Ballarat west suburb to be named Lucas

By Fiona Henderson
Updated November 2 2012 - 3:39pm, first published February 9 2011 - 1:10pm
The new suburb in the Ballarat West Growth Zone will be named Lucas
The new suburb in the Ballarat West Growth Zone will be named Lucas

BALLARAT’S newest suburb will be named after the iconic Lucas Girls.Although not yet developed, Lucas will cover about 750 hectares in Ballarat West and will be bounded by Remembrance Drive, Dyson Drive, Ballarat-Carngham Road and the Ballarat-Skipton Rail Trail.It commemorates Eleanor Lucas, who founded local textile company E Lucas & Co, and her 500 employees who planted the Ballarat Avenue of Honour between 1917 and 1919.Streets in the suburb will be named after the WWI soldiers commemorated in the avenue, except if their names are duplicated in current Ballarat road names.Ballarat City Council last night unanimously voted to create the new suburb, with several Lucas Girls invited to witness the historic event.Cr Judy Verlin said it was council’s chance to say thank you for all the work done since 1917.“This new vibrant suburb, with 14,000 new homes and 40,000 people coming into Ballarat, acknowledges a wonderful piece of our history,” Cr Verlin said.“The fact is there are still people here who can take such joy out of this decision.’’ Cr Samantha McIntosh said it was important Ballarat could offer its history as a “living icon”.“We have significant history to sell,” Cr McIntosh said.The 22-kilometre-long Avenue of Honour extends from the Arch of Victory at Alfredton to a memorial cairn at Weatherboard.It is believed to be the first and longest such avenue in Australia, and possibly the world. The first 1000 trees were planted on June 3, 1917 and the last 4000 trees on August 16, 1919.Ten other naming proposals were passed at last night’s meeting including renaming part of Hastie Street, Buninyong as Ogilvie Lane, naming Harry Lavery Bushland Reserve in Mt Clear and naming Monte Christo Bushland Reserve in Nerrina.An unnamed road in central Ballarat is now Time Lane, Ninth View Drive in Alfredton has been renamed Course View Drive and an area in Brown Hill is now Rickeys Quarry Flora Reserve.The names of the Art Gallery of Ballarat and Her Majesty’s Theatre were formalised and the boundaries between Ercildoune, Addington and Burrumbeet were altered.

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