Ballarat Heritage Festival
21 - 24 May 2026
St John’s Anglican Church, Soldiers Hill, will participate in the 2026 Ballarat Heritage Festival through a series of activities celebrating the parish’s rich architectural, musical, and community heritage.
Founded during Ballarat’s early years, St John’s has served the people of Ballarat for more than 160 years and remains an active place of worship and community gathering. As a Ballarat heritage church and historic church in Ballarat, St John’s offers visitors the opportunity to explore the story of a Soldiers Hill church that has helped shape local community life across generations.
Throughout the Festival, visitors will be invited to explore the church building through heritage open days featuring historical displays, photographs, architectural interpretation, and stories from parish life. Together, these activities will highlight St John’s contribution to Ballarat cultural heritage through architecture, music, worship, and community memory.
Historic Organ Recital
Saturday 23 May
2pm - 3pm
The Organ Recital will invite visitors to hear and discover St John’s historic 1891 Fincham & Hobday organ, one of the parish’s most significant heritage features. Through organ music and spoken commentary, this Ballarat organ recital will explore the sound, craftsmanship, and history of the instrument, as well as its place within Ballarat’s wider musical and cultural heritage.
The program will include music from the Anglican and English cathedral tradition, alongside works by other historically significant composers. Brief commentary will help visitors understand the organ’s role in church music, hymn singing, and community life across generations.
The recital will be a free event with full accessibility access, offering visitors the opportunity to hear the historic organ in its architectural setting and discover how music has helped shape the life and memory of St John’s and the surrounding Ballarat community. Bookings are welcomed for planning purposes, though visitors will also be welcome to attend on the day.
Heritage Eucharist – Book of Common Prayer Service
Sunday 24 May
10am - 11am
On Sunday 24 May, St John’s Anglican Church will celebrate a Heritage Eucharist for the Feast of Pentecost according to the historic Book of Common Prayer tradition.
This service will offer visitors the opportunity to experience a form of heritage worship that shaped church and community life throughout Ballarat’s early history. Drawing on historic prayers, ceremonial, music, and language, the service will reflect patterns of worship familiar to generations of Anglicans in Australia since the nineteenth century.
The liturgy will be presented in a welcoming and accessible manner, with a printed guide explaining the structure and heritage significance of the service for those unfamiliar with traditional Anglican worship. Music from the Anglican tradition, including hymns and organ music, will accompany the Eucharist within the setting of St John’s historic church building.
Through this service, visitors will be invited to experience an important part of Ballarat’s cultural and community heritage — not simply as history displayed, but as a living tradition that continues within the city today.
Following the service, visitors will be welcome to gather for morning tea and sponge cake in the parish hall, continuing a long-standing tradition of parish hospitality and community life.
All are welcome, and full accessibility access will be available.