BALLARAT LGBT history is coming to life for the first time as part of Heritage Weekend with a range of events which is being conducted by Ballarat's Frolic Festival.
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The weekend, on May 25 and 26, will feature a free exhibition at the Ballarat Town Hall with historians collecting and collating the suppressed and intriguing stories of Ballarat's LGBT history spanning from the gold rush through to the present day.
Also, you can join Tom Hodgson (Tales from Rat City podcast) and Alex Bayley (independent queer historian) for a walking tour of Ballarat's LGBT+ history.
Ballarat Frolic Festival committee member Jay Morrison said the tours focus on the gold rush period and little-known stories of Ballarat's same-sex attracted and gender diverse past.
"Traveling through the CBD and stopping at several locations, our entertaining tour will expand your ideas of what Ballarat was like and who lived here during the early decades of European settlement," Mr Morrison said.
"This is an important fundraiser and we expect tickets to sell out."
All funds raised from the tours go towards the Ballarat Frolic Festival, an LGBT+ arts and culture festival that runs in November each year.
Ballarat Frolic Festival aims to foster a healthy LGBT+ community for Ballarat and surrounds while providing positive visibility to the broader Ballarat community.
It is a not-for-profit festival run by a small team of Ballarat-based volunteers who aim to support and show off the diversity of the region.
The festival which will run from November 7-13 is an inclusive event that the whole community is welcome to attend.
Heritage weekend's free exhibit will be held on May 25 and 26 from 10am-5pm at the Old Dane Hall, Level 1, at the Town Hall in Sturt Street.
The walking tour will run from 2.30pm, for about 90 minutes on both Saturday and Sunday and will start at the Queen Victoria statue opposite the town hall. Cost is $5, but tickets need to be pre-purchased at trybooking.com/BCHBF
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