Historical society
Warragul and District Historical Society, which was in recess in December and January, resumed its usual business in February, with the museum open each Thursday from 10am to 2pm, and the second and fourth Sundays from 2pm to 4pm.
The society will hold its first meeting for the year on Monday at 7.30pm in the Old Shire Hall, Queen St. Meetings are held on the last Monday of the month.
The speaker for the final meeting of 2019 was Wayne Hardie, who spoke of his role as the chairman of the Baw Baw board of commissioners in the period of transition from ‘The Rural City of Warragul’ in December 1994 to the induction of the elected Baw Baw Shire Council in March 1997. Wayne had always had a great interest in local government reform, professionally as a solicitor, and through his involvement on council committees as a community member.
Wayne put the story of the new council in a historical perspective, from the development of local government in the 19th century, where responsibility was mainly roads, bridges and rates, to the setting up of the shires of Buln Buln and Narracan in 1878 and the Shire of Warragul in 1881.
Over the years, issues arose with local governments’ standard of governance and their small size, which hampered economic efficiency. The Kennett Coalition government forged ahead with local government reform in the 1990s, overseeing the transition from 210 councils to 78 councils. The role and functions of the commissioners was clearly laid out. Gippsland’s 24 councils were to be reduced to six. Surveys in 1994 were held to get the community feeling of what the new shire boundaries should be.
Wayne became chairman, while the other two elected commissioners were Tom Wallace, a former member of the Legislative Assembly and a councillor from the Shire of Rosedale, and Peter Western who was a councillor for the Shire of Woorayl. The acting chief executive appointed was John Mitchell, with John Dyer later becoming permanent chief executive.
The new Shire of Baw Baw comprised the municipalities of Rural City of Warragul, and Narracan and Buln Buln Shires. Warragul became the major administrative centre. The transition to the new shire took 28 months.
Some major achievements, according to Wayne, included the Bonlac factory at Darnum; Brooker Park, as a major new recreation area; and Lardner Park, which has continued to grow.