Planning Scheme Amendment C257ball proposes to apply a permanent Heritage Overlay (HO236) into the Ballarat Planning Scheme to the Former McGrath Blacksmith and Residence (Ascot Forge). It is a rare surviving and relatively intact example of a rural blacksmith complex.

The site is historically significant for its associations with the closer farming settlement of the Ascot district and demonstrates the central role that blacksmith’s shops played in the development of rural areas until the middle of the twentieth century. The Ascot Forge was a place for farmers to meet and socialise, and it had a mutually beneficial relationship with the former Ascot Hotel on the opposite corner. It has historic importance for its associations with the McGrath family who operated the business on this site for almost 100 years from c.1874 and built the current complex of buildings in the early 1900s.

The 1912 residence is a transitional Federation era timber house with Victorian-style symmetrical form and detailing. The workshop buildings are comprised of three gable roofed sections with timber framing and clad in short-sheet corrugated iron. Each section provided a different purpose. Woodworking took place in one, another contains two brick forges with chimneys for metalworking and the third was used for assembly and painting wagons etc. Behind the building is the wheel forge/furnace, wheel well and ruins of the associated winch/crane that conveyed the wheel from the forge/furnace to the crane. This was used to create or repair the wheels for wagons, drays and carts.

More information can be found in the Ballarat Planning Delegated Committee Minutes dated 4 December 2024. https://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/sites/default/file...

Planning Scheme Amendment C258ball will apply the Heritage Overlay (HO237) into the Ballarat Planning Scheme to the Former Price's Grocery.

This c.1869 two storey brick building was built for grocer and wine merchant, Evan Price. It is a largely intact example of an early commercial building constructed as a grocery store in the residential area to the west of Ballarat’s city centre in response to development spurred by goldmining in Ballarat. Positioned on a prominent corner, the Lyons Street elevation contains a hand painted advertising sign depicting Ballarat Bertie, the cellarman, a character developed in 1926 for Ballarat Bitter, a beer manufactured by the Ballarat Brewing Company. Painted in the 1940-50's it is the last known remaining original sign. Ballarat Bertie is held in great affection by the local community for its long-standing connection to Ballarat’s identity. The sign has been a visual landmark in Ballarat for many decades and is frequently photographed.

The building is currently listed as a contributory building within the South Ballarat Heritage Precinct (HO168). There are no paint controls for this precinct. This amendment will remove it from the precinct and insert it into the heritage overlay as an individually significant heritage place with paint controls, which will protect the painted signs.

More information can be found in the Ballarat Planning Delegated Committee Minutes dated 4 December 2024. https://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/sites/default/file...