What is happening in Wahgunyah?

The Community Strengthening Project kicked off in Wahgunyah in January 2011. Consultations took place with Wahgunyah community groups and individuals and a survey was sent out to the Wahgunyah Progress Association to gather more ideas from members.

A Community Planning Evening was held on Monday 16 May 2011 at the School of Arts Hall, Wahgunyah. At this meeting the Wahgunyah community had the opportunity to discuss and prioritise ideas that came from the consultations. 15 people attended this meeting, however, it was a group that were very representative of the community. A decision was then made to distribute the priorities from this meeting with the wider Wahgunyah community via a further round of consultation to confirm their priority. This process took place from July-October 2011 prior to a draft Plan being prepared.

The top three priorities identified are:

• Extend cycle paths beyond the Flower farm to Lake Moodemere
• Establish a Rail Trail Station/Rest stop
• Clean up and/or beautify vacant recreational land

A number of ideas were put forward for use of the Rail Reserve and these included

• Rail Trail Station Rest Stop
• RV Friendly Dump Point
• Community Garden
• Picnic Areas
• Men’s Shed
• Botanical Garden
• BMX Track
• Maze
• Labyrinth
• Skate Park
• Relocate Playground at corner of Foord St and Blanche Street

A Wahgunyah Community Plan has now been created. To view the current Plan click here.

The Plan summarises the steps taken to get the Wahgunyah Community Strengthening Project underway as well as the different ideas and priorities that came through in consultations and the community planning night.

Current projects

Extend cycle paths beyond the Flower farm to Lake Moodemere

Already work has begun with an interested and knowledgable group of locals to explore options for the Extension of the cycle path to Lake Moodemere. This group has representatives from Parks Victoria and links to DSE. They have held an initial meeting with Shire Engineers and 2 follow-up meetings to discuss options in more detail. For more information on this project contact Scott Landells on free call 1300 365 003 or via email slandells@indigoshire.vic.gov.au.

Clean up and/or beautify vacant recreational land

A key element of this project is the Rail Reserve near the Town Entrance and to the west of Uncle Tobys. This area of land includes a small block owned by Council on corner of Victoria and Sarah Streets as well as a much larger surrounding area that is now under lease to Council from VicTrack as part of the Murray to Mountains Wahgunyah-Rutherglen Rail Trail. Community meetings were held in August 2012 to brief the Wahgunyah community on planning opportunities for this precinct. A Working Party has been formed to guide the local side of the planning process. We will be aiming to ensure that this group forms a strong working relationship with VicTrack who are the owner of the Reserve and have various conditions that govern the type of development that can be undertaken. The working party will meet 23 January to begin the Master Planning process.

For further details on this Plan, please contact Scott Landells via email slandells@indigoshire.vic.gov.au or local call 1300 365 003.