City joins with councils for regional World Heritage bid

WORLD Heritage listing for the Central Goldfields is firmly back on the agenda after twelve municipalities teamed up with the State government to push for the recognition.

Lead by the City of Ballarat and City of Greater Bendigo the renewed drive is freshly backed by $50,000 worth of funding from the State.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for our 12 local government areas across the Central Goldfields,” said Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison.

“It’s been identified by the Victorian government as a project worth supporting. We know how significant World Heritage listing is to tourism, to jobs, and to local economies.

“I’m really pleased we’ve got John Brumby and Denis Napthine involved as co-patrons. Their government experience and ability to promote this will be a very big benefit.”

City of Ballarat mayor Cr Ben Taylor said the World Heritage bid was about bringing the region’s rich history to a wider audience.

“Tourism is something that’s a big economic benefit to the regions, and we’re not just talking about Australia, we’re talking about the whole world looking at central Victoria and what happened here in the 1850s,” he said.

As for how a successful listing would look and what would be listed, Cr Taylor had a few ideas.

“In the Ballarat region there’s a lot, such as our unique architecture as well as the diggings we’ve got around the area,” he said.

“But this is about other areas, such as the Castlemaine diggings that are something that’s been well known for a long period of time. When you look at Maldon, Maryborough, those 12 local government areas, there’s so many individual sites that are significant.”

The $50,000 from the State government will go toward developing a ‘Sustainable Tourism Toolkit’ to be used in identifying holes in the region’s visitor offerings.

“There’s a lot of work to be done and this will assist us, particularly from a regional development point of view when we’re starting to look at jobs and tourism,” said City of Greater Bendigo mayor Cr Margaret O’Rourke.

“The toolkit that’s going to be put together will be good foundation for us in terms of our overall bid for World Heritage listing.”

The State government contribution to the campaign will support a further $200,000 set aside by the 12 partner municipalities and the Victorian Goldfields Tourism Executive.

Along with Ballarat and Bendigo, the other local government areas taking part include Ararat Rural City, and Campaspe, Central Goldfields, Golden Plains, Hepburn, Loddon, Macedon Ranges, Mount Alexander, Northern Grampians and Pyrenees shires.

Golden Plains mayor Cr Owen Sharkey said his municipality was supportive of the campaign.

“The Central Victoria Goldfields’ bid for inclusion on the World Heritage List is a valuable regional collaboration and a priority project of Golden Plains Shire council,” he said.

“Our unique history of the gold rush and how it shaped our towns and communities is a special story we want to share with the world. To join the World Heritage List would be a remarkable achievement and this announcement is an exciting step forward.”

As for when a final decision on the okay for World Heritage Listing could be expected Cr Taylor said it would take time and both State and Federal government support is required.

“Usually about three listings every 10 years go up,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure we get this right so when the listing does go up it’s got more success.”