City of Greater Bendigo seeks submissions for proposed heritage amendment

In the latest amendment proposed to the City's planning scheme, municipal staff are seeking to apply heritage protection to more than 150 houses built during Bendigo's gold rush.

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City acting director of strategy and growth Anthony Petherbridge said the aim was to preserve the history of the region and "improve community awareness about the importance and value of heritage places".

"Many of the properties are clustered around former mining sites from the mid-1800s onwards and our heritage studies have revealed that some properties unique to Bendigo were not protected by existing heritage overlays," he said.

"Heritage shapes our identity and connects us to our past, our city, and region and these proposed changes are designed to protect our early mining heritage through the heritage overlay in the Greater Bendigo Planning Scheme. It lists places that are locally significant either individually or collectively.

"With a growing population, it is important to balance the protection of our gold mine heritage with future growth and contemporary development that is sensitive to heritage values and elements."

The heritage study assessed 229 properties and identified 156 properties that met the criteria for local heritage significance across Bendigo, Flora Hill, Golden Gully, Golden Square, Ironbark, Long Gully, North Bendigo, Quarry Hill, and West Bendigo.

The proposed amendment would include a statement of significance and classify the houses as either an early miners' cottage, quartz gold boom miners' house, workers' and mine speculators' house, or quartz reefers' house.

It would mean four properties would have existing heritage overlays deleted and replaced with the new one, one property would have an interim overlay replaced with a permanent one, and the neighbourhood character overlay would be deleted for 82 properties and superseded by the proposed overlay.

Heritage protection would mean a permit would be required for building and works, including demolition that could affect the significance of these precincts and individual properties.

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National Trust Bendigo branch president Peter Cox said he welcomed the City's proposal.

"Miners cottages tell a story of how miners and their families lived in the nineteenth century and as their families grew and the miners were able to find stable work, so did their homes," he said.

"While many were humble dwellings others added architectural features according to what they could afford."

Mr Cox said the overlay could result in less historical buildings being demolished, such as the Coogate Bakery in California Gully, which was demolished in late February.

"Serious consideration was not given to its historical presence in that neighbourhood," Mr Cox said. "There are many historical properties that remain unprotected and need to be incorporated into studies."

Greater Bendigo residents were encouraged to participate in the amendment process.

The amendment would be on display until Monday, May 8 here and is also available at the City offices at 15 Hopetoun Street.

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