St Alipius Church
84 Victoria Street, Ballarat

St Alipius Catholic Parish dates from November 1852 when Father Matthew Downing arrived on the Ballarat gold fields and pitched his tent. By 1854 a large tent chapel, reinforced with slabs, was a landmark on Victoria St., watching over the Eureka diggings. Father Patrick Smyth made his name in history for his brave support for the diggers at and after the Eureka Stockade.

The present church was opened in 1874, to the design of the English Gothic Revivalist architect Charles Hanson, supervised by Ballarat’s Henry Caselli.
In 1912 a George Fincham organ was installed in the church, which has been a vibrant Catholic community since the 1850s, very proud of its goldfields heritage.