ourballarat magazine is going digital and giving residents more choice

The City of Ballarat is evolving how it delivers the ourballarat magazine. 

Ourballarat is a 16-page magazine produced on a quarterly basis that aims to keep ratepayers up to date with relevant City of Ballarat news, services, programs, initiatives and events.

Starting with the Summer 2025/26 edition, ourballarat will no longer be automatically mailed to every household in Ballarat resulting in environmental benefits and cost savings. 

In order to provide more choice, Ballarat residents can elect to receive the magazine in one of three ways and stay connected with the stories, people and events that make Ballarat great.

The ways to receive the magazine are as follows:

Option 1: Go digital
Residents can choose to flip through the magazine online anytime, anywhere by visiting ourballarat magazine. There is also an opportunity to enjoy bonus content like videos, photo galleries and more. Follow City of Ballarat socials to find out when the latest issue lands. Residents can also sign up to receive a digital copy straight to your inbox by visiting eServices and filling out an online subscription form.

Option 2: Pick up a printed copy
If you prefer to read ourballarat in a paper form, you can grab a copy of the traditional magazine at the following City of Ballarat locations:
•    Ballarat Library, 178 Doveton Street North
•    Sebastopol Library, 181 Albert Street
•    Wendouree Library, Stockland Wendouree Shopping Centre
•    Customer Service, Phoenix Building, 25 Armstrong Street South
•    The Ballarat Times, inserted into a special edition of the newspaper

Option 3: Get it mailed to your house for free
If you would prefer reading the magazine in paper form and delivered to your letterbox, please fill out an online subscription form by visiting ballarat.vic.gov.au. Alternatively, you can call the Customer Service Team on 5320 5500.

City of Ballarat Mayor, Cr Tracey Hargreaves said it was fantastic to see more choices being provided to residents. 

“I am really pleased to announce that from summer onwards, we’ll be providing residents with more choices in the way they receive the ourballarat magazine both digitally and in print form,” she said.

“These distribution changes are in keeping with the consultation undertaken in 2023/24, which showed most respondents prefer to read ourballarat as a printed magazine.

“By providing these options, we also expect to make savings as a result of not printing and mailing 55,000 copies of the magazine to each household. In fact, Council identified this change as a specific cost saving initiative that has helped us deliver an average zero per cent rate increase.”

2023/24 ourballarat consultation findings from 699 total survey contributions showed:

• 65% of postcard survey respondents and 43% of online MySay survey respondents would prefer to read ourballarat as a printed magazine.
• 17% of postcard survey respondents and 34% of online MySay respondents would prefer to read ourballarat online.
• 18% of postcard survey respondents and 13.5% of online MySay respondents would prefer to read ourballarat in both print and online formats.  The surveys showed that the most engaged readers were aged 60+ representing 70% of postcard survey respondents and 43% of MySay respondents were aged 60+.

To subscribe to receive ourballarat in your email inbox or have it mailed to your household, please fill out the subscription form at eServices or call the Customer Service Team on 5320 5500.  

Note, the Spring issue of ourballarat will be dispatched from 8 September to the letterboxes of Ballarat residents. The distribution changes will take effect from December onwards.