It was an inspirational experience. It demonstrated the great community spirit that exists in country villages.the love and respect that country people have for each other. The fact people from all religions came to celebrate and support the people of St.Joseph's on this very sad occasion . The sadness  was very evident. There was a hundred and forty four years of people coming together to  pray, to worship, to communicate with each other, to support and console each other in a time of need.

    There were their memories of being at school, the baptisms, the weddings and the funerals. In my case the funerals of five generations--e great grand mother, her children, her grand children, her great grand children who were all buried after a ceremony at St.Joseph's. There was respect for the Priests and Presentation Sisters who taught the children at the Primary School. There were many past students present s well as a Presentation sister who taught at School..

    The inspiration and unfortunately sadness was evident within the whole community who attended. The Bishop of Ballarat  (Bishop Paul Bird) attended  and celebrated the mass. He mixed with the community at the special and very generous lunch provided afterwards.  It must have warmed his heart to see such positive feelings  from the community especially in view of the many sad and cruel things that have  haunted the Ballarat Diocese in recent times. It was a very sad day. However the happy memories and the great spirit will not be forgotten and the wonderful spirit will always remain and inspire the people of Blampied. 

 And a an additional piece of historical trivia; Auguste came to Mount Prospect and had a store, Post office and later a hotel.  He sent a message to the GPO in Melbourne one Saturday.  The reply came back to the Blampied Post Office instead of Mr. Blampied, from that the area became known as Blampied.  His sister and husband and brother grew the first vines in Great Western known as St.Peter's vineyard

    Geoffrey Lane, Mornington,

City of Ballarat's Terry Demeo has the right idea on providing infrastructure early to avoid the issues Melbourne has ("Ballarat Link Road: finish dates, what it looks like", 11/03). 

The Ballarat Link Road is one key part of this, and the City of Ballarat's Cycling Action Plan is another - they are to be commended for providing good walking and cycling links to these new developments, so people can use them as soon as they move in. 

The big thing missing from this picture is public transport. There are two bus routes that come right up to Dyson Drive, but none that actually enter Lucas itself, so most of the suburb is a very long walk from the nearest bus stop. A little further south, there is a bus that goes right past Delacombe Town Centre, but doesn't actually stop there. 

When PTV were planning the new Ballarat bus network in 2016, they said they made provision for these routes to be extended as people moved in and stores opened up. So when's it going to happen? Lucas already has thousands of residents, and Delacombe Town Centre has been open for months. 

Ballarat's west risks becoming totally car-dependant, and trapped in traffic for years to come - just like Melbourne's west. That traffic fills up the streets of central Ballarat, and the car parks at our stations. The state government must act now to extend these bus routes, and give people an alternative to driving. 

Ben Lever, Golden Point