Ballarat Real Estate general manager Allister Morrison shows off the repaired gauge.
FOR years the iconic temperature gauge on top of the Ballarat Real Estate building has given people an insight into the often maligned temperature in Ballarat.
The temperature reading atop the double-storey building at the corner of one of the city’s busiest intersections has always been a talking point.
From bone-chilling days where it feels like the temperature fails to get above freezing, to blistering summer scorchers, the temperature gauge at the corner of Sturt and Doveton streets has always been a point of reference.
That is, until lately.
For a number of months the sign had been showing inaccurate readings, displaying extremes of both hot and cold.
Now Allister Morrison of Ballarat Real Estate hopes all problems have been fixed and Ballarat’s onlookers can breathe a sigh of relief knowing the gauge is on the mark.
A specialist was hired to fully adjust the device to display an accurate reading.
Mr Morrison said there was bound to be some difference between the CBD temperature gauge and the official Bureau of Meteorology weather station at the Ballarat Airport, with the city temperature normally a few degrees warmer than the airport.
At 10.30am yesterday, the building’s gauge showed 18 degrees, while the official reading at the airport was just 16.6 degrees.
“People are always talking about how they used the gauge and always took notice of what it said,” Mr Morrison said.
“We got alerted to the fact it wasn’t working, people around Ballarat are normally hot on it to remind us. We had to respond to the public pressure.”
