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The University of Ballarat Pipe Band, on behalf of Pipe Bands Australia, welcomes you to our official website. In conjunction with our major sponsors the University of Ballarat, the City of Ballarat, Sovereign Hill and the North Ballarat Sports Club, we aimed to make this event both memorable and enjoyable for all, and we believe we achieved that goal. Our second aim; to make this the most successful Australian Championships ever, by all accounts, has also been achieved. Plans are now in hand to bid for the 2014 event, which is scheduled to be held in Victoria again.

Thanks to all who made the 2012 even such a success, and keep the Easter weekend free in 2014 and join us for another unforgettable Championships!

 

Wrap-up

[please refresh your web browser to ensure you are viewing the latest version] - UPDATED Monday, April 30, 2012 7:25 PM

  • COMPETITOR SURVEY We are interested in your thoughts! We would like you to assist us with feedback on the event and, should we be successful in our 2014 bid, make that event an even bigger success. To this end, an online survey is being undertaken. Please complete this survey. Thanks in advance for your feedback.
  • RESULTS A copy of the full master sheets for the Australian Pipe Band Championships is available for download here. Results in summary:
    • Grade 1: 1st - Western Australia Police (WA), 2nd - Queensland Highlanders No 1 (Qld), 3rd - Pipeband Club - Australia (NSW), Drum Corps - Western Australia Police (WA), Dress - Western Australia Police (WA), Street March - Pipeband Club - Australia (NSW).
    • Grade 2: 1st - Moorabbin City (Vic), 2nd - City of Adelaide (SA), 3rd - St Andrews (Qld), Drum Corps - City of Adelaide (SA), Dress - Moorabbin City (Vic), Street March - Moorabbin City (Vic).
    • Grade 3: 1st - New Zealand Foundation National Youth Band (NZ), 2nd - Williamstown RSL (Vic), 3rd - City of Melbourne (Vic), Drum Corps - New Zealand Foundation National Youth Band (NZ), Dress - New Zealand Foundation National Youth Band (NZ), Street March - New Zealand Foundation National Youth Band (NZ).
    • Grade 4: 1st - University of Ballarat No 2 (Vic), 2nd - Golden City (Vic), 3rd - South Canterbury (NZ), Drum Corps - [tied] University of Ballarat No 2 (Vic) & Canberra Burns Club No 2 (ACT), Dress - Golden City (Vic), Street March - South Canterbury (NZ)
    • Juvenile: 1st - New Zealand Foundation National Youth Band (NZ), 2nd - Scots College (NSW), 3rd - Scotch College, Melbourne (Vic), Drum Corps - New Zealand Foundation National Youth Band (NZ), Dress, New Zealand Foundation National Youth Band (NZ).
    • Open Drill Display: 1st - Knox Grammar School (NSW)
    • Open Drum Major: 1st - Brian Wilson (NI), 2nd - Alicia Dickson (NI), 3rd - Domenic Andersen-Strudwick (Qld).
    • Juvenile Drum Major: 1st - Domenic Andersen-Strudwick (Qld), 2nd - Madison Taylor (NZ), 3rd - Charley Leighton (NSW).
  • GRADE 1 & 2 RECORDINGS Free, high quality stereo recordings (both the March, Strathspey and Reel and Medley) for each band in the top two grades are provided here for your listening pleasure. We hope you enjoy this innovation for the Australian Pipe Band Championships: if so, please leave a comment on our Facebook page!

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  • THANK YOU Sincere thanks goes to the competitors, adjudicators, volunteers, sponsors, stall holders and of course the patrons who attended this Australian Pipe Band Championships. Without everyone's support, this event would not have been the success it has.
  • MERCHANDISE For those who missed out on, and would like merchandise, plans are under way to make this available online. Watch here for details coming soon.
  • EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY The visual record of the Championships, along with band protraits is now available online at Ian Wilson Photography.
  • 2014? It has been publicly announced that Ballarat will again seek to host the Australian Pipe Band Championships in 2014, which have already been allocated to Victoria. If you feel strongly enough that Ballarat has set a standard that can only be bettered, please make these feelings known to Pipe Bands Victoria (the body making the decision) in every way possible! Your support would be greatly appreciated, and as organisers, we will do our utmost to take the next Australian Pipe Band Championships to an even higher level!

 

Ballarat's Pipe Band Competition Pedigree

Ballarat, major city of the Central Highlands of Victoria, rich in gold history, is an ideal location for the Championships on a number of levels. Greater Ballarat has the heritage to host the event, given it first held a highland gathering in 1858 in Buninyong township, and then Ballarat proper, where solo piping was contested. As a comparison, Maryborough, then Geelong - two other nearby Victorian regional centres - both held their first gatherings in 1857; both of those having run almost continuously since. Although the first full pipe band contests apparently did not start until the early 1900s anywhere in the world (including Scotland), recent research has revealed that Ballarat held its first pipe band contest in at least 1907, presently the oldest recorded pipe band contest in Australia. For nineteen years until the mid-1920s, The South Street Pipe Band Competition was considered to be an 'Australian Championship' through it being an element of the 'Grand National Eisteddfod of Australiasia' in Ballarat; Australia's oldest such competitive event. So in many ways, the 2012 Australian Pipe Band Championships are 'coming home' after over a century!

Ballarat 1912
Pictured above: The massed contest pipe bands of the Grand National Eisteddfod of Australasia, City Oval, Ballarat, 1912

 

Destination Ballarat

The City, which has a population of approximately 100,000, was fully behind the event and will be again in 2014 should our bid be successful. Being a stand alone regional centre, it is large enough to host the event with ease and offer all the required accommodation and services, yet is small enough that the event will have a major profile in the City and its region. It has proven itself willing and able to run the event successfully. Ballarat also boasts significant and award winning tourist attractions - such as Sovereign Hill, the Eureka Centre and the Botanical Gardens and Lake Wendouree precinct - for those who want to enjoy a longer stay. The city is only one hour drive from both of Victoria's major airports, Tullamarine and Avalon, and is also an easy drive from the CBD, with a fast train link too. How could Ballarat not be the ideal location for the 2012 (and 2014) Australian Pipe Band Championships?

STOP PRESS: In 2012, Australian Traveller magazine readers voted Ballarat second only to Western Australia's Margaret River in the Best [tourist] Town in Australia category... but keep in mind, Margaret River has not had the Australian Pipe Band Championships! Come and see how great Ballarat is.

PBA This event conducted under the auspices of Pipe Bands Australia