The Ballarat Bulletin

The Ballarat Bulletin Sharing the most interesting content concerning the regional Victorian city of Ballarat

Ballarat East copped a wild one Sunday night – three stick-ups in barely half an hour, all tied to a bloke with a blade ...
01/11/2025

Ballarat East copped a wild one Sunday night – three stick-ups in barely half an hour, all tied to a bloke with a blade and his getaway girl from Tasmania.

Cops reckon it kicked off around 7.15 pm at a servo on Main Road, Golden Point.

The bloke strolls in cool as you like, pulls a knife, and demands the takings. The poor attendant’s staring down cold steel while he cleans out the till and bolts.

But he wasn’t done. Not even close.

Minutes later, he’s at a nearby laundromat – two women and a kid inside – and he waves the knife around again, shouting for cash. He snatches what he can and legs it, leaving chaos behind.

Next stop? A bottle-o. Same act, same knife, same result. Cash and booze gone, staff rattled, and the pair vanishing into the night in their mystery car.

Detectives say his partner, a 27-year-old woman, was the wheel-woman – waiting in the car, engine running, ready for the quick exits.

The manhunt didn’t last long. Cops came across the duo in Chewton – just south-east of Castlemaine – a long way from their hometown of George Town in Tassy.

The 29-year-old bloke’s been charged with armed robbery, theft, false imprisonment, and carrying a prohibited weapon. His partner’s facing her own armed-robbery and weapon raps.

It was a wild end to a short but nasty spree – and a reminder that Ballarat’s quiet streets can still turn mean after dark.

Thomas Sewell has been found not guilty of “offensive behaviour” in Ballarat – ending what many see as a politically mot...
28/10/2025

Thomas Sewell has been found not guilty of “offensive behaviour” in Ballarat – ending what many see as a politically motivated case by Victoria Police.

The 32-year-old Australian nationalist faced the charge after leading an anti-immigration march through Ballarat in December 2023, where he gave a fiery speech at the Eureka Stockade Memorial – the birthplace of Australian rebellion.

Prosecutors claimed his words, appearance, and the tone of the event crossed the line into “offensive behaviour.” But the Magistrate disagreed, saying Sewell’s speech, while provocative, was political expression – not a crime.

He said context mattered and warned that such laws risk becoming a “heavy-handed instrument” used by one segment of society to silence another. In other words, punishing someone for saying something unpopular isn’t justice – it’s censorship in disguise.

The Police Prosecutor argued that Sewell’s comments about immigration, made in front of his supporters, were beyond the bounds of “acceptable political discourse.”

Yet the Magistrate pushed back, saying democracy demands tolerance of even the most fringe or confronting opinions – because once the state decides what’s “acceptable,” free speech becomes a privilege, not a right.

The ruling has sparked debate: was this justice done, or just politics unmasked? Either way, Sewell’s acquittal sends a clear message – you don’t have to like what someone says to defend their right to say it.

He remains behind bars on unrelated charges, but this case should make every Australian stop and think: if we start jailing people for words or the beliefs they hold, who’s next?

The Ballarat City Council meeting turned into a festive circus this week, as councillors clashed over whether Jesus shou...
25/10/2025

The Ballarat City Council meeting turned into a festive circus this week, as councillors clashed over whether Jesus should be allowed anywhere near Christmas.

Cr Damon Saunders fired the first shot, arguing that the city’s decorations should reflect the actual reason for the holiday.

“Jesus is the reason for both of these seasons,” he said, pointing out that a nativity scene or cross wouldn’t exactly be out of place at Christmas or Easter. Radical concept, apparently.

But Sebastopol ward Cr Des Hudson – who has served as Ballarat's Mayor multiple times – for wasn’t having a bar of it.

“We need to be mindful of the healing still happening in Ballarat from institutional abuse,” he said.

A sentiment fair enough, but one that quickly turned into a catch-all reason to scrub faith out of public view altogether.

Mayor Tracey Hargreaves backed him up, insisting that inclusive decorations were the way to go.

“There are many other faiths and cultures in Ballarat,” she said. “Christmas and Easter are public holidays, celebrated by lots of people.”

Right, but take Jesus out of the mix, and Christmas and Easter are basically long weekends with fancier catering.

Even Deputy Mayor Ben Taylor – a Christian himself – waved away the idea of religious displays.

“Let the churches lead,” he said, as if local churches were rolling in council grant money and decorative elves.

Thankfully, Saunders wasn’t standing alone on the hill. Samantha McIntosh, Ted Lapkin, and Jim Rinaldi joined him, saying tradition shouldn’t be tossed aside in the name of fear or faux inclusivity.

Lapkin even called the secular push “part of the left’s long march through the institutions” – and whether you agree or not, at least someone said the quiet part out loud.

When the votes came down, it was 4 vs 4 – the closest thing to a Christmas miracle this chamber’s seen in years.

But Mayor Hargreaves, with her deciding vote, shut it down faster than Santa flying through the night sky after midnight.

So Ballarat’s holiday displays will once again feature Santa, reindeer, and baubles – but no manger, no cross, and no hint of the story that started it all.

Tradition, it seems, has been put on Council’s naughty list.

Ballarat cops have seen some rough nights – but this one was straight out of a crime flick.Just after 9:20 pm on Thursda...
22/10/2025

Ballarat cops have seen some rough nights – but this one was straight out of a crime flick.

Just after 9:20 pm on Thursday, two blokes showed up at a house on Frances Crescent, Ballarat East. One of the residents let them in. In hindsight, a big mistake.

Moments later, they allegedly belted a bloke, pointing a gun in his face, and snatching his car keys, wallet, and phone – before buggering off in his silver Holden Calais.

The poor fella – aged in his late 30s – was left bloodied, minus a tooth, and seriously shaken.

Fast-forward two days, and coppers spot the stolen Calais parked on Rodier Street, with a woman – aged in her late 20s – sitting inside. They move in, and find a loaded .22 rifle, a machete, and stolen plates.

While they’re searching, a Ballarat East bloke – aged in his early 50s – wanders up and is cuffed on the spot. Then another bloke – aged in his mid 30s with no fixed address – steps out of the house and is promptly arrested too.

The woman and fella are now facing a list of charges long enough to fill a rap sheet: illegal firearm possession, ammo, weapons, stolen goods, and a nicked car. Both are behind bars until court dates later this month.

The bloke in his early 50s is staring down the ugliest charges of the lot – home invasion with a firearm, armed robbery, and threats to kill. Yet under Victoria’s soft bail laws, he’s already back on the street till January.

One bloke down a tooth, three in cuffs, and a reminder that Ballarat’s underbelly still knows how to make headlines.

You wouldn’t believe what this cop found under Ballarat one night.Back in 1998, Senior Sergeant Peter Anderson crawled s...
20/10/2025

You wouldn’t believe what this cop found under Ballarat one night.

Back in 1998, Senior Sergeant Peter Anderson crawled seventy metres underground into an old, silent mine at Black Hill – chasing the faint hope that a missing 16-year-old girl was still alive.

It was pitch black. The air was thick. His torch shook in his hand. He reached a fork in the tunnel, shone his torch, and froze.

Two sets of eyes were staring back at him.

“There was just complete silence,” he recalled. “It took a second for my brain to catch up with what I was seeing.”

Within minutes, the man responsible – Anthony James Pitt – was in handcuffs. Pete had done what few ever could – brought a kidnapped girl back from the darkness.

But the story really began days earlier, when Anthony picked his target inside a shopping centre.

He was clever, calculating – the kind of bloke who could spot vulnerability a mile away. He befriended a quiet girl he could manipulate without raising alarm.

He offered her what sounded innocent enough – a bit of work picking wildflowers for cash. Naively, she went along, thinking nothing of it.

That afternoon, he dragged the young lass into a disused mine he’d scoped out under the guise of “looking for gold” – doing unspeakable things to her over a 20-hour period.

Searching for the girl initially turned up nothing, but on the second go, the cops found a small detail that changed everything – a fake business card Anthony had given her.

It led them to a rented room in Ballarat East. And what they found inside was like something out of a horror film. Photos of children plastered across the walls – the kind of scene that gave seasoned cops chills.

From there, all roads led to Black Hill, and the rest – as they say – is history.

Pete later received a Bravery Medal for what happened that day, though he didn't take all the credit himself.

“It was a genuine team effort,” he stressed. “I've never forgotten that. There was some very special work done over those two days that led to Mr Pitt being caught.”

Now retired after nearly five decades in uniform, Pete says he still sees the image of that mine in his mind.

“You think you’ve seen everything,” he said. “Then something like that happens – and you realise you haven’t.”

As for old mate – he rotted in a cell for years after the Black Hill case, but justice wasn’t done with him yet.

In 2016, fresh DNA evidence tied him to two more brutal rapes, and the court threw another 17 years on top of his sentence.

He’s still behind bars to this day, though parole is set to come up in just eight years – a thought that makes a lot of people’s skin crawl.

Every Wednesday at the Bridge Mall, a group of locals gathers – flags raised, voices steady, walking in solidarity with ...
16/10/2025

Every Wednesday at the Bridge Mall, a group of locals gathers – flags raised, voices steady, walking in solidarity with Palestine.

It’s a simple act, but a powerful one. A stand against genocide, and a refusal to turn away from suffering.

Whatever your views, it should be very clear now that the Israeli government’s assault on Gaza has gone far beyond defence.

Entire neighbourhoods have been erased. Hospitals, schools, and refugee camps reduced to rubble. Families obliterated. Children buried beneath concrete while the world watches on.

These are not isolated tragedies – they are war crimes, deliberate and relentless.

The people walking in Ballarat aren’t doing it for attention or politics. They’re doing it because it’s right – because compassion should never depend on borders or belief.

You don’t have to share their views or agree with Islam's way of life to understand the decency in standing for the innocent.

Week after week, these legends keep showing up – holding the flags high, keeping the truth visible, and refusing to let the world look away.

Remembering the Ballarat women who never came home :'( 🩷
28/09/2025

Remembering the Ballarat women who never came home :'( 🩷

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