HISTORY

1953: The opening of the first Begonia Festival in Ballarat
1954: Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II visits the Festival
1953-1993: Ballarat Begonia Festival hosts ‘Queen of Begonia’. A judging panel would select one woman to become the annual Queen of Begonias. Her role was to promote the Festival and appear in the parade
1960: The ‘new’ begonia glasshouse in the Botanical Gardens was opened and the floral clock was installed. it was the largest electrically motorised floral clock in the world at the time
1964: The floral carpet was the first large-scale, live flower floral carpet, measuring 30 feet by 21 feet and featuring over 700,000 specially grown blooms
1972: Festival introduces Princesses of Begonias (runners-up)
1973: Annual parade moves to Lake Wendouree
1993: The Festival crowns its last Queen of Begonias
1995: The newly opened Robert Clark Conservatory became a focal point of the Festival.
1999: The Festival celebrated 100 years of begonias being present in Ballarat
2012: 60th year celebrations
2015: The world’s largest outdoor LEGO flower, made by Brickman Ryan McNaught, was launched at the Festival
2022: 70th year celebrations

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25 Armstrong Street South, Ballarat Central VIC 3350