Last night I attended the Wheeler Centre’s  Celebrating 175 years of Victoria event in Ballarat. It was fantastic to get some regional events from the Wheeler Centre after my usual approach of staying in Melbourne after work and getting home to Ballarat late (and cold).

The night was a trivia panel with team A consisting of authors Shane Maloney, Alice Pung and local Ballarat ABC radio host Dominic Brine. Team B was ABC radio’s Derek Guille, author Toni Jordan and Ballarat city councillor Ben Taylor. The night was hosted by the vivacious Jane Clifton. From an audience perspective the night was engaging with wonderful interaction with the host and panelists. Time had been taken to weave local questions into the content, but the highlight of the night was charades, reluctantly performed by Shane Maloney and Ben Taylor. Any Geelong or Warrnambool readers should get along to their local event and prove that regional events are worthwhile.