Welcome signs to remain

Council has admitted that the wording of a draft plan for gateway signage in Moorabool didn’t reflect its true intentions, and it plans to keep the signs.

The ‘Draft Moorabool Shire Gateways Strategy’, which closed for feedback on 31 October, and drew concern from many locals who feared their signs would be removed.

The signs referenced within the document include Ballan’s autumn leaves sign, Bacchus Marsh’s wine and strawberries sign, and Gordon’s wedge-tailed eagle sign.

Last month in Blackwood, close to 100 residents gathered at the town’s wombat sign, affectionately known as ‘Wombie’, to protest its potential removal.

But in Public Question Time at Council’s Ordinary Meeting on Wednesday 7 December, Council’s General Manager of Community Assets and Infrastructure, Phil Jeffrey, said Council intended to keep the signs.

The statement came in response to a question from John Kowarsky.

“Does Council plan to retain the iconic artworks, for example the wine glass, autumn leaves, and wedge-tailed eagle, presently gracing the entrance of some of our townships?” Mr Kowarsky asked.

“The Draft Gateways Strategy was recently placed on public exhibition, which generated a lot of feedback that we’re currently working through. Some of the feedback received highlighted the desire to retain the existing gateway signs,” Mr Jeffrey responded.

“The intent of the Draft Strategy was to retain these signs, and it’s acknowledged that the Draft Strategy didn’t necessarily reflect this accurately. I can confirm that the final version will recommend retention of these signs.”

Opposition to the signs’ potential replacement concerned not only the removal of existing signs, but the alternative design options proposed in the Draft Strategy, which Blackwood resident Sue Donnelly told the Moorabool News in November “are so generic…they say nothing about the region or the attributes of our towns”.