By Ewen McRae
A sign of Ballan’s trading history has been removed.
The Stock Route sign near the entrance to the town was a relic of a time before there was a rail line to Melbourne – showing the way for farmers to move stock to Ballarat.
While the sign was almost illegible, local resident John Kowarsky had plans to restore it, so was left stunned when it was removed by an unknown person.
“I’ve seen this sign deteriorate in recent years, but you can still read it when you’re up close,” Mr Kowarsky said. “So I went there with a friend who’s a signwriter to try and renovate it.
“While we were there, a man came along and asked us what we were doing and actually said he would physically obstruct us from doing anything to the sign.
“So we left after that, but I drive past that spot every day – and last week I went down there and saw that it had been sawn off.”
Mr Kowarsky said prior to the sign’s removal, he had approached the Ballan Historic Society, Moorabool council and VicRoads (who own the land), none of which could find a reference to the sign in their records.
Despite no official recognition of the historical significance of the sign, Mr Kowarsky said it was an important part of Ballan’s trading legacy.
“Ballan has got some old routes, and the first rail connection was from Ballan to Ballarat,” he said. “If you wanted to get any cargo or stock out of Ballan by rail, you would need these routes. So the fact there is a sign saying Stock Route, it seemed to me to be a rather charming relic of the past … I thought was a small, but valuable and humble asset for the town.
“Everyone I’ve told this story to in town is sad. It’s blatant and deliberate vandalism.”
