particularly high with the first prospectors in the area were extracting between half an ounce which was more than the average wage of the time and up to five ounces of alluvial gold per day. As news of the Australian gold rushes had reached the world and Ballarat had gained an international reputation as a particularly rich goldfield. As a result a huge influx of immigrants including many from Ireland and China gathering in a collection of prospecting shanty towns around the creeks and hills. In just a few months, numerous alluvial runs were established, several deep mining leads began, the population had swelled to over 20,000 people.
The first Post Office opened on 1 November 1851. Parts of the district were first surveyed by William Urquhart as early as October 1851. By 1852 his grid plan and wide streets for land sales in the new township of West Ballarat built upon a plateau of basalt contrasted markedly with the existing narrow unplanned streets, tents and gullies of the original East Ballarat settlement. The new town's main streets of the time were named in honour of police commissioners and gold commissioners of the time, with the main street, Sturt Street named after Evelyn Pitfield Shirley Sturt, Dana Street named after Henry Dana and Lydiard Street after his assistant, Doveton Street after Francis Crossman Doveton (Ballarat's first gold commissioner), Armstrong after David Armstrong and Mair Street after William Mair. These officials were based at the government encampment (after which nearby Camp Street was named) which was trategically positioned on an escarpment with an optimal view over the district's diggings.
The first newspaper, The Banner, published on 11 September 1853 was one of numerous to be distributed during the gold rush period and print media played a large role in the early history of the settlement. Ballarat attracted a sizable number of miners from the Californian 1848 gold rush and some were known as Ballafornians
