Former Golden Point Primary School Reserve
Magpie Street, Golden Point, Ballarat
Heritage Council Registrations Committee
Hearing – 16 March 2015
Members – Lindsay Merritt (Chair), Keir Reeves, Oona Nicholson
Decision of the Heritage Council
After considering the Executive Director’s recommendation, submissions received, and conducting a hearing into those submissions, pursuant to Section 42(1)(c) of the Heritage Act 1995, the Heritage Council has determined that the Former Golden Point Primary School Reserve is not of cultural heritage significance to the State of Victoria and does not warrant inclusion in the Victorian Heritage Register.
Lindsay Merritt (Chair) / Keir Reeves / Oona NicholsonDecision Date – 4 June 2015
APPEARANCES/submissions
Executive Director, Heritage Victoria
Submissions were received from the Executive Director, Heritage Victoria (‘the Executive Director’). Mr David Bannear (Heritage Officer, Archaeology, Heritage Victoria) appeared on behalf of the Executive Director. Dr Marina Larsson (Manager, Assessments, Heritage Victoria) was also present at the hearing and available to take questions from the Committee.
Sovereign Hill Museums Association
Submissions were received from the Owner, Sovereign Hill Museums Association (‘the Owner’). The Owner was represented by Mr Robert Forrester for Kellehers Australia, the Owner’s legal representative. Mr Forrester called Mr Rodney Aujard, Licensed Surveyor and principal of the firm Rodney Aujard & Associates, to provide expert evidence. Mr Forrester also called Dr Jeremy Johnson, CEO of the Sovereign Hill Museums Association, as a witness.
Graovac Developments Pty Ltd
Submissions were received from the intended developer, Graovac Developments Pty Ltd (‘Graovac Developments’). Graovac Developments was represented at the hearing by its legal representative, Mr Neil Haydon of Beveridge Williams & Co (‘Beverage Williams’).
Friends of William Dunstan Reserve
Submissions were received from the Friends of William Dunstan Reserve, Inc. (‘the Friends’). The Friends were represented primarily by Mr Phillip Horne, Secretary, who made written and verbal submissions. The following members also made written and verbal submissions for the Friends at the hearing: Mr Peter Wills, Dr Penelope Greenslade, Ms Floss Pitson and Mr Frank Williams.
Pursuant to s38 Heritage Act, written submissions were received during advertising of the Executive Director’s recommendation. A full list of submitters is included in the table below. The two (2) s38 submissions below both objected to the Executive Director’s recommendation.
S38 WRITTEN SUBMISSIONS RECEIVED DURING ADVERTISING OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S RECOMMENDATION
Mr Phillip Horne (Sec., the Friends) / Professor Weston Bate OAMIntroduction
The Place
1 The Former Golden Point Primary School Reserve (‘the Place’) is a 1.2ha parcel of freehold land with abuttals onto Magpie, Bradshaw and Wainwright Streets and is described on Certificate of Title Volume 11386 Folio 817. The Place is largely flat, predominantly covered by grass and is ringed by native plantings. There is an asphalt area in the southern section of the Place, two cricket practice nets located in the southeast section and two remnant asphalt tennis courts at the northwest section. The Place is located in an area known as Post Office Hill. Gold was discovered nearby in August 1851, sparking the State’s first major gold rush. The Executive Director’s report notes that Commissioner Doveton arrived at Golden Point on 19 September 1851. Commissioner Doveton set up the Gold Commissioner’s Camp in the Golden Point-Post Office Hill area and announced his intention to issue licences and restrict the size of claims to eight feet square. Tens of thousands of men worked the diggings through the coming months. Golden Point-Post Office Hill initially provided fantastic yields, but by the end of 1851, men were departing these diggings for new rushes elsewhere in the Victorian Goldfields. A protest event relating to the gold licensing system occurred at Golden Point-Post Office Hill, which was a forerunner to other gold licence protest events. In July 1852 a more substantial Government Camp was established at Camp Hill between Lydiard Street and Camp Street. By 1855 part of the Post Office Hill area had become an open-cut quartz mine. The Executive Director notes that a pine plantation was established on the site during the early to mid-twentieth century. The Executive Director’s recommendation explains that the Place was gazetted as a State School Purposes Crown Reserve (Temporary) and was used by the nearby Golden Point Primary School for sport and recreational purposes until 1994, when the school was closed. The Place was sold as freehold land to the Sovereign Hill Museums Association, the current owner on 4 December 1997 and was used between 1997 and 2012 as an overflow car park for visitors to Sovereign Hill in June 2014. The Place is also known informally to some members of the community as the William Dunstan Reserve, after a former student and Victoria Cross recipient from WWI.
Nomination
2 A nomination for the Place to be included in the Victorian Heritage Register (‘the Register’) was accepted by the Executive Director on 1 August 2014.
Recommendation of the Executive Director
3 On 19 September 2014, the Executive Director, under Section 32(1)(b) of the Heritage Act 1995 (‘the Act’) recommended that the Place not be included in the Victorian Heritage Register.
4 Two (2) submissions objecting to the recommendation were received and pursuant to s.40(2) of the Act a hearing was scheduled for 16 March 2015.
Site Inspection
5 On 16 March 2015, immediately upon the conclusion of the hearing, the Committee made a site inspection of the Place, which is accessible to the public, accompanied by the Heritage Council’s Hearings Coordinator.
Preliminary and Other Matters
Conflicts of interest
6 The Chair, as is usual practice, invited Committee members to declare any interests that they may have in relation to either the Place or parties to the hearing. Committee members noted that there were no relevant conflicts of interest.
Late material and admissibility
7 Submissions were received prior to the submissions in reply due date from new submitters who were individuals purporting to be submitting as members of the Friends. Prior to the hearing, but after the final submissions in reply due date, late submissions were also received from additional members of the Friends. The late submissions were circulated to all parties, including by way of email where appropriate. The Owner requested in a letter received and circulated prior to the hearing that the Committee not accept the new material and expressed concern in relation to procedures under the Act, Heritage Council protocol and potential breaches of the rules of natural justice. In emails to all parties enclosing the late submissions received, the Committee noted that it had forwarded the late submissions for the benefit of all parties and that any questions as to admissibility and standing would be dealt with at the hearing itself. All parties were given the opportunity at the hearing to comment on the new material. The Chair of the Committee noted the concerns and, after a brief adjournment to consider the matter, the Committee determined to accept the late submissions and noted this for all assembled. The Committee notes that the task of the Committee is to bring as much evidence to light as possible. The Act gives the Committee a broad discretion to give parties the opportunity to make submissions. In considering late submissions, the Committee has given due consideration to the fact that new material may have been raised in some instances by members of the Friends without the right of written reply being afforded to other parties.
Standing
8 Some parties, including the Owner, expressed concern that some individual submitters, had made written submissions as members of the Friends, and that these submissions raised issues beyond the scope of the original Friends submission. The Committee confirmed that the Friends is an incorporated association and the Secretary of the Friends confirmed at the hearing that all written submissions received in this context were from members speaking on its behalf in relation to different aspects of the Friends’ submission. The Committee determined to grant standing to all members of the Friends as members rather than individuals, noted that the Heritage Council was not subject to a strict threshold for standing in this instance, and that in principle the Heritage Council seeks to ensure participation, providing the rights of other parties are not compromised.
Request for adjournment
9 During the course of the hearing, Dr Greenslade for the Friends made reference to her submission, which included an apparent request for an adjournment to the hearing. Other parties objected to this adjournment request. Although formal adjournment request protocol had not been followed in this instance, the Committee determined to consider the request at the hearing and subsequently determined to refuse Dr Greenslade’s request for an adjournment, making this known to all parties.
Future use of the Place
10 Some submissions made mention of the potential development and proposed uses of the Place.
11 The Committee appreciates that there exists from time to time community concern about the potential development of sites such as the Place. However, the role of this Committee is to determine the cultural heritage significance of the Place in its current state. It is not the Committee’s task to consider the future development or use. Submissions dealing with these matters have not been considered by the Committee in reaching its decision.
Submissions as to the location of the First Gold Commissioner’s Camp
12 The parties did not agree that the Place was in fact the location of the Gold Commissioner’s Camp of 1851-52 (‘the Camp’). Some parties made submissions as to the possible location of the Camp elsewhere in Ballarat. Pursuant to s42(1) the Committee can only consider the recommendation made by the Executive Director. It is therefore beyond the remit of this Committee to consider material relating to other places where the Camp may have been located. As the recommendation relates only to the site of the Place, the Committee is only able to consider submissions in relation to the Place that was subject of the Executive Director’s recommendation.
13 The Committee also notes that Beveridge Williams for Graovac Developments made written submissions to the hearing using the term ‘Place’ to mean the Camp, rather than the Place under consideration as nominated. In Beveridge Williams’ written submissions, the site of the Camp rather than the land comprising the Place is assessed against the Criteria, meaning that material relating to the significance of the Camp was discussed. In verbal submissions however, Mr Haydon for Beveridge Williams argued that the Place was not the site of the Camp, and made arguments as to the further evidence demonstrating this.
Other Issues
14 Two (2) conforming s38 submissions were received. The purpose of s38 submissions is for parties to register with the Heritage Council their support or objection to a recommendation of the Executive Director using a tick box and/or a one sentence statement. The provision of significant additional information is unusual – more detailed submissions would normally be provided in submissions lodged with the Heritage Council pursuant to s40(2)(a)(iv) of the Act.
15 The Committee has considered the s38 submissions in making its decisions. The Committee notes that the issues raised in the s38 submissions received included arguments that the Place is the site of the Camp and that the Place is therefore associated with historical events such as the issuing of the First Gold Mining Licence and subsequent protest and miners’ rights movements.
16 The Committee is aware that, subsequent to this Committee’s registrations hearing, a hearing about a permit in relation to the Place was held at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (‘VCAT’) on Monday 30 March 2015. The Committee is also aware that, during the course of that hearing, the heritage values of the Place were considered by VCAT. The Committee wants to stress that, while there has been some overlap between the material considered by VCAT and the material considered by this Committee, the two hearings are held for very different purposes. The VCAT hearing considered an application for a planning permit under the Planning and Environment Act 1987. This hearing is to determine whether the Place warrants inclusion on the Victorian Heritage Register. The Committee is of the view that as long as the material goes to the cultural heritage significance of the Place it is not important whether or not it was previously presented to VCAT.
Issues
17 This section is not intended to be a complete record of submissions that were made to the Committee. It is a summary of what the Committee considers to be the key issues, followed by an explanation of the position the Committee takes on each issue.
18 Any reference to Criteria refers to the ‘Heritage Council Criteria for Assessment of Places of Cultural Heritage Significance’ (see Attachment 1 to this report).
19 Any reference to Criteria and Threshold Guidelines refers to the ‘The Victorian Heritage Register Criteria and Threshold Guidelines’ (as adopted by the Heritage Council on 6 December 2012, reviewed and updated 5 June 2014).
Summary of issues
20 The Executive Director submitted that while the Camp and related events are historically significant, the Place is not the site of the Camp and has no direct association with the Camp or related events, and on these bases does not satisfy any of the Criteria at a State level for inclusion in the Register. The Executive Director further submitted that the location of the Camp was approximately 450 metres from the Place and that none of the Camp was located on the Place or in its vicinity. The Executive Director also submitted that, in relation to an association of the Place with William Dunstan VC, the association is not one which satisfies Criterion H.
21 Mr Horne for the Friends submitted that the Place is the site of the Camp and is related to associated events, that the Place is rare, is of historical and cultural importance at a State level and that it therefore meets the threshold for inclusion in the Register under Criteria A, B and G.
22 Mr Wills of the Friends submitted that the Place is of historical significance to the State of Victoria as the site of the Camp and should be included in the Register for this reason, and also as a place associated with William Dunstan VC under Criterion H.