One in a series of caches to highlight the many towns, villages, hamlets, localities and crossroads around Victoria. Based on a series of caches in South Australia, started by local SA cacher adelaideram. adelaideram was contacted and is happy with the series spreading its wings into Victoria.
BALLAN
Ballan is the second largest administrative centre, behind Bacchus Marsh, in the Shire of Moorabool LGA. Ballan is located in between Melbourne and Ballarat just off the Western Freeway, and had a major train stop in between these two cities. Ballan's facilities include a hospital, primary schools, railway station, police station, post office, church, banks, ATM, public play grounds, golf club, hotel, pub, caravan park, fuel station, restaurants, supermarket and other shops. At the 2021 census, Ballan had a population of 3,392. The Wadawurrung and Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nations are the traditional owners of the land that is today's Ballan.
During the Victorian Gold Rush, it became an important staging point for coaches travelling to the Ballarat goldfields. In April 1838, Robert William von Stieglitz (1816–1876) took up a pastoral run situated on the Werribee River's right riverbank. He named it Ballan. His brother John Lewis von Stieglitz (1809–1868) occupied the adjoining run, Ballanee. The two von Stieglitz brothers were among the first European settlers in the Port Phillip District. The township of Ballan was surveyed in 1850 and named after von Stieglitz's run. Gold was found in the area in 1851, which brought an influx of prospectors during the Victorian Gold Rush. The Ballan Hotel dates from the gold rush period in 1851. The town became an important staging point for coaches travelling to the Ballarat goldfields. The post office in the township opened around September 1853. Ballan Primary School was established on 8 January 1855. The first Mechanics' Institute in Ballan was built in 1861, with the current Mechanics' Institute built on land purchased in 1881, although the façade was demolished and rebuilt in 1922. The building houses the town library and a hall. St Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Ballan was officially opened in July 1866.
On 15 November 2003, a Sprinter train travelling to Ballarat was derailed between Ballan and Gordon, injuring 61 people when it hit a stationary vehicle on a country railway crossing.
To find GZ for the cache, simply solve the 63 piece jigsaw below. Once near GZ, there is plenty of room to pull off the road.
A Jigidi For...Ballan