Eureka Centre Ballarat is an

interpretive centre An interpretation centre, interpretive centre, or visitor interpretive centre is an institution for dissemination of knowledge of natural or cultural heritage. Interpretation centres are a kind of new-style museum, often associated with visitor c ...

in the

Eureka Stockade Memorial Park The Eureka Stockade Memorial Park (also known as the Eureka Stockade Reserve) is believed to encompass the site of the Battle of the Eureka Stockade that was fought in Ballarat, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia, on 3 December 1854. Records ...

. It features a small permanent exhibition on the

Eureka Rebellion The Eureka Rebellion was a series of events involving gold miners who revolted against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, British administration of the Victoria (Australia)#Colonial Victoria, colony of Victoria, History of Au ...

and houses the

Eureka Flag The Eureka Flag was flown at the Battle of the Eureka Stockade, which took place on 3 December 1854 at Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. It was the culmination of the 1851 to 1854 Eureka Rebellion on the Victorian goldfields. Gold miners prot ...

, which has been on loan from the

Art Gallery of Ballarat The Art Gallery of Ballarat is the oldest regional art gallery in Australia. It was established in 1884 as the Ballarat Fine Art Gallery by a company of interested citizens led by James Oddie. It initially rented out the first floor of the Balla ...

since 2013. It also hosts lectures and a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

, Lilly's at Eureka. The first

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

on the site, the Eureka Stockade Centre, opened in 1993. It was replaced by the privately owned Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka (MADE) in 2013. The

City of Ballarat The City of Ballarat is a local government area in the west of the state of Victoria, Australia. It covers an area of and, in June 2023, had a population of 118,137. It is primarily urban with the vast majority of its population living in the ...

closed MADE in 2018. The mayor said its $1 million annual operating costs were not justified due to declining visitor numbers. The city began developing the current Eureka Centre the same year.

Precursors

Eureka Stockade Interpretive Centre

Designed by the firm Cox Sanderson Ness, the Eureka Stockade Interpretive Centre finished construction in 1997. It was officially opened on 27 March 1998 in a ceremony by Premier

Jeff Kennett Jeffrey Gibb Kennett (born 2 March 1948) is an Australian former politician who served as the 43rd Premier of Victoria between 1992 and 1999, Leader of the Victorian Liberal Party from 1982 to 1989 and from 1991 to 1999, and the Member for ...

. His call for the

, displayed at the

, to be rehoused the centre was met with community backlash. Despite Kennett's hopes for a "tourism icon", the original Eureka Centre was not financially successful. It was dwarfed in visitor numbers by

Sovereign Hill Sovereign Hill is an open-air museum in Golden Point, a suburb of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. Sovereign Hill depicts Ballarat's first ten years after the discovery of gold there in 1851 and has become a nationally acclaimed tourist attrac ...

and the art gallery. Sovereign Hill, which operated the centre, transferred management to the

after the first four years.

Museum of Australian Democracy (MADE)

Between 2011 and 2013, the Eureka Centre was redeveloped into the Museum of Australian Democracy (MADE). This development was funded by $5 million from both the Australian and Victorian governments and $1.1 million from the City of Ballarat. The building was designed by architects Beveridge Williams and included a 114-seat theatre, and a cafe. It was originally anticipated that annual visitation would reach 125,000. In 2017, the museum reached a record 68,000 visitors. The Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka was established as an independent not-for-profit organisation with a board of directors and with tax deductible charity status. Its sole member was the City of Ballarat. During its five-year existence, the museum had two Chairs of the board: Professor David Battersby AM and Kaaren Koomen AM. MADE's was supported by three notable patrons:

Lucy Turnbull Lucinda Mary Turnbull (née Hughes; born 30 March 1958) is an Australian businesswoman, philanthropist, and former local government politician. She served on the Sydney City Council from 1999 to 2004, including as Lord Mayor of Sydney from 2 ...

AO,

Rob Knowles Robert Ian "Rob" Knowles (born 4 July 1947) is a former Australian politician. He was born in Ballarat to farmer Robert Joseph Knowles and Dulce, ''née'' Odgers. After graduating from Ballarat North Technical School, he became a farmer in Clar ...

AO and former Victorian Premier

Steve Bracks Stephen Phillip Bracks (born 15 October 1954) is a former Australian politician and was the 44th Premier of Victoria. He first won the electoral district of Williamstown in 1994 for the Labor Party and was party leader and premier from 1999 t ...

AC.

Peter FitzSimons Peter John FitzSimons (born 29 June 1961) is an Australian author, journalist, and radio and television presenter. He is a former national representative rugby union player and was the chair of the Australian Republic Movement from 2015 to 20 ...

AM was an Ambassador for the museum. The museum received an annual grant from the City of Ballarat of approximately $1 million. The museum also received triennial funding from Creative Victoria's OIP grant program and the Department of Education and Training, as well as other donors. The museum's annual turnover was approximately $2 million and in each year of operation it posted a financial a surplus. MADE's launch on 4 May 2013 was hampered by budget overruns and long delays. At its February 2018 Ordinary Council Meeting, the City of Ballarat Council made the decision to take over management responsibility of the centre. The decision came after lengthy consideration of a feasibility study prepared for Council on the future of the museum. The Museum of Australian Democracy ceased trading on 31 March 2018. Following MADE's closure, a public lobby group called for the return of the flag to the Art Gallery of Ballarat. The public debate over the MADE site and the Eureka story also continued. The Council took over the centre, continuing to exhibit the flag, and engaged the Ballarat community to determine the next steps for a community centre based on the site. The Museum of Australian Democracy voluntarily deregistered with ASIC in May 2018, after transferring its assets to the City of Ballarat and de-accessioning its collection, returning borrowed and donated objects to donors.

MADE Exhibitions and Awards (2013-2018)

MADE explored the powerful story of the Eureka Stockade and life on the Gold Fields in the 1850s as a significant part of the struggle for peoples' rights in Australia and around the world. MADE commemorated the pivotal role of the Stockade in shaping Australia's democracy. This is where a group of largely young people fought injustice, and won some of the first democratic rights in the world. The key feature of the exhibition was the original

that was first flown at the site of the centre during the

in 1854.

Through a series of public programs and temporary exhibitions, visitors were inspired to explore diversity, creativity and the hidden stories of the past and present. As a centre of discussion on contemporary democracy, MADE hosted some of Australia's most creative thinkers through partnerships with The

Wheeler Centre The Wheeler Centre, originally Centre of Books, Writing and Ideas, is a literary and publishing centre founded as part of Melbourne's bid to be a Unesco Creative City of Literature, which designation it earned in 2008. It is named after its pa ...

and

Melbourne Writers Festival Melbourne Writers Festival (MWF) is an annual literary festival held in the Australian city of Melbourne, a UNESCO City of Literature. The Festival runs during early September each year. Melbourne Writers Festival is part of the Word Alliance, a ...

. In its time, the museum welcomed

Anne Summers Anne Summers (born 12 March 1945) is an Australian writer and columnist, best known as a leading feminist, editor and publisher. She was formerly First Assistant Secretary of the Office of the Status of Women in the Department of the Prime Min ...

Yassmin Abdel-Magied Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a Sudanese–Australian media presenter and writer, who had an early career as a mechanical engineer. She was named Young Queenslander of the Year in 2010 and Queensland Australian of the Year in 2015 for her engagemen ...

Clare Wright Clare Alice Wright (born 14 May 1969) is an American Australian historian, author, broadcaster and podcaster. She is Professor of History and Professor of Public Engagement at La Trobe University, and was the winner of the 2014 Stella Prize ...

Deng Adut Deng Thiak Adut (born 1984) is a defence lawyer and refugee advocate in Western Sydney, Australia, and a former child soldier from South Sudan. His story is told in a popular short video by Western Sydney University, where he earned his law d ...

Gail Kelly Gail Kelly (née Currer) is a South African-born Australian businesswoman. In 2002, she became the first female CEO of a major Australian bank or top 15 company, and in 2005 was the highest-paid woman in an Australian corporation. She is the f ...

and many more. Eureka_Flag_with_Students

The museum also housed the Quilt of Hope, a community art project created by the Moving Towards Justice group which commemorated the lives of victims of institutional sexual abuse in Ballarat. After the museum was closed, the Quilt of Hope was donated to the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House in Canberra. Quilt_of_Hope

The museum's regular exhibitions brought wide praise, including * ''The Campaign for Disability Rights: Grassroots Democracy'' * ''Bling'' which brought together Gold Fields jewellery for the first time in 2016 * ''Chinese Fortunes'' which examined the migration experience from China. ''Chinese Fortunes'' travelled to The Immigration Museum in Melbourne and the Kyenton Museum, in regional Victoria. * ''Our Wonderful World'' * ''Roses from the Heart'' * ''Historyonics: the Monster Petition'' * Eureka Day anniversary celebrations, particularly the 160th anniversary and the recreation of the Eureka Flag by descendants. 160th_anniversay

Between its opening in 2013 and closure in 2018, the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka had more than 262,000 visitors, with almost 40,000 visits from students attending the highly regarded primary and secondary schools program. During its five years of operation, MADE won a number of awards: * 2017 Commerce Ballarat's ''Visit Ballarat Business Excellence Awards for Special Events and Attractions'' * 2015 Winner for Innovation in the MAGNA Awards run by Museum and Galleries National for the Eureka Day 160th Anniversary Program * 2013 ''Achievement Award for Excellence in category of Partner,'' VCAL promotion from the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority * 2013 ''Eureka Democracy Award'' from Eureka's Children.

Controversies

Many people in Ballarat remember fondly the Eureka Centre, a tourism and visitor centre which at its peak attracted 25,000 people each year. The Eureka Centre was home to a diorama which explained the Eureka Stockade. The diorama disappeared in the development of the Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka and has become a local Ballarat mystery. The museum's initial development ran over budget and caused ongoing political ramifications in the media and in public discourse. In November 2017, cafe owner Saltbush Kitchen decided to discontinue its presence at MADE after months of uncertainty over the museum's future. In early 2018, Federal MP, Catherine King gave a speech in federal parliament accusing the City of Ballarat of changing its priorities in relation to MADE's funding arrangement. Three weeks prior to the City of Ballarat's vote on the future of the museum, Deputy Mayor Daniel Moloney resigned from the board of MADE, citing conflicts of interest.

References

{{reflist

External links

Museum of Australian Democracy at Eureka (M.A.D.E) at Google Cultural Institute
2018 establishments in Australia History of Ballarat Ballarat Eureka Rebellion