Rochelle Kirkham
Ballarat, VIC
Rochelle Kirkham is a reporter for ABC Ballarat, covering radio, digital and television. She previously worked as a senior journalist for The Courier newspaper in Ballarat.
Latest by Rochelle Kirkham
Truckies rocked by suicide trauma fight red tape for compensation
Truck drivers who experience tragedy while on the job are unable to access compensation due to a loophole.
Posted Updated 
Residents ramp-up campaign to protect ageing Daylesford Hospital
A community campaign has raised $100,000 in eight weeks to help fund much-needed upgrades to the Daylesford Hospital, highlighting how much residents value the facility.
Posted Worker's wild ride as runaway truck smashes into building
A forklift driver became an unwitting passenger when the truck he was loading rolled backwards down a Ballarat street and into the front steps of a church building.
Posted Hepburn Shire risks wrath of residents, votes to sell Daylesford's controversial Rex building
A majority of councillors have voted to sell The Rex building in Daylesford, backing council officers' assessment that it is not financially viable to retain it.
Posted Take a peek inside this family's off-grid home in regional Victoria
Paying his quarterly energy bill used to be something Michael Robinson would "dread", but it is a distant memory since turning his off-grid fantasy into a reality.
Posted Updated Free kinder, pre-prep increase exposes ongoing lack of staff, pay, and places
Generous location incentives of $9,000-$50,000 are on offer for early childhood educators to join expanded free and hard-to-staff Victorian kindergartens and pre-prep, but the known constraints continue to mount.
Posted Artist captures historic events through Indigenous eyes
Marlene Gilson has gone from picking up a paintbrush for the first time to having her art projected onto the Sydney Opera House in the space of 10 years.
Posted Ballarat suburb Sebastopol delves into its history, links to war-torn Ukrainian namesake
Legend has it that the suburb was named because the blasts and smoke emitting from the gold mines in the Victorian village reminded some migrants of the battlegrounds of the Crimean War.
Posted Should there be constraints on where medical specialists can set up? This regional doctor thinks so
As another regional town loses its GP, a long-standing Ballarat geriatrician shares an "unpopular" opinion on how to address staffing shortages.
Posted Man believed to be living in Ballarat factory dies in fire
Police are investigating after a man died in a factory fire in Ballarat this morning.
Posted 'It's an easy choice to go somewhere else': Housing crisis forces businesses to buy and rent homes to keep staff
Victorian business owners say they are being forced to buy and rent houses for staff to use in a bid to attract and retain workers — despite thousands of houses sitting vacant across the state.
Posted Updated Multi-million-dollar waste problem frustrates residents
Ballarat Council could hit $20 million on landfill costs in the next 10 years if strong action isn't taken now, stakeholders say.
Posted New calls to protect forest from logging after discovery of high densities of threatened greater gliders
The leader of the Victorian National Parks Association is calling for better protection of a threatened species that has been found in high densities in Wombat Forest where logging is planned.
Posted Learner driver's mother killed after ute stopped during U-turn, court told
A 19-year-old man has avoided a criminal record for a "tragic" collision that resulted in the death of his mother while he was at the wheel as a learner driver.
Posted 'Unprecedented' construction industry challenges stall council projects
Builders say staff and materials shortages are making it tough to meet demand. Councils, meanwhile, are being forced to extend tender periods due to a lack of applications.
Posted Updated Ballarat emergency department waiting times blown out by 'bottlenecks', service says
Ballarat hospital says staff shortages, more severe illnesses and issues discharging patients are affecting wait times in its emergency department.
Posted Recovery a step closer after savage storms cripples tourism and railway line in western Victoria
Almost six months after closure due to flooding, one of western Victorian tourism's major players is set to make a comeback with its reopening on Thursday.
Posted Updated Families sharing tents in public parks as Ballarat's rough sleeper rate hits two-year high in plunging temperatures
Rough sleeper rates in one of the coldest areas of Victoria hits a two-year high as support workers call for intervention by the state government and more funding for services across the region.
Posted Updated Coroner orders probe into trench collapse, opening possibility of inquest
The families of Jack Brownlee and Charlie Howkins called for an inquest after the 2018 tragedy, saying they want to see safer conditions for all workers.
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