Those include a billy-cart challenge, a jazz festival and a special gathering to commemorate and celebrate the anniversary of the 1851 Monster Meeting of Diggers.

The Monster Meeting was the first a series of protests against excessive government-imposed mining fees that doubled as a pro-democracy movement.

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The protests culminated in Ballarat's Eureka Stockade protest, when soldiers stormed a makeshift battlement killing, injuring and arresting members of the public.

That event triggered wholesale democratic reforms in the Victorian colony.

Mount Alexander's new event funding is evidence the community is preparing to return to a pre-pandemic level of events, the council's manager of communications and customer services, Ed Butler said.

"We're really pleased to be able to support so many local events, with the majority of successful applicants receiving funding through the program for the first time," he said.

A list of funded projects is available on the grants section of the council's website www.mountalexander.vic.gov.au/CommunityGrants

The next round of events grants will open in July 2021.

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