HER Majesty Queen Victoria demanded regal attention in Sturt Street, but it was not quite the same as the tens of thousands who packed the square for her statue unveiling 127 years ago.
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Friday afternoon motorists were not quite sure what to make of the Queen celebrating her 205th birthday with a promenade and wave to passers-by on May 24, 2024.
Megan Finlayson, as Queen Victoria, was channelling her inner boss lady with suitably attired friends to bring the genteel art of the promenade back to Sturt Street.
This was not about dressing in Victorian-era style, but more about wearing your finest in true promenade style.
"I've lived in Ballarat for five years and what has always fascinated me was everyone walking about in black puffer jackets every winter," Ms Finlayson said.
"You don't have to do that to be warm. You can go to the op-shop and find a beautiful coat, pure wool, and walk up Sturt Street looking amazing.
"I think if people did that, walking up and down Sturt Street would be more a thing.
"Promenading is about seeing, being seen and feeling fantastic."
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The act of promenading had a brief return to fashion in Ballarat during pandemic lockdowns when Lake Wendouree became the place to see and be seen.
Ms Finlayson said Queen Victoria's birthday felt like a fun time to promote promenading on Sturt Street.
"She's a really important chick in history who took on a CEO [chief executive officer] role aged 18 and made some mistakes as well," Ms Finlayson said.
"She's controversial but important, too."
The party featured Heather Horrocks channelling a "descendant from Rasputin" style, having repurposed a chain-like black curtain from Art Gallery of Ballarat's Lindsay parlour into a hat and cape. Ms Horrocks led a tribute and happy birthday rendition below the Queen's statue.
Rasputin was a Russian healer to the haemophilic son of Queen Victoria's favourite granddaughter, Princess Alexandra, among other roles.
Bill Horrocks arrived with a cricket bat signed by the 1930s English touring team. His father, of the same name, made 140 runs against the English and was a prominent West Australian cricketer who went on to captain-coach Victorian Premier Cricket club Coburg.
For the record, the original Queen Victoria never visited Ballarat.
In her reign, the Queen sent her son the Duke of Edinburgh Prince Alfred in 1887 during his continued recovery from an assassination attempt in Sydney a year earlier.
A grape vine cutting sent by Queen Victoria from Hampton Court Palace remains growing in Ceres Homestead. The gift was recognition of the hospitality extended to her son when he stayed at the property.
This statue of Queen Victoria was commissioned in 1897 to mark the queen's diamond jubilee. The statue was unveiled to 20,000 people in what has since been known as Queen Victoria Square, outside Ballarat Town Hall.
