Black Hill

Black Hill is a suburb of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia in the northeast of the city.

Black Hill is a suburb of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia in the northeast of the city. It is named after the major landmark, Black Hill, on which there was extensive and highly profitable open-cut gold mining from the early 1850s during the Victoria gold rush. The hill was originally given its indigenous name, Bowdun, by surveyor William Urquhart.This is a suburb that many locals claim to be the ‘Fitzroy of Ballarat’, due to its high house price, large blocks of land and distance to the CBD.

The population at the 2016 census was 2,126.

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According to Federation University's Ballarat and District Industrial Heritage Project, Black Hill was known by the local Watha Warrung as 'Bowdun', which was the original name given by the surveyor William Urquart in 1851. The subtitle 'Black Hill' was given by Urquart in reference to the dense canopy of trees. However, extensive mining over the 1850s saw the hill stripped of trees and significantly reduced in height, as well as the creation of a valley. It became a focal point for quartz causing operations at this time, with the erection of a crushing battery at the base of the hill, probably the first in Australia. As late as 1856 this is evidence that Indigenous peoples lived amongst miners at Black Hill, with some oral history accounts of child minding during the Eureka Rebellion.By the mid-1860s the hill became known as the "White Cliffs of Ballarat" due to the open cut mining operations which exposed cliffs of sandstone. The various buildings associated with the mine would have been located at the base of the hill across from the Newman Street footbridge that exists today. On the southern side of the Yarrowee River were the Black Hill Flats, which were mined extensively for gold which was located at the surface and in deep leads far below. The flats are now located in the suburb of Ballarat East. By 1907 mining operations had almost ended and the hill was turned into a reserve. Local community groups, including the girl guides, planted Montarey pine (pinus radiata), many of which still exist today.Black Hill Post Office opened on 7 June 1864.