Mr Gibbons said his idea, which involves selling part of the historic property, would allow Fortuna to remain in public ownership at minimal cost to taxpayers and Bendigo ratepayers.

He said if the plan was adopted, the City of Greater Bendigo would need to declare the whole site a separate precinct, then allow the property to be sub-divided into two sections.

“Fortuna is owned by the Commonwealth, and so is exempt from most local government regulation, including payment of rates,” Mr Gibbons said.

“New ownership should be secured on the basis that the heritage part of the property should remain in the `for public use’ category, while the rest could be designated for development and subject to normal local regulation, including the payment of rates.”

Mr Gibbons said any profit from the sale or development of the non-heritage parts of the property, and the subsequent rate revenue generated from them, could be quarantined by the council and used exclusively for maintaining the heritage buildings and lake.

“Council could zone the non-heritage areas in a way that maximises both the potential income from the sale or development, and their future rateable value,” he said.

“The quarantined revenue, together with any income from the public use of the heritage areas, would then be for exclusive use within the precinct.

“The concept would probably need to be administered by a statutory authority, like the City of Greater Bendigo, for example.

“This could go a long way to minimising the cost to ratepayers of maintaining an important part of Bendigo’s heritage.”

The mayor, Cr Kevin Gibbins, said the council was “happy to consider everything with a view to maintaining the property for public use”.

“The reality is it’s roughly 16 acres.

“I’ve always thought we could sell about a third of it off, and put the money into a trust or similar to finance the maintenance of the significant building.”