Wednesday, 5 March 2025

Fyansford Paper Mill

Petition

Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (17:25): Last sitting week I had the privilege of presenting Legislative Council petition 538 to this chamber, a call to restore the Fyansford Paper Mill water race wall. As you might remember, it carried the weight of 2018 signatures – just over 1000 on paper and just under 1000 online. I want to thank all the signatories for their support, with particular thanks to the Fyansford Paper Mill precinct group and the Rotary Club of Highton, who led this effort with passion and purpose.

The heart of this is about the paper mill itself. Built in 1878, it is Australia’s only intact heritage paper mill, perched above Buckley Falls on the Barwon River near Geelong. Classified by the National Trust as state significant and listed on Victoria’s heritage register, it is a treasure. It has a 957-metre water race, a channel that once powered the mill’s waterwheel. It is a marvel of engineering. In June 2021 an 11-metre breach broke the flow, damaging a piece of our history and disrupting a significant platypus breeding habitat. Repairing it is not just about heritage; it is about ecology as well. It is telling the story, the full story, of this site, which served as a World War II sea mine facility.

Today the mill thrives, with tourism, hospitality and artisanal businesses drawing thousands annually. Volunteers from the Highton Rotary Club guide visitors through the mill’s rich past. Restoring the water race would advance this even further. Imagine water cascading 15 metres over the spillway, boosting tourism and bringing history back to life. Decades of neglect on this Crown land should end. An independent assessment confirms restoring the flow will revive ecological values. There are no cons, only pros.

There has been some good news, however. The Hamilton Group, the high-quality, heritage-minded developers in Geelong, purchased the mill in December. They are keen to restore all 950 metres of the water race on Crown land, working alongside the City of Greater Geelong, who manage 657 metres of it. This could be transformative, but we need approvals to move forward, so I ask the Minister for Water to intercede with the Corangamite Catchment Management Authority to grant the permissions needed for this repair. I understand there is an opportunity to incorporate fish ladders into the restoration and existing CCMA priorities, so I hope this might make it even more acceptable.

I further understand, anecdotally I admit, that the lack of water has now caused a serious knock-on impact on the number of small birds present on the site. This is a real opportunity to combine positive ecology and heritage, and it does not need taxpayer money – there are multiple volunteers and groups standing by ready to fundraise. I ask the Minister for Water to please do her best to ask the CCMA to look at this favourably and help this community vision become a reality.