Parks Victoria - Annual Report 2009-10

SUPPORTING HEALTHY PARKS HEALTHY PEOPLEin April 2010. The plan sets the direction for highquality, sustainable visitor experiences and services overthe next five years.WONTHAGGI’S MINING HISTORY PRESERVEDParks Victoria celebrated the centenary of theWonthaggi State Coal Mine and the officialreopening of the mine for public undergroundtours with the community in March.Occupational health and safety concerns closedthe mine in 2000, but after an investment of$3 million in State and Federal governmentfunding, the mine is now safe again for visitors.Parks Victoria’s mine manager, BraxtonLaine, said the mine is of significant culturalvalue. “Without the mine there would be noWonthaggi. It has a huge social history. Whenyou take visitors down and they see that theminers crawled into rabbit holes with theirpicks and shovels, they say they can’t imagineworking in such conditions. But it was a way oflife, how you earned money.”The work of volunteers and the support of thecommunity were essential to the project. Over$50,000 in skilled labour was donated overthe years with local plumbers, electricians andother tradespeople offering their services tothe project. In the past year alone, volunteerscontributed more than 713 hours of their timeto the cause. The mine is also important inattracting visitors to Wonthaggi, supporting theregional economy. Construction has begun onthe mine’s new visitor information centre thatis scheduled to open in November 2010. Thecentre will tell the story of the town’s mininghistory and will include a theatre, conferencearea, education room, café and retail store. Itwill encourage visitors to stay longer.Also at Wilsons Promontory, a targeted marketingcampaign promoting the Wilderness Retreats waslaunched in October 2009. The campaign used thetagline ‘Discover Comfort in Undiscovered Places’ andcontributed to annual growth in occupancy.Commercial projectsFollowing the launch of Victoria’s Nature-BasedTourism Strategy, extensive planning and consultationwas undertaken to develop tree-based eco-adventurefacilities at selected sites across the state. An expressionof interest process resulted in strong investor attention,with preferred proponents selected to proceed todetailed planning.Works to reopen the Mount Buffalo Chalet progressedwith an open market request for tender processconducted to secure the lease, operation andredevelopment of the site.Leases and licencesA total of 73 agreements including leases, licences andsection 27 consents under the National Parks Act 1975were finalised in 2009-10, with ongoing managementsupport provided for more than 450 lease and licenceagreements across the state.After four years of negotiations, the lease for theredevelopment of the Yarra Bend Golf Course wassigned. The lease will see the investment of $3 millionin a golf driving range and the construction of newretail and café facilities. In addition, the consortium willassume full responsibility for golf course maintenance.Parks Victoria successfully facilitated transfer of theWerribee Mansion hotel lease to new operators. TheLancemore Group, one of Victoria’s leading boutiquehotel and conference operators, is now managing theoperation of the hotel.Parks Victoria worked with Sport and RecreationVictoria in the development of a new $50 million StateAthletics Centre at Albert Park. Parks Victoria playeda key role in ensuring appropriate leases and licenceswere in place for the redevelopment.40 Parks Victoria - Annual Report 2009-10