Council’s determination progresses on bringing part of Geelong’s history back to life

OSBORNE House progress encouraging

The City of Greater Geelong announced late last week that two interested parties have been shortlisted as potential partners for the redevelopment of Osborne House in North Geelong.

Osborne House is an important part of Geelong’s history. A beautiful bluestone building overlooking Corio Bay, it was built in 1858 and has had multiple community uses through the years.

Among these, the building served as Australia’s first Royal Australian Naval College, and as headquarters for the former Shire of Corio.

Of course, the history of the land itself stretches thousands of years beyond 1858, as a significant site for the Wadawurrung people.

Unfortunately, multiple attempts to bring new life to Osborne House over recent decades have not been successful. The current council has been determined to change this, committing to keep the building in public hands and allocating $10 million over four years towards renewal and redevelopment of the site.

Last year we launched an Expressions of Interest process seeking organisations interested in partnering with us in this redevelopment, and inviting them to propose a mix of community, public and/or commercial uses for the site.

We stipulated clearly that any work must protect and celebrate the cultural heritage of Osborne House and its surrounds. It is exciting now to have two very well credentialed businesses shortlisted as a result of this EOI process – the Hamilton Group and Gurner TM Nominee Pty Ltd.

They will now work with city officers, and take on input from interested community groups, in coming up with a finalised design for the site. It’s expected these will be presented to council for a decision midway through this year.

As Osborne House portfolio chair, I am looking forward to seeing the proposals and casting a vote in what will be a momentous decision for this important and loved part of Geelong.

Mini railway worth investigating

The Geelong Miniature Railway group are passionate about their mission to build a miniature railway somewhere in our city – preferably in the northern suburbs.

The not-for-profit group believes their proposal will bring multiple benefits for our community: they say it’ll be a source of family-friendly entertainment, a tourism drawcard, and a valuable way to engage and educate young people.

And they have significant support. A petition I tabled at our most recent council meeting contained thousands of signatures, which also included letters of support from local Federal and State Government MPs.

So the council’s decision to allocate $50,000 to fund a detailed investigation into the project – resulting from a notice of motion I put forward – gives the group a chance to prove the merits of its proposal.

The investigation will include an independent review of the group’s business plan, development of a potential operating model, information about set-up and operational costs, and assessments of private and publicly owned land that might be suitable for the facility.

This last point has been a major stumbling block for the group as they have been unable to find any land to date.

The group is looking to contribute to our community, and is therefore worthy of the council’s support through this investigation phase. We have not committed any further funding at this point but will await the results of the study with interest.

Solidarity for local Ukrainian community

The scenes we have been witnessing in Ukraine are distressing and extremely concerning.

Geelong has a strong and united Ukrainian community who are devastated by what is taking place and worried for friends and family in their homeland.

The council has shown its moral support for this wonderful group in our community by lighting up a number of assets in the blue and yellow of the Ukraine flag, including City Hall on Gheringhap Street and the Catenary Star above the Malop Street-Moorabool Street intersection.

We are fortunate to have such a harmonious multicultural community here in Geelong, and the show of unity amongst all multicultural communities during Pako Festa a fortnight ago was a poignant moment.

Let’s hope for everyone’s sake we can have a return to peace very, very soon.

Cr Eddy Kontelj