National Heritage Listing. - Vic Goldfields

A MULTI-MILLION dollar project to have the Victorian goldfields area declared the first National Heritage Region has the potential to generate hundreds of jobs and boost economies in struggling towns, it has been claimed.
Central Goldfields Shire mayor Chris Meddows-Taylor said if successful, the push by 11 municipalities in the Victorian goldfields to become the National Goldfields Region could even extend to World Heritage listing.

The City of Ballarat, Pyrenees, Hepburn and Central Goldfields shires are among the municipalities in the bid.

Representatives from the project partners, which also includes Heritage Victoria, Parks Victoria, Regional Development Victoria and Tourism Victoria, met this week in Maryborough to workshop Australia's First Heritage Region Development Project.

The bidding team will now advertise for expressions of interest for a consultant to work on a business case to put forward to the federal government during the second round of Regional Development Australia Fund applications later this year.

"This is a multi-million dollar project that will involve infrastructure like signage, tourism and rail trails," Cr Meddows-Taylor said.

"It is the biggest project in the goldfields region since the gold rush and will generate more income through tourism, through job creations and through a better connection between towns and cities in the region."

Cr Meddows-Taylor said if successful, the region would receive entry into international tourism and showcasing.

Ballarat Regional Tourism director George Sossi, who attended the meeting in Maryborough this week, said the heritage listing was very important for the goldfields region.

In May last year, the state government announced it would seek World Heritage listing for the Victorian goldfields, based around the Mt Alexander Diggings National Heritage Park near Castlemaine.


I know I live in Queensland, how is this going to impact on you blokes and gals that are Victorian Prospectors. One thing I notice about governments they only do something if they waste tax payers money or there is a buck in it for them.

Cheers Brian.

G'day Brian,

Makes me feel sick! Might have to invest in some camo gear

Not so Cheers Mick after reading that!

Just name the candidates which propose these ideas, and we can start Knocking them off one by one!
Sooner than later the one in the top job will be saying "I don't Want to Die" Saying, Maybe we should get the ideas from our Aussie Prospectors?
On second thoughts, Just shoot the lot of them.

Bah..what a crock these ideas are ... I have been exploring the castlemaine area for 40 plus years and all that has happened from similar ideas is that nearly all the old relics...steam engines , stampers ,windlasses etc have been pinched by the state government via Parks Vic and Heritage Vic and their predecessors and greenie limitations have been imposed on what we can do in the old diggings.
No longer can anyone wander around the authentic gold diggings and see how it was all set up complete with the original machinery.
Now all you see are little pathways and bridges, badly built by work for the dole conscripts and signs that tell you this was such and such a place.
When I asked why all the artifacts had been taken by the state govt, I was told " to protect them from being stolen"...sheeez they were bloody well stolen by the govt and put in some big warehouse near melb...and.. "no you cannot view them but you can arrange to view a catalog of them".
If these areas are given world heritage status then say goodbye to prospecting in them...you might damage a rare endangered gorsh bush or frighten a blowfly.
This part of the state is fast becoming a tourist park for middle class wankers from Melbourne to amble around in while they sip their chardonnay....it's so tempting to leaves some holes for them to break an ankle in...but I won't ...only out of respect to the bush and the old timers who did it so hard in their search for gold and independance from their masters.

I think it is about time we had another Eureka type protest to show our strength.
Wombat

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Who's the Crock! The one that agree's with the ideas while quietly disagreeing or the one';s that say enough is enough, no matter what!
I Am totally over our Government and the bull **** they decide we should live by.

Bring it on!

Those old buildings and those piles of dirt, they want the tourists to see, are there now and have been for a long time. They could have shown them to tourists anytime they wanted to. They can still show them today without classifing it a Heritage Park or whatever. Let's be frank, a lot of the land around the triangle is really quite boring. It's not a rainforrest, there's no waterfalls, it doesn't have decent tracks (at least not since the floods anyway) etc. This move would not create 100's of jobs, or if it did, there would be for a very short time because 2 things would happen. 1) Very few tourists will go and see them as the few that are interested, have already gone and can go anytime regargless and 2) The dollars that us prospectors spend in those rural towns will cease. We will no longer spend $90 to sleep in the Dunolly motel for a few hours, we will no longer go to the pub to get an evening meal and a beer after our day of prospecting. We will no longer line up at the bakery at 7-8am to get a coffee b4 we head out the next morning. We will be reluctant to spend our dollars at Coiltek or Bendigo Gold etc as we might not be permitted to detect. These crazy people from EVERY council everywhere, that pass these stupid rules in, forget that they are voted in to support and help the people in their electorates to succeed in their lives. How's making this area a heritage listing help anyone? They may say they're saving it for future generations to enjoy but what about us that want to enjoy it today. The MAJORITY of us suffer today and forever so maybe A VERY FEW MIGHT GO AND SEE IT in future.

I fill in my holes and I take my rubbish with me and I even pick up old rubbish from within the triangle and I try very hard to not pollute the enviroment in any way and I wave to the farmers and I spend my hard earned dollars when I visit the triangle on a hobby and pastime that I very much enjoy, so what right have they got to deny me this privilege when it's my taxes and my rates that BLOODY PAY THEM!
You call it what you want, but I want to be able to go and fossick and I want to be able to take my kids and share some family time all together. Good heavens I'd rather they stay and enjoy some time with their old man doing family things, than sit at home watching the idiot box to the point of boredom and then go out and become hoons and hooligans!

To the Councillors - Don't stop us enjoying OUR land and don't stop us enjoying OUR hobby! Just do what you're suppose to do, what you're voted in to do, and what we pay you to do, and that is the day to day running of the Shire. ANY major decision like what you're suggesting has to be voted on by the people & businesses this decision will effect, not by the fat cats saying yes or no around a coucillor's table late on a Friday night when you're more than likely all just wanting to go home and get out of there.

LEAVE THE TRIANGLE THE WAY IT IS FOR ALL PEOPLE & FAMILIES, TODAY AND FOREVER TO SPEND TIME TOGETHER & ENJOY!

How does a person go about putting in a tender for making and putting up the signage and information boards i could do that and i could keep an eye out for prospectors sneaking into the forest like thieves in the night.

i wonder if they will have a detector buy back at new prices payed for with a medicare levy.

Just stick up the sign and be prepared for what may come! Some pre prepared holes could be in order, just make damn sure their not wearing any metal. "For future prospectors"

.

Well put CostaDee. That sort of message should be tolled to all these D*ckheads in Councel. or anyone else who is for this stupid idea. I think we should make up signs and put them on our cars eveytime we are driving around the Triangle saying "No Heritage Parks For the Triangle" or some thing like that.
Wombat

A good way to counter the people who may want to stop detecting in large areas because they believe it is causing damage would be to get a study of the benefits of prospecting/fossicking/detecting to the regions.

A social science/tourism postgrad student could do a thesis on the cost/benefits of "prospecting" tourism within the golden triangle. The study would show that the economic benefits from accom/van parks/food/petrol/ prospecting supplies/gold tours/detector training etc associated with people coming to the triangle to pan/detect for a few days or a few weeks would be staggering.

Any findings from such a study would make a good little news story accompanied by a couple seconds of footage of some good ol boy from dunolly holding a couple nuggets while his son pans in the creek nearby.

I don't think many people appreciate the economic value that gold tourism contributes to the Triangle.

Any members attached to a VIC uni?

Tributer

Well these local councillers must have no idea at the number of prospectors that actually live in places like Avoca, Dunolly, Talbot, Maryborough, Ballarat, and dozens of other small towns spread through out there municipality's and it wouldnt hurt for those people to ring them personally or go in and see them and ask whats going on before they completly forget about prospectors and the people that voted them into a job and if you didnt vote for them anyway you dont have to tell them that. better to nip it in the bud early.

Also ill send an email or something to the shooters and fishers party they will be spewing as they hate ground being locked away which any national heritage bs is not only going to affect prospectors but many other groups who enjoy the freedom the bush offers us.

There will be no good end to this subject. The Government already has it's tourism for gold prospecting. Our kids and their schools go to all the well known places, loaded each day by a sauce to put gold within their reach. The new traveler none the wiser. All it is, is a brain wash, This is where it's at, no need to look any further

I've said this before on various threads here (for example, "Proposed National Heritage Region for the Golden Triangle") but Mount Alexander goldfields area is already a National Heritage Park and prospecting is allowed. It seems to me that the proposal to make the whole of the Golden triangle into a National Heritage Park region is to bring more visitors here. We prospectors are visitors who bring in money to the Triangle.

Let's settle down on the fighting words and make sure we fill our holes in nice and neatly so no-one can argue we are mucking up the bush.

Very Sad Day!

someday wrote:Very Sad Day!

Are you practicing for Sorry Day on the 26th May someday?

Who's sorry.

Nar Marigold this subject just gripe's me to the hilt.
We have to be do gooders by what they say? Sorry that aint for me. While there's a breath in my bones, I will not conform.

But no-one's proposing to turf us out of the Triangle. They *want* us as tourists, that's the reason for the National Heritage Region proposal. No problem so far, no reason to get kack-on-the liver just yet.

National Heritage. I'm not trying to be nasty, but through these types of movements, as soon as it becomes obvious that your in agreement National Heritage/ Parks Victoria/ Calm will take over! While your trying to do your best ton uphold our hobby, these pricks are tugging at your ass, and will use anything to go in their favor. There needs to be a different heading for this topic

Read all the reply's here and it seams everyone is shocked by this announcement and scared.

Bloody oath you should be scared.

We in QLD are in a very similar situation with the g'ment, they want to make the entire Great Barrier Reef a national heritage park marine zone. IE. NO FISHING. We have green zones now which will never be lifted. The minute they are, every Tom, Dick and Harry will be hitting these areas.

If they are creating a National Heritage Park for the Golden Triangle to get more funding for the shires, then great, But Victoria was built on gold mines and nothing stopped people 150 years ago prospecting. If they allow unrestricted access like they are now then it can only be a good thing.

We may have a Labour government in power at the moment, but everyone knows they are run by the GREENS because Labour doesn't have the balls to stand up for themselves.

Okay someday, what about renaming this topic "Central Victorian councils get together to give the region a new name for the sole purpose of getting a few million federal/national dollars to advertise the area and get tourists and prospectors here to save local jobs". I know it's long and call me gullible if you want, but I think that's what they're on about. I'm over and out.

Very sorry Marigold, but if you think getting Government on your side is a good result, then you are more than likely part of it. In which case we will, I will never get along with you.

A Big sorry to all our guests on this forum. Politics what more can I say.
Chris.

www.basicfraud.com

It seems to me that any tourism site in this country is being renamed as National Heritage. It is a much more marketable to the oveseas tourist to come and see a National Heritage site than an old gold digging. Lets face it it sounds more impressive. The problem is once something becomes a National Heritage Park the Greens feel duty bound to have their say and impose their ideals on those who do not hold the same view as them. Herein lies the problem what the Greens forget is that conservation is a science not an emotion and if they dont like the science it becomes about emotion. lets face it how many prospcetors have you seen lateley as cute as a Koala.Now dont get me wrong Im not agaisnt coservation but I am against extremes and the Greens have no middle ground its their way or the Highway. I would also question the prudence of this plan after all if you cant sell the goldfields as a tourist destination ass it is now why should making it a National Heritage Park make any diffrence.
If you cant dig it up how is the tourist going home with his/her version of the Hand Of Faith. Then again you might be able to view an old mine shaft from 100 Mtrs away.
Anyhow keep swinging Im off to buy some night vision gear.

Cheers...Swaggy

If nothing is done to stop the greenies, they will eventualy shut down every thing.
They are slowly working behind the scenes, influencing other people and councils.
Next time I will be voting for any party that is oposing the greens.

I'm gettin the missus to alter my Ninja suit. I used it very effectively many years ago, but it appears to have shrunk. This will only be used as extra insurance, because i have always been comforted by the fact that Government departments are loath to pay overtime, so stormtroopers are generally tucked up at home by 5:00pm.