competition short course pool. The main facility is the Ballarat Aquatic Centre located at Gillies Street Lake Gardens in the city's west.
Baseball was first organised in Australia at Ballarat in 1857. The Alfredton Eagles, Ballarat City Brewers and Mounties YC field teams in the Geelong Baseball Association Winter Division.
Golf is played at four main venues which include the Ballarat Golf Course on Sturt Street in the Easter suburb of Alfredton, home to the Ballarat Golf Club; the Midlands Golf Course on Heinz Lane in the northern suburb of Invermay Park which is home to the Midlands Golf Club; the Eureka Golf Course at Elford Street in the eastern suburb of Ballarat East and in the southern suburb of Buninyong at the Buninyong Golf Course.
The Ballarat Roller Derby League was formed in 2008, and held their first match in 2009. They have two teams who compete in local events, and a combined travelling team, the Rat Pack, who compete in interleague roller derby competitions.
Lake Wendouree is a large recreational lake that was created out of former wetlands and hosted the rowing events for the 1956 Summer Olympics. Victoria Park is an expansive reserve with tree lined avenues and sporting fields in suburban Newington. The suburbs feature some privately run wildlife parks including Ballarat Wildlife Park in Ballarat East and Ballarat Bird World in Buninyong.
Popular culture
Early Ballarat has featured internationally in the 1949 British film Eureka Stockade starring Chips Rafferty as Peter Lalor. The American variation was named 'Massacre Hill'. Eureka Stockade was also a film produced in 1907, and the second feature film made in Australia. A two-part television mini-series with the same name was aired in 1984 starring Bryan Brown as Peter Lalor.
Ballarat is also a popular filming location with the city making cameos in film including My Brother Jack (2001), Ned Kelly (2003) and The Writer (2005). Historic Lydiard
