting MP Sharon Knight. In that letter she says "we need to do much better to provide the services, facilities and opportunities local people need." 

She also says that "My highest priority has always been jobs". Jobs are a very high priority - because without a job and without a decent income enabling human beings to lead a decent life we lose so much. Massive unemployment - which is hitting certain areas of Australia - is probably the most corrosive component on human communities. Social isolation - whether it is because of drugs, illness, sexuality, race, ethnicity, language or religion - is probably second on the list. Massive unemployment and large scale social isolation can mean that a community is, quite literally, "stuffed".

In the Federal sphere, Ballarat's local MP is Catherine King, the Shadow Minister for Health.

Those who watched 4 Corners last night will be shocked by the overwhelming lack of funding for care for those seeking to forego drug addiction. It appears that the only place in the Ballarat area is Tabor House with its very limited capacity. To read more about Tabor House, please go to this site. 

Given the lack of knowledge by government and police which undergirds the inability of both to act constructively in this dire situation, and given the frequent bad press of religious organisations, it is interesting to note that the only provision for constructive help in battling the ice epidemic in central and western Victoria is in a house with limited bed capacity run by a Christian organisation.

Four Corners has done a great service in portraying a great problem and a great need in Australian society. But to give credit where credit is due, the Four Corners story may have begun in Ballarat itself with this article in The Courier.