Public listings checked 25/10/2026. Dates use each event’s local time. Check organiser details before travelling.
Explore the region
Explore Ballarat and nearby goldfields towns. Creswick and Buninyong are separate outings; Daylesford and Bendigo are not Ballarat suburbs.
Listings across Ballarat, Ballarat Central, Ballarat East, Ballarat North, Buninyong, Creswick, Delacombe, Golden Point, Lake Wendouree, Soldiers Hill, Wendouree.
Upcoming events
88 matching events listed in the next 60 days. Admission prices are shown where supplied.
Never been to Piano Bar on a Saturday night?
Here's the thing, it all starts with the Piano Man.
From the moment you walk in, it's all about the music. Requests start flowing, the room starts to connect, and what begins as a relaxed dinner quickly turns into a full venue singing along like you've all known each other for years.
Settle in with a drink and dinner, and throw in your favourite songs early. Whether it's something nostalgic, something cheeky, or something you didn't think anyone else would know, this is where it hits different.
As the night builds, the energy shifts. The queens hit the stage, the crowd gets louder, and before you know it the tables are gone and the whole room becomes one big dance floor.
Wrap up the night under the confetti canon and watch sparks of joy fly across the room. Be sure to grab a complimentary bottle of water on your way out.
And that's the magic of a Saturday at Piano Bar, it's not forced, it just happens.
This exhibition offers paintings exploring the fragility of life, death and the moment in between. This constant is seen in landscapes, the human body and bodies of animals around you.
The Old Butchers Shop Gallery is a place to show the diversity and talent of Ballarat artists, with a different artist exhibiting each month.
Buninyong Village Market is a relaxed, community-focused market held every 5th Saturday of the month at the Buninyong Town Hall precinct.
Set in the heart of Buninyong, the market showcases a curated mix of local makers, artisans, designers and small businesses, offering handmade goods, creative products, gifts and seasonal finds. Visitors can enjoy a friendly village atmosphere, support local talent, and spend a leisurely afternoon browsing stalls, meeting the makers, and soaking up the charm of this historic township.
The Buninyong Village Market is perfect for families, locals and visitors looking for a slower-paced market experience with a strong sense of community and creativity.
Grab your mates and set off on Hola Margarita – a self-guided Margarita fiesta through Ballarat's best bars. From classic sips to bold, creative twists, each venue brings its own take on everyone's favourite tequila cocktail. Whether you're a margarita tragic or just chasing a fun-filled afternoon, this multi-venue festival is all about great Margs, great venues and even better vibes.
Start your day with a bite at your chosen venue using your complimentary $10 Food Voucher, then hit the trail with your Margarita vouchers in hand. Wander from bar to bar at your own pace – where you stop (and sip) is completely up to you.
Tickets won't last long, so secure yours now and get ready for an afternoon bursting with flavour and fun.
Ballarat's own professional magician Barry Govan performs a show that will take you back over 100 years when world famous magicians as the Wizard Jacobs, Max Malini, Harry Houdini and many others performed in Ballarat and Melbourne at the turn of the last century.
No television screens. Performance within metres.
Barry has entertained such diverse personalities such as Muhammad Ali, Ex Russian president Mikael Gorbachev "Stormin'" Norman Schwarzkopf (Gulf War fame) and toured with Elle MacPherson entertaining her business clients.
Barry's sleight of hand has been featured in many movies including Winchester with Helen Mirren, Childstar (The Life of Shirley Temple) and Sucker with Timothy Spall (of Harry Potter fame), plus many appearances on Australian television shows.
Two shows only. Doors open 30 minutes prior to show-time. There is no allocated seating. A bar will operate in the Hugh Williamson Foyer on Level 1.
Tickets can also be purchased from the BMI Library
The Creswick Theatre Company presents another Shot in the Dark Murder Mystery with Salem Witches this Halloween.
The year is 1692 and Salem Village is in the midst of the most famous witch hunt in American history. This murder mystery uses incidents from the Salem Witch hunt, with information from the trial manuscripts and names of real people as characters.
Suddenly, the witch hunt takes a far more perilous turn for those imprisoned. The format is a murder mingle mystery where you get to investigate and interrogate the selected suspects to find out who the guilty party is.
Table seating, bring along some snacks to share and the Courthouse Theatre Bar will be open.
After multiple sold-out seasons, Songs from the Canyon returns for a special run of shows across Victoria this October with new songs added for 2026.
Journey back to Laurel Canyon in the 1960s and 70s - a creative haven in the Hollywood Hills where artists like Joni Mitchell, Crosby Stills Nash and Young, Carole King, Mamas and Papas, and The Doors redefined popular music. Through beautifully crafted performances, Songs from the Canyon captures the spirit of this golden era, where rich harmonies and heartfelt storytelling shaped a generation.
This beloved production brings together an extraordinary ensemble of Australian musicians, including Husky Gawenda, Dan Kelly, Charm of Finches, Alma Zygier, Stephen Grady and Dan Challis, to celebrate one of the most influential musical movements of all time.
Don't miss this captivating celebration of music, culture and connection.
Kaze Karaoke every Saturday night at The Cattleyards Inn Ballarat! Custom stage, excellent sound, the best mics, the most extensive song list and the friendliest staff plus live streams and loads of fun, all run by Ballarat's most experienced karaoke hosts with an awesome pub atmosphere. Come on down and live, laugh, love, sing! This is a Kaze Entertainment Event.
The Cattle Yards Inn is passionate about providing delicious and high-quality food! Eat in or take-away, drive-through bottle shop and more.
Every Saturday night you can join the team at Hop to finish off your night with live music from a variety of bands that are guaranteed to get you on your feet.
Learn the basics of screen printing with designer, Nicola Cerini.
In this full-day workshop, Nicola will teach the basics of screen printing on fabric and give you the skills and knowledge to set up your own fabric printing studio. You will immerse yourself in the process and experiment with a simple and effective screen printing technique using cut-paper stencils to print up to 6 fabric samples
At the end of the day, you will take home a linen tea towel and denim apron made with the designs you have created in the workshop.
In her first solo exhibition, Ballarat artist Brigid Corcoran delivers a vibrant reminder that nature remains at the very heart of the Australian story.
For the past 15 years Brigid has been on a sensory quest exploring what it means to be Australian - a quest driven by food and art that has been heavily, and delightfully, shaped by the Australian landscape.
For this exhibition Brigid repurposes paper images of Australian cities, landscapes, Australian fashion and culture. She uses these familiar scenes to shift focus back to the Australian Bush. Creating vibrant majestic works that celebrate the native birds and wildlife as Australia's Bush Royalty. This exhibition will lead you into the magic of the Australian bush and its Noble Creatures.
Join Hop Temple each Sunday as Australian artists take the stage with original and blues covers, all while you explore their lineup of over 200 craft beers.
The kitchen team will be serving up smoked barbecue classics from brisket and sausage to pulled pork and wings.
Sovereign Hill's Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections (Gold Rush Collections Centre for short) isn't your usual museum experience.
This is a place for history nerds and culture seekers alike.
Hidden within a maze of vaults and storerooms lies a treasure trove of over 150,000 meticulously preserved artefacts. From gold nuggets and jewellery to fashion and photography, this remarkable collection offers a glimpse into the rich history of Ballarat and beyond—all housed in the former Gold Museum building.
This is the history lesson you never got at school. The collection sheds light on lesser-known, yet equally significant, perspectives that challenge and reframe the traditional Australian narratives of our past.
With behind-the-scenes tours, thought-provoking talks, education programs, and ground-breaking research, the Gold Rush Collections Centre is a space to connect curious minds to an incredible collection that has defined Ballarat and the nation.
Lake Wendouree has been a community destination for more than 150 years. Located in central Ballarat next to the Ballarat Botanical Gardens and near Victoria Park, Lake Wendouree offers a wide range of attractions and recreational activities both on and off the water.
Facilities include the six-kilometre Steve Moneghetti running and walking track, cycling trails, playgrounds and excellent picnic and barbeque facilities. The lake offers opportunities for fishing, sailing and rowing. The world-class 2000 metre rowing course hosted rowing events at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games and remains a venue for school, club and high-level rowing and sailing competitions. The Rustic Fountain which was built to commemorate the first water supply to Ballarat. The organic, volcanic stone structure is similar to the ones which can be found in the Carlton Gardens in Melbourne.
Features include public toilets, barbeques, playgrounds, restaurants, water pursuits including fishing, rowing course, six kilometer and home of rowing in the 1956 Olympics.
Ballarat Performing Arts Centre is a multi-venue performing arts and community hub.
Including their stunning Chapel venue with its incredible acoustics and beautiful features, and several other spaces available for hire for performances, rehearsals and community events.
Keep an eye on their website for upcoming shows and events, and how to get involved.
Sovereign Hill is a living museum presenting the story of Ballarat as a gold rush boomtown. Gold was discovered here in 1851, triggering the greatest alluvial gold rush the world has ever known.
But this isn't the history lesson you got at school. Sovereign Hill puts you at the heart of the action.
Explore underground on a mine tour, cosplay as a gold rush character inside their 1850s photography studio, pan for gold on the diggings, hop onto a coach ride, see live rare trades demonstrations, try the iconic Raspberry Drops handcrafted only at Sovereign Hill, browse the shops, and meet some colourful costumed characters.
Goldfields Track is a point-to-point 210 kilometre track for hikers and cyclists that links the 1850s gold rush era towns of Ballarat, Creswick, Daylesford and Castlemaine to Bendigo in the longest shared use track in Victoria.
Originally known as the Great Dividing Trail, this is some of the most beautiful mountain biking and hiking in Victoria. A region steeped in history, you'll encounter forests, both natural and man-made, pastoral countryside and single track that in some places flow on grippy loam and in others jump and jag across roots, rock ledges and coarse sandstone.
For an experience you will never forget, come and visit the Goldfields Track.
Ballarat Indoor Go Karts and Laserforce delivers high-energy indoor go-karting, laser tag missions and engaging arcade games, offering all-weather fun for families, groups and travellers. As one of Ballarat's top indoor attractions, it provides unforgettable entertainment and an action-packed option for visitors seeking the best things to do in the Ballarat region.
Its standout features include top-performing karts designed for comfort and safety, adult and junior-friendly sessions, and the indoor track that lets guests enjoy the thrill of racing in any weather. The Laserforce arena delivers energetic, mission-based gameplay with dynamic lighting and interactive targets that draw players into the action, while the arcade area offers classic favorites and modern skill-based games that keep the fun going between sessions. With a welcoming team, dedicated party spaces and a strong reputation as one of Ballarat's most engaging family entertainment centres, the venue creates excitement and inclusivity for all.
Located close to popular attractions such as Sovereign Hill, the Ballarat Wildlife Park and the many experiences of central Ballarat, the venue offers free parking and is an ideal addition to a day of local exploring. As a long-running, family-owned business with a proud local presence, it is known for delivering safe, fun and energetic experiences. Visitors are invited to explore what the venue offers and start planning their next action-packed experience.
At Ballarat’s Sanctuary Day Spa, the ultimate goal is to guide you towards a lasting sense of wellbeing through holistic healing and nurturing treatments. A 75 minute drive from Melbourne is their award winning Day Spa, located within the serene gardens of the Mercure Hotel and Convention Centre.
Purpose built in 2018 and having recently undergone a new extension, Ballarat’s Sanctuary Day Spa features eight treatment rooms including two dual suites, one with a private bath, two relaxation lounges with fireplace, a pedicure lounge and The Sanctuary – heated hydrotherapy spa and traditional stone sauna.
You are invited to take a few deep breaths as you step inside the grand entrance. Leave life’s stresses at the door and allow the attentive team of skilled therapists to take you on a decadent journey to promote wellbeing, vitality and radiance from within.
Wootten was founded in Adelaide's iconic Jam Factory arts collective in the mid 1970s surrounded by Australia’s leading craft practitioners. The generational tradition of handcrafting boots and leather goods continues from their repurposed World War 2 munitions workshop in the historic city of Ballarat.
Ballarat has a long and proud history of bootmaking. James Oliver established Oliver and Steven’s Boot Factory in 1887. Their boots were engineered to withstand harsh conditions and became popular among miners and farmers.
Cycle forward and the now iconic large retailer River’s began as Paddle Bros, making high quality shoes for routine Ballarat shoppers throughout the 20th century. Generations of Ballarat locals have since been employed in the industry.
Wootten carries on this tradition. Operating out of the Gun Cotton Warehouse district, the small team of highly skilled and expert leather craftspeople produce handmade boots, shoes, belts, leather aprons and bags by the batch.
Visit the Wootten workshop and showroom for a view into a working boot factory, and let the makers assist you with selecting a pair of boots to be worn for generations.
In a nod to the site’s former history as a General Store, Wootten have curated a selection high quality crafts and wares. The range focuses on local makers with expertise in apparel, woven textiles, ceramics and decorative arts.
The Ballarat Real Tennis Club proudly celebrates its Goldrush heritage. Real Tennis, Australia's first racquet sport, began in the 1860s on Main Road, predating modern tennis. Today, Real Tennis is a niche sport, with only five venues nationwide, three in Victoria.
Walk-in visitors and pre-booked players are welcome daily. Watch a match or book an introduction by contacting the operator via phone or email. Members of the club can book using the website. Non-members pay guest fees, while member subscriptions support full-time club professionals who welcome, coach, find opponents, maintain the court and equipment and make every ball used. Community engagement events include classes for school groups, collaborative events with local tennis and squash clubs, workshops in ball-making and racquet-stringing, and tailored programs for juniors, women and older adults to maximize inclusion.
With origins stretching back around 800 years into medieval Europe, Real Tennis is the oldest racquet sport. The sport's complex rules focus on strategy and experience rather than power or speed. Its unique handicapping system lets players of all ages and abilities compete equally, encouraging intergenerational activity. The club welcomes participants regardless of gender, age or skill level.
With a few words from the poem, For the Fallen, by the English poet and writer Laurence Binyon, you are welcomed to the Australian Ex-Prisoners of War Memorial. This unique memorial was opened on 6 February, 2004, to recognise and remember those Australians who became Prisoners of War during the wars of the twentieth century.
The Memorial symbolises that all Australian prisoners embarked to serve away from their homeland and acknowledges the hardship, deprivation, brutality, starvation and disease endured by prisoners of war during their capture and the scars many continued to endure upon their repatriation to Australia.
In these magnificent botanical gardens, the Memorial is a place of quiet reflection and a place to remember loved ones and to mourn those 8,600 prisoners of war that died in captivity and remain buried on foreign shores.
Travel back in time through the beautiful Ballarat Botanical Gardens alongside Lake Wendouree. By riding one of the 100 year old trams which provided Ballarat's public transport until 1971.
The recently opened Display Hall, is where you can learn the story of the Ballarat trams and its people is told through photographs, historic films and tramway memorabilia.
Representatives of the Ballarat tramcar fleet are on display alongside a wonderfully restored former Geelong tram. On loan is a restored tram which until 1959 the Victorian Railways ran from St Kilda Station to Brighton. Included in the display is Ballarat Horse Drawn Tram No. 1. This was the first tram to operate in Ballarat in 1887.
Under restoration is one of the first electric trams to be operated in 1905 by the original Electric Supply Company of Victoria fleet.
The running fleet includes nine tramcars which initially ran in Melbourne and arrived in Ballarat between 1930 and 1951, and four acquired directly from Melbourne by the Museum.
Run by volunteers, the Museum is open every Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday. We are open on most Victorian public holidays. During Victoria school holidays we open on Thursdays.
Guided tours and group visits can be arranged. Souvenir items may be purchased from the shop.
Murrup Laarr translates as 'Ancestral Stones' in Wadawurrung. This artwork by Deanne Gilson is located in the North Gardens Indigenous Sculpture Park. The park is a significant project for the City of Ballarat and will feature works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, celebrating the richness and diversity of culture and telling important cultural stories.
Dr Deanne Gilson is a Wadawarrung Traditional Custodian and established artist. She installed the first artwork commissioned by the City of Ballarat for the Sculpture Park in early 2019. Murrup Laarr is a contemporary artwork consisting of a traditionally-built stone hut in the middle of a circle of basalt standing stones, marked with ceramic plates reflecting the stories and symbols of dreaming, memory, ceremony.
