WARRNAMBOOL COMMUNITY GARDEN
A disused sandstone quarry is being transformed into a natural amphitheatre for community events and activities
About 400km south-east of Euroa, the good folk of the Warrnambool Community Garden (WCG) have won the title of Community Champion in the Sustainable Places and Destinations category of the Premier’s Sustainability Awards.
Launched in 2007, the WCG was already a hive of activity, with produce gardens, market stalls and workshops offering anything from crocheting to growing and using native plants and bush food. However, about a third of the 6ha site had long been unsafe, unloved and unusable – a disused sandstone quarry, which had shut down operations in 1962 and been abandoned to its vermin and weed-infested fate.
About five years ago, WCG members hatched a plan to convert the quarry, using its existing shape and dimensions, into a grassed amphitheatre – a public event space for use by members and the broader Warrnambool community. Financed initially by a ‘Pick My Project’ grant, work started on the first phase in 2019, with significant infrastructure upgrades required, including installing power to allow for prospective outdoor concerts and other events. With the major works well under way and the ‘floor’ of the amphitheatre cleared and levelled, the members rallied together between lockdowns through 2020 and 2021 to start the revegetation of the quarry walls.
Gradually, the teardrop-shaped site is being transformed into a magnificent 1600m2 grassed amphitheatre, while the soon-to-be-started second stage of the project will result in a water-resource educational exhibit in the narrow gully that forms the ‘point’ of the teardrop. Two of the amphitheatre’s steep walls are being planted out with predominantly native vegetation to create habitat and food for wildlife, while another has been cleared
to reveal the site’s sandstone structure, a living geology lesson of the local area.
“The quarry is the last part of the site to be restored,” says WCG convenor Rob Porter. “The garden area overlooks it, so the broader community who came to our weekly market days could see what was happening down there – they had a vested interest in it. People take a lot of pride in what’s been achieved so far.” wcg3280.org.au