Cardigan Village is a town on the north-western rural-urban fringe of

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. Within months of Vi ...

Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in ...

. At the , Cardigan had a population of 957. It was named after

James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan Lieutenant-General James Thomas Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, (16 October 1797 – 28 March 1868), styled as Lord Cardigan, was an officer in the British Army who commanded the Light Brigade during the Crimean War, leading its charge ...

, who led the

Charge of the Light Brigade The Charge of the Light Brigade was a failed military action involving the British light cavalry led by James Brudenell, 7th Earl of Cardigan, Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimea ...

at the

Battle of Balaclava The Battle of Balaclava, fought on 25 October 1854 during the Crimean War, was part of the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55), an Allied attempt to capture the port and fortress of Sevastopol, Russia's principal naval base on the Black Sea. The en ...

during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included t ...

. It is recorded as having a school in 1860, 1903, and 1960; and in 1903 also had a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their na ...

church, a post office, and a hotel. It stands on the traditional land of the

Wadawurrung The Wathaurong nation, also called the Wathaurung, Wadawurrung and Wadda Wurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people living in the area near Melbourne, Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula in the state of Victoria. They are part of the Kuli ...

peoples, on the path they historically took twice a year between Ballarat, where they wintered, and

Lake Burrumbeet Lake Burrumbeet is a large but shallow eutrophic lake in central western Victoria, Australia. Located west of Ballarat and west of Melbourne, the lake has been progressively emptying since 1997 and was declared completely dry in 2004. It ha ...

, where they spent the summer.''The Cardigan Village Plan'', City of Ballarat, August 2018, pp. 4: https://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-08/The_Cardigan_Village_Plan.pdf

References

Suburbs of Ballarat {{GrampiansAU-geo-stub