How a quarry became a park

In last week’s story I set out to talk about the Wilson Botanic Park at Berwick. The spectacular site of this park derives from the old Wilson Quarry, part of Berwick’s history for more than 100 years.

That quarry also supplied about half the ballast used under the sleepers of the Gippsland railway and most of the stone used for roads in the shires along the line for about 40 years.

It was a successful operation for years. Still, by 1918, the glory days were over and Wilson closed the quarry.

The Daniel Brothers leased it in the late 1930s and reopened it on a larger scale, bringing out about 500 cubic yards of stone every week.

They passed the business on to Bayview Quarries, who pushed output up to 1000 tons a week, but sold out to Boral in 1966. Boral, part of Albion Reid, pushed production up to an amazing 8500 yards a week, but the people of the area were getting sick of the noise and the ‘tremors’ caused by the blasting. In 1978 the operation closed down.

Happily, Boral had sealed many of the roads inside the quarry, and planted many trees, in its role a good corporate citizen.

Now the Wilsons had something of a problem. What do you do with a very large quarry which has reached the end of its working life? You give it to the community for use as a park.

In 1973 the newly-created Shire of Berwick accepted the ‘gift’ of the quarry and agreed that it would be maintained as a public park in perpetuity, and the Council would meet all the costs of doing so.

In December 1978 a contract of sale for this gift was signed.

The Berwick Shire paid $10 and $9 was immediately given back. The council got 17 hectares of the 30-hectare site for $1. That was an absolute gift, but a problem arose.

The northern 17 hectares lacked any access and nothing much could be done until the remaining 13 hectares, the southern part, came on the market (I explained last week that the original Wilson property had been divided diagonally).

The gifted land was from James Wilson’s part of the holding and the southern section was from William’s original share.

It was now owned by the Andrews family, descendants of William and in 1985 an agreement was reached which allowed the ratepayers to buy the 13.34 remining hectares.

Now planning and development of one of the most striking parks in the country could begin. The decision was made in 1980 to develop what is now the Wilson Botanic Park but it was to be another seven years before much happened. During that time a plan was drawn up, to cost $1.8 million,

Raising that much, 35 five years ago, was always going to be a problem. The Andrews Foundation donated $200,000. The City of Berwick put in $132,000 and cleverly decided to make the park its major Bicentenary Year project, attracting another $43,000 from the Federal Government. I don’t know all the ins and outs of the financing, obviously, but this totals less than a quarter of the money needed, but the council boldly went ahead.

Scott and Furphy were contracted in about 1985 to draw up a master plan and the plans were magnificent.

There were to be waterways, bike paths, a restaurant and function rooms, an upper and a lower lake, hanging gardens, waterfalls, a bandstand and an amphitheatre and then-mayor John Hastie said at the launch that it would become one of Victoria’s most significant tourist attractions. This hasn’t yet quite been achieved, but it should, and will, be recognised as exactly that.

In April 1987 Scott and Furphy were asked to prepare detailed plans for the first two of four stages.

Once the plan was accepted the Council had the directions established. On October 21, 1987 the mayor of the City of Berwick, Cr John Hastie, launched the project The plan allowed for the impressive Anniversary Lake at the entrance to the park, then the East Lake leading right back to the northern rock faces, and the Top and New Lakes in the southeast. On what one could almost call the southern ramparts.

There were mountains to climb, so to speak, before much creative work could be done, Huge amount of machinery had to be dismantled and removed. There were underground fuel tanks to be removed, carefully. Areas of rock that were thought to be unstable were brought down and removed to make the walls safer.

The quarry tip had to be dug up and cleaned out, and the detritus removed. This was to become the marsh area, with fairly constant water level.

In 1991 the visitor centre and administration spaces were opened by Mayor Cr John Pandazopoulos. At the end of the year City of Berwick ratepayers had put up 2.4 million dollars but the building stage was pretty well complete.

There was still a huge amount of planting to be done, and, interestingly, it was decided not to rely on native plants alone but to use a huge mix of trees and shrubs to reflect the diverse nature of the local area’s plantings over the past100-odd years.

The big day, the final opening, was on July 26 1992. Governor General Bill Hayden did the honours. There was a flypast of local aircraft. The Berwick Pipes and Drums performed, and so did the Berwick Concert Band. One thing I like is that the plaque the GG unveiled recognised not only the Wilson family but also “those who worked in the quarry for the development of our district.”

There have been too many donors and benefactors to list here, but it is significant that so many people have seen the worth of the Wilson Botanic Park and wanted to contribute to its future.

Incidentally, and I have been asked about this a good few times, the big concrete two-legged pylon sticking up out of the north end of Anniversary Lake once supported a road built out onto it, where very large dump trucks backed across and dumped large rocks into one of the four crushers Albion Reid had working there. It is hard now to look at this deep, still lake and realise that it was once a dry hole full of machinery, with noise, dust and constant activity. The lakes are new. When it was running as a quarry there was machinery working on what are now the floors of deep lakes.

The base of the crusher is still down there.

Digital projects

Six projects to boost effective use of digital technology in Gippsland are to be funded by the state government.

Member for Eastern Victoria Harriet Shing said the small-scale projects directed by Gippsland Regional Partnership would increase digital connectivity, capability, infrastructure and inclusion.

They would create opportunities for businesses and reduce barriers for economic and social activity, she said.

Under the program Destination Gippsland will provide one-on-one digital skills training, online or on-site, for up to 120 tourism businesses across the region.

GippsTech will deliver a marketing campaign and a Connecting Neighbourhood Houses Online website project will promote courses, events, volunteer opportunities and resources for communities in five local government areas.

A virtual reality showcase being developed by Gippsland East Local Learning and Employment Network will aim at creating pathways to employment and volunteering; and Arc Blue will deliver a Broadening Horizons project involving digital professional development for teachers and mentors.

At Mallacoota research and workshops will support establishing the Mallacoota Wilderness Co-Working and Innovation Space.

Ms Shing said up to $390,000 would be invested in each regional partnership area across the state.