BALLARAT, DIOCESE of. - In Australia, separated from the archdiocese of Melbourne and erected on 30 March 1847 as its suffragan.
The area of its territory, comprising the western part of the State of Victoria, is 30,000 sq. km. The total population exceeds 321,319 inhabitants, of whom approximately 277,000 are Protestants, 46,891 Catholics, and about 200 Jews. In the 40 parishes there work 94 diocesan priests, 24 religious priests, 19 brothers, and 365 nuns. There are 75 schools (6,635 pupils), two hospitals, two orphanages, and a home for the aged.
The vast extent of the parishes, with a rural population of very low density, hampers pastoral care; a further obstacle arises from the growth of urbanization and the frequency of mixed marriages; a cause for hope, on the other hand, is the increased education of the young, due especially to the activity of religious institutes.
BBL.: R. De Martinis, Ius Pont. de Prap. Fide, 6 (1926), pp. 228-30; MC, p. 28; Australasian Catholic Directory, Sydney 1948, pp. 246-55. Giuseppe Monticone