Published to celebrate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Catholic Education in the Diocese of Ballarat, this book presents the history of the Catholic education system in the Diocese from early settlement to the present day. It also provides particular insight into the history of settlement by a large proportion of the early population of western Victoria.

The history traces the development of the Catholic school system, achieved through the collaboration of bishops and priests, members of religious orders and the laity. The passing years brought new opportunities and new challenges, which were met with the same cooperative effort, so necessary in the early days of development and which ensures that Catholic education continues to flourish throughout the Diocese. While the overall picture presented is one of success through hard work, this transparent well-researched history also presents the pitfalls and disappointments, the disputes and failures, which are only to be expected in such a challenging enterprise.
From the Murray to the Sea
A history of Catholic Education in the Ballarat Diocese
Just before dawn on the morning of December 3, 1854, the Eureka Lead on Ballarat’s goldfields erupted in violence. Soldiers and police were pitted against miners demanding their rights. The rebellion would be quashed but the consequences would be momentous. Corruption and abuses of power were exposed and cast aside as the people of Victoria embraced democracy.
Eureka
A little red book
The lustre which drew mankind to gold in ancient times has made it the most prized commodity throughout time. Wars have been fought over it, and civilisations have been subjugated and enslaved in the rush to control its sources. In places like Australia, though, the mere possibility of its existence was feared while the country remained a penal colony. Once found though the rush could not be contained.

Gold financed great building, paved roads and made Melbourne the most exciting and expensive city in the world for a time. It was stockpiled in banks, and the currencies of nations were valued against it until the twentieth century wars and the Great Depression brought an end to its use as a standard. Its importance as a measure of individual prestige has continues unabated driving prospectors and miners to search for new deposits and to find better means of extracting it from old mines.
Gold
A little red book
The idea of flying like the birds in the sky was a fantasy until the men of science began unlocking the mysteries of the universe in the 15th century. Innovation was then needed but by the end of the first decade of the twentieth century men and machines were taking to the air successfully in Europe, America and Australia.

War had an enormous impact on aircraft development. Aircraft quickly became the deadliest of weapons and when the hostilities were over the pilots and machines formed the basis of a fledgling air transport industry.

The need to go faster and travel longer distances saw records set and broken. Attention to safety and passenger comfort allowed air travel to become a viable alternative to road and rail within Australia and sea travel internationally and put Australia in the forefront of the airline industry in the world.
Aviation in Australia
A little red book