The first newspaper, The Banner, published on 11 September 1853, was one of many to be distributed during the gold-rush period. Print media played a large role in the early history of the settlement. Ballarat attracted a sizable number of miners from the Californian 1848 gold rush, and some were known as Ballafornians.K. T-. Livingston, Richard Jordan, Gay Sweely (2001) Becoming Australians: the movement towards federation in Ballarat and the nation p.34. Wakefield Press
