Meet the groundskeeper gran preserving the past

FOR the past year, the grassy surrounds of a Broomfield gold monument has been mowed and maintained by a nearly-ninety-year-old Allendale resident.

Regularly driving past the Spring Hill Leads Gold monument at Old Broomfield Road, Dianne Cramer took up her whipper snipper when she noticed the grass was getting a bit long at the site.

“I’ve been going past it for 30 years and it was always good until a few years ago when it started to look unkempt,” she said.

“I understand there was a couple in Broomfield who had maintained this area. I didn’t want to see it get so messy. You couldn’t even see the monument.

“I had a look at it and it commemorates finding gold in 1872, and this is the largest eluvial goldfield in the world.

“I was wrapped to think of the importance of this monument which was so neglected. This has been a labour of love and a great way to potter around.”

The monument commemorates finding gold more than 100 yards north of its location and was erected in 1939.

Armed with her whipper snipper and shears, Ms Cramer weeded mounds of blackberry and dock around the area and shovelled out about six inches of dirt from the monument’s foundation.

Hepburn Shire staff picked up excess clippings from the monument site and Ms Cramer’s property at her request, and have sprayed the remaining blackberry lining the road.

“They did come and clean up the area, but not even up to the pine tree to the side, so I grabbed the whipper-snipper and kept going to the fence-lines,” she said.

“There’s a lot of areas that I think get fairly neglected. If you’re out in Daylesford, you get it done but if you don’t it’s not so keen.”

Hepburn Shire’s director of infrastructure and delivery Bruce Lucas said they have been doing their part in assisting with the project.

“Old Broomfield Road, a section of council-managed land near the site, is on the annual slashing program which is extended to this roadside,” he said.

“Council has also assisted with some clean-up activities at the site, including herbicide treatment of the blackberries.

“The Spring Hill gold monument is a community-initiated project on land managed by VicRoads.”

Having cleared much of the area since late last year, Ms Cramer visits the site roughly two to three times a week to maintain it.

She has asked for members of the Bald Hills Creswick Landcare Group to oversee the site once she’s no longer able to.