Sister cities of Ararat, Victoria

Ararat is a small city in south-west Victoria, Australia, about 205 kilometres (130 mi) west of Melbourne, on the Western Highway on the eastern slopes of the Ararat Hills and Cemetery Creek valley between Victoria's Western District and the Wimmera. Its urban population according to the 2011 census was 7,024.

It is the largest settlement in the Rural City of Ararat local government area and is the administrative centre.

The discovery of gold in 1857 during the Victorian gold rush transformed it into a boomtown which continued to prosper until the turn of the 20th century after which it has steadily declined in population. It was proclaimed as a city on 24 May 1950. Today, however it continues to decline.

It is named after Mount Ararat 10 kilometres south west of the town which was named by Horatio Wills in 1841.