Cheers as lost barbecue returns

THERE’S been a victory in the battle over public space and amenity in the Golden Point area with a barbecue that was removed from the Jack Greville Parklands on Magpie Street in 2017 recently replaced.

One of the chief agitators for the barbecue’s return was Peter Wills and he credits fellow campaigner Frank Williams with spurring the municipality into action.

“Frank raised it at a council meeting six months ago and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Mr Wills said. “Council workers met here with us and said they would put the barbecue back and resolve the situation.”

Along with the return of the barbecue further capital works in the park included adding a new concrete pad, some shelter, a picnic table and improved pathways.

The improvements mean that what’s been delivered is more than what was lost, and Mr Williams thanked the City of Ballarat for action on the issue.

“We’ve been attempting to get some sort of infrastructure here for years,” he said. “I was delighted that Terry Demeo, the director of Infrastructure and Environment and the manager of that department also came onboard and said, ‘Yes, we’ll do some limited works, anything else we’ll have to look at staging it’.

“We were really pleased that at long last the council responded in a very positive fashion.”

While public space in the Golden Point area is contested, Mr Williams said that the return of the barbeque, along with the other improvements, should at least ensure that part of Jack Greville Parklands was kept in public hands.

“It’s a significant first step insofar as retaining this small recreation area for the residents and ratepayers,” Mr Williams said. “It gives the community a meeting place to come together.

“This community felt that it hadn’t been listened to. We applaud the work of Sovereign Hill and everything they’ve achieved, it’s wonderful for tourism in Ballarat.

“But there’s been incremental creep. We planted sugar gums along the boundary of the park, suddenly they vanished overnight. Sovereign Hill have closed the gate for security reasons to the lookout, and so on.

“The community just felt that they weren’t being listened to and the area had been neglected.”

As part of marking the return of the public facilities, area residents held a celebratory barbeque last Friday and Cr Jim Rinaldi attended the event.

He said resident’s constant campaigning for better public amenities in the area played a big part in the return of the equipment.

“The barbecue was put here for the community and then taken away,” he said. “Peter and Frank, and there were other people too, but they just kept coming and they went from the position of no chance, to then a maybe, and finally what we’ve got now.”