Backyard Biodiversity
Encouraging wildlife-friendly gardening in urban Ballarat
Gardens for Wildlife Ballarat is delivering a new program in 2025-26 for the local community, funded by the City of Ballarat through the Ballarat Community Education for Sustainability and Environment project. Gardens for Wildlife Ballarat is a community-based gardening program that provides advice and ideas to those interested in making more wildlife friendly spaces in urban gardens.
The program will be delivered in collaboration with other local groups, including the Wattle Flat Pootilla Landcare Group and the Yarning Garden Ballarat. The Ballarat East Neighbourhood House is a delivery partner, supporting the program through promotion and administration.
There will be a range of activities on offer in 2025-26, including:
- Spring Walking Tour: Woowookarung Forest
- Spring Walking Tour: Creswick Forest
- Workshop: Propagation and Nursery Tour
- Presentation: Gardening for Wildlife
- Presentation: Indigenous Plants for Ballarat Gardens
- Workshop: Nestboxes, bee hotels and bird baths
- Autumn Walking Tour: North Gardens Reserve
- Workshop: Planning a Garden for Wildlife
- Workshop: Planning a Nature Strip/Pollinator garden
- Workshop: Propagation and Nursery Tour
- Planting: Creating a garden for wildlife in a public space
- Planting: Creating a Nature Strip/Pollinator garden in a public space
Activity 2: Come for a walk ….. in Creswick Forest
REGISTER BELOW - Registrations essential as places are limited.
Let’s explore a small patch of local bushland on this free family-friendly guided stroll along Slaty Creek and surrounding forest. Along the way we’ll look for wildflowers, introduce you to the sights and sounds of local birds, familiarise you with the trees and shrubs that make up their habitat and start you thinking about the benefits of growing local flora to create a wildlife haven in your own patch.
Creswick Forest, Slaty Creek Picnic Ground 1
Date: Sunday 30 November
First Walk: 2.00 pm - 3.15 pm (BOOKED OUT)
Second Walk: 3.30 pm - 4.45 pm - REGISTER NOW
2.00pm Walk: Transport is available from Barkly Square, departing at 1.15pm and returning at approximately 4.00pm. Alternatively, meet G4WB outside Creswick Town Hall by 1.45pm and follow in your own vehicle.
3.30pm Walk: There is no transport offered for the 3.30pm walk. Please make your way to Slaty Creek Picnic/Campground 1 by 3.20pm or meet G4WB outside Creswick Town Hall by 3.15pm and follow in your own vehicle.
Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided and there are basic toilet facilities.
Total return walking distance is less than 2 km. The track is rough in places so wear sturdy shoes, long trousers and sleeves, hat and sunscreen and bring a water bottle.
Bookings are essential as places are limited. Please cancel your ticket/s if you can no longer attend so that we can make your place available to others.
Hosted by: |
 |
Delivery Partners: |
|
Funded by: |
 |
About Gardens for Wildlife Ballarat
Gardens for Wildlife Ballarat is a community-based gardening program that provides advice and ideas to those interested in making more wildlife friendly spaces in urban gardens.
Whether you have a big backyard, a tiny courtyard, a community garden, a school veggie patch, or pot plants on your balcony, everyone can help contribute to the survival of wildlife by providing suitable places (habitat) for birds, insects, frogs, lizards and other animals.
By participating in the program and becoming engaged in wildlife gardening, you too are a volunteer helping our community to foster local nature. Private landholders can play a critical role in creating a healthy and thriving environment in urban and peri-urban areas.
Connecting to nature in our gardens is also good for our health!
By creating a garden that is wildlife-friendly we can:
- Help conserve local plants and animals by planting more habitat
- Have time to enjoy our gardens by being less tidy, reducing maintenance time and costs
- Reduce water use and evaporation through mulching and use of local native plant species which are better able to tolerate drought conditions
- Have native birds and insects in our gardens providing natural pest control and promoting increased pollination for better fruit/seed set
- Enjoy close encounters with native animals in our gardens and encourage children to appreciate nature up close
Past Events
Activity 1: Come for a walk ….. in Woowookarung
Let’s discover a small part of Woowookarung forest and its cultural heritage on this free guided stroll. Along the way we’ll look for wildflowers, introduce you to the sights and sounds of local birds, learn about traditional Wadawurrung relationships with forest plants and animals and start you thinking about the benefits of growing local flora to create a wildlife haven in your own patch.
Woowookarung, Dementia-friendly Forest and Sensory Trail
Date: Monday 27 October
Time 10.00 am - 12.15 pm
Transport is available from Barkly Square, departing at 10.00 am and returning at approximately 12.15pm. This will need to be booked through the Ballarat East Neighbourhood House. Alternatively, please meet us at the trail head in Katy Ryans Road by 10.15 am.
Tea, coffee and biscuits will be provided but there are no toilet facilities.
Total return walking distance is approximately 2.5 km on a paved gentle gradient suitable for prams and wheelchairs. Please wear sturdy shoes, long trousers, hat and sunscreen and bring a water bottle.
Bookings are essential as places are limited. Please cancel your ticket/s if you can no longer attend so that we can make your place available to others.
Hosted by: |
|
Delivery Partners: |
|
Funded by: |
|
Free Community Auslan Practice Groups
See here for information about our Community Auslan courses. Practice group information follows!
Weekly Thursday Afternoon Community Auslan Practice Group
REGISTER NOW for Term 4, 2025 - 9 October to 11 December 2025
REGISTER NOW for Term 1, 2026 - 5 February to 2 April 2025
2.00 pm - 3.00 pm, Thursdays during school term
Barkly Square Cafe, or Community Space near the Cafe, Barkly Square, Ballarat East.
Free! All welcome.
Join other community members for this informal group designed to encourage you to practise the basics of Auslan (Australian Sign Language) in a welcoming group setting. All levels welcome and voices are used to help clarify, support and encourage understanding Auslan.
Monthly Saturday "Voice Off" Auslan Practice Group
REGISTER NOW for Term 1 - 28 February 2026 and/or 28 March 2026
10.00 am - 11.30 am, last Saturday of every month (except December and January)
Sebastopol Library
Free! All welcome.
Are you interested in the challenge of another form of communication? Do you know a little Auslan? Are you learning Auslan? Are you fluent in Auslan? If you answered Yes to any of these questions please come along to our monthly social “Voice Off” group.
We welcome the Deaf Community, Hard of Hearing Community and the hearing community to come together and socialise. The Ballarat East Neighbourhood House will be hosting a Voice Off Session at the Sebastopol Library to support people wanting to communicate through Auslan (Australian Sign Language).
As suggested in the “Voice Off” name this is a no-voice event.
Please be aware that this activity of hosted by volunteers. They are Auslan Enthusiasts and lifelong learners. However, our volunteers are not fluent and may use a variety of signs. They are keen to learn more signs, adjust signs to community needs and further understand the culture of the language and people who use it. Feedback is welcome.
Deaf Awareness Training
The Ballarat East Neighbourhood House is working with Auslan In the West to provide Deaf Awareness Training to the Ballarat Community. Please note that there is a cost for this activity.
Community Auslan Courses
The Ballarat East Neighbourhood House hosts several Community Auslan Courses at Barkly Square, Ballarat East.
About Auslan
Auslan is Auslan is Australian Sign Language, the language of the Australian Deaf Community. Auslan is a distinct language, with its own grammar and syntax.
Sign languages have evolved across the world where Deaf people live, work and interact. It is an essential organic language. Deaf people born to Deaf parents will learn the language from birth, others later in life alongside their parents, at school or as adults. Increasingly the wider community is actively learning Auslan in order to communicate freely and directly with Auslan users.
(Source: Expression Australia)
Since 2022, the Ballarat East Neighbourhood House has been delivering Community Auslan courses, subsidised through State Government funding as part of the Adult and Community Further Education (ACFE) program in partnership with the Wendouree Neighbourhood Centre.
Bring along your own art, craft, mending, or sewing projects, and your own supplies and equipment, and join others for a chat while you practice art, craft, mending, or sewing in a way which suits you! All welcome. Social group focussed on art and crafting together, skills shared amongst participants, with no designated facilitator guiding the work. Drop in any time! Find us in our Ballarat East Neighbourhood House Community Room #102 at Barkly Square.
REGISTER NOW - for Term 4, 2025
REGISTER NOW - for Term 1, 2026
12.30 pm - 3.00 pm Mondays during school term
2025 Monday Mend-Along & Art & Crafternoon Term Dates
Term 4: 6 October - 15 December
2026 Monday Mend-Along & Art & Crafternoon Term Dates
Term 1: 2 February - 30 March
Crafty people might also enjoy Winter Woollies on Wednesdays, and for those interest in extending their art and craft skills, we also hold Art classes including Watercolour courses and Drawing courses. You can see more information about all these courses via the link here.
Join our FREE, casual, monthly Book Group in the Community Space near the Cafe at Barkly Square, Ballarat East, 10.30 am - 12.00 noon on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month.
On the second Thursday of each month Book Group will discuss a particular book, with details for each month's books listed below. The group decides on future books.
On the fourth Thursday of each month there are additional sessions for those that enjoy getting together to talk about books (and related things) but don't have time to read another book...! There will be a general theme for these sessions, with no extra reading required!
Attendance is casual, please register to receive updates and reminders.
Term 4, 2025: Register Now
Thursday 27 November, 10.30 am - 12.00 noon: Share a book or story that includes animals.
Thursday 11 December, 10.30 am - 12.00 noon: Readers Choice - Christmas Themed Book
Term 1, 2026: Register Now
Thursday 12 February, 10.30 am - 12.00 noon: "Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathon Swift
Thursday 26 February, 5.30 pm - 7.00 pm: Share a favourite book by an Australian author
Thursday 12 March, 10.30 am - 12.00 noon: Book to be decided by the group
Thursday 26 March, 5.30 pm - 7.00 pm: Theme to be decided by the group
Past books:
Thursday 13 November, 10.30 am - 12.00 noon: "Emma" by Jane Austen
Thursday 9 October, 10.30 am - 12.00 noon: "The Stone Yard Devotional" by Charlotte Wood (or any other book by Charlotte Wood)
Thursday 11 September, 10.30 am - 12.00 noon: "The Harp in the South" by Ruth Park
Thursday 14 August, 10.30 am - 12.00 noon: "Rebecca" by Daphne du Maurier, and "Rebecca's Tale" by Sally Beauman
Thursday 12 June 2025, 10.30 am - 12.00 noon: "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Thursday 8 May 2025, 10.30 am - 12.00 noon: "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens
Thursday 13 March 2025, 10.30 am - 12.00 noon: "A Gentleman in Moscow" by Amor Towles
Thursday 13 February 2025, 10.30 am - 12.00 noon: "Horse" by Geraldine Brooks
Thursday 12 December 2024, 10.30 am - 12.00 noon: "The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding" by Holly Ringland
Thursday 14 November 2024, 10.30 am - 12.00 noon: "Home Before Night" by J.P. Pomare
Thursday 10 October 2024, 10.30 am - 12.00 noon: "Lessons in Chemistry" by Bonnie Garmus
Thursday 12 September 2024: Bring your favourite children's book!
Thursday 8 August 2024: "The Ship's Midwife" by Peta Miller
Thursday 18 July 2024: "Devotion" by Hannah Kent
Thursday 13 June 2024: "Keep the Aspidistra Flying" by George Orwell
Thursday 9 May 2024: "The Nowhere Child" by Christian White
Thursday 18 April 2024: "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak
Thursday 14 March 2024: "The Dictionary of Lost Words" by Pip Williams
Thursday 8 February 2024: "The Rugmaker Of Mazar-E-Sharif" by Najaf Mazari And Robert Hillman
Location & getting there
Book Group meetings are held at Barkly Square, 25-39 Barkly Street, Ballarat East.
Walking: The building has entrances on Barkly Street and also access from Princes Street South via the car park.
Driving: You can park on Barkly Street, or behind the building in the car park or on the street along Princes Street South. You can access Princes Street South from Eureka Street or Barkly Street.
Bus: There is a bus stop close to Barkly Square: Route 20, near the corner of Barkly Street and Main Road.
Bicycle: There is bike parking available at Barkly Square.
Book Group meets either in the cafe or in the Atrium near the cafe. You can enter the building from the courtyard next to the cafe or from the Barkly Street entrance, in which case make your way to the opposite corner of the building by walking around the inner courtyard either clockwise or anti-clockwise, and then you will find the cafe.
Public toilets are available within Barkly Square.
View the Accessibility Map of Barkly Square.
Conditions of participation
- Please read the Ballarat East Neighbourhood House Activity Terms and Conditions. You will be asked to agree to these upon registration for this class.
- If you have any injuries or issues which may affect your ability to partipate fully in the activity, and/or if you need any reasonable adjustments, please arrive early to discuss with your tutor.
- Turn off your phone/digital devices and store your possessions in the room.
- Registrations are not transferable.
Questions?
Please call Ballarat East Neighbourhood House on 0422 612 052 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If you are having trouble booking or paying for this activity, we are very happy to find a solution that will work as we want everyone interested to be able to participate.
$100 Power Saving Bonus
Community Group Governance Events and Workshops
Free Digital Skills Support for people aged 50+
