Thursday Night

Women, Children & Families

Female pilgrims and families (parents with children including boys under the age of 12) will be staying in the Ballarat’s St Patrick’s Cathedral Halls (3 Lyons St South, Ballarat Central).  The main hall where registrations take place will be reserved for women only, and the smaller hall behind will be for parents (both male and female) with children. You’ll need a sleeping bag and a sleeping mat and pillow. 

Please note that space can be limited in the hall, so pack light and avoid bulky inflatable mattresses. Unfortunately the family hall is very limited in size and once it sells out, children will be required to sleep with one parent in either the women’s or men’s halls.

Men (including male children over 12 years)

Male pilgrims will be staying at the Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute (117 Sturt Street, Ballarat).  Make sure you check-in at the Cathedral hall first, before going to the Mechanics’ Institute.  Entry to the Mechanics’ Institute will only be permitted to those with a pilgrim ID issued at the check-in desk.

Staying Off-Site

There is plenty of accommodation in the surrounding area in Ballarat if you choose to stay off-site for Thursday night. Please remember that you will still need to check-in at St Patrick’s Cathedral on Thursday evening before continuing to your accommodation. Mass begins at 6:00am on Friday morning and we will be unable to provide transportation assistance to anyone who chooses to stay off-site.

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Friday & Saturday – Community Halls

WOMEN AND CHILDREN UNDER 12 ONLY

For the Friday and Saturday evenings at Smeaton and Newstead, there are halls provided for women and children to sleep. Please keep in mind that there will be a lot of people in the halls and you will need to be considerate of young children sleeping and extra space needed for larger families when you are setting up. You will need to bring your own bedding and pillows. We encourage people to bring a roll up mat to sleep on however larger mattresses including blow up mattress can sometimes be difficult in terms of space. At no times are there to be any beds set up or beds placed blocking doorways.  

Due to large numbers of registrations in recent years, these halls often sell out. We encourage you to register early if you would like to book a place in the hall.

Friday & Saturday – Camping

OPEN TO ANYONE

All pilgrims are encouraged to camp if they wish and camping fields are located across the road from the halls on both Friday and Saturday nights. You will be directed to the camping sites upon arrival. If you are camping you will need to bring warm clothes to sleep in, a tent and bedding. There are often people looking to share larger tents so please watch out for posts on the facebook page alerting pilgrims to this.

Please do not set up prior to the pilgrims arriving at the evening sites as these have changed from previous years.