Suburb Snapshot: Mount Clear

The size of Mount Clear is approximately 9.9sqm with nine parks covering nearly 9.4 per cent of total area. The population of Mount Clear in 2011 was 2,905 people and by the 2016 Census 2016 the population was 3,365 showing a population growth of 15.8 per cent in the area during that time.

Mount Clear is 5km south-east of the Ballarat city and was probably named as a result of its relatively elevated location being cleared of timber during or soon after the gold rushes. Mount Clear was part of the Ballarat and Buninyong gold diggings with the first school opened in 1858. When the Buninyong Shire was formed in 1864 it met in rented premises in Mount Clear and it built offices there in 1869. Mount Clear’s municipal role ended in 1915 when the shire was united with Buninyong borough and moved to the Borough’s offices.

Mount Clear thereupon became a rural village until the expansion of Ballarat brought it within range of urban growth. During the mid-1960s the school’s population grew to about 120 pupils, and in 1970 new classrooms were opened. Several Ballarat firms acted as subdividers and developers of residential land at Mount Clear during the 1970s and by 1978 it had an estimated population of 2000.

CoreLogic data indicates that the predominant age group in Mount Clear is 20- 29 years with households in Mount Clear being primarily couples with children and are likely to be repaying $,1400 – $1,799 per month on mortgage repayments, and in general, people in Mount Clear work in a professional occupation. In 2011, 64.9 per cent of the homes in Mount Clear were owner-occupied compared with 62 per cent in 2016.

Source: Ballarat Times News Group