By Oscar Parry
A Woodend entomologist claims he is hitting “brick walls” in his search for a venue suitable to host an institute of entomology.
Organiser of the annual National Insect Expo in Woodend, Dr Bert Candusio, has been running a National Institute of Entomology online, providing entomology certificate courses.
He also co-manages the Central Victorian Regional Insect Collection.
The search for a Macedon Ranges venue suitable to host practical technicians courses has proven difficult, and according to Mr Candusio, has now taken almost five years.
“It’s not the sort of [thing] that you can set up temporarily, pack up, and then do it again” Mr Candusio said.
“We’ve been approaching multiple organisations, including [Macedon Ranges council] for the probability of finding something, and we’ve just been hitting these brick walls.
“We now have nearly 200 students from every state in Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia and Singapore on standby for when we’re able to deliver these courses … we’ll be the only institute in Australia that runs them.”
He said he inquired about using part of the Woodend Community Health building with council, but was recently told that this would not be possible.
“That’s apparently a no-go – which to me is ridiculous. Because it’s occupied by one office for the [maternal and child health service] provider and the rest of the building is totally empty,” Mr Candusio said.
“As a last resort, we’ve been offered what we require at … the Shire of Mitchell, and if worse comes to worst, we’re going to seriously consider relocating not only the collections and everything to the facility to what they’ve offered … and if that happens, we’ll be taking the … National Insect Expo with us.”
Mr Candusio said another possibility would be a resident offering a privately owned venue to host the institute.
Council corporate director Adele Drago-Stevens said the organisation “acknowledges the national institute’s passion in establishing a permanent insectarium locally, and the benefits this may offer”.
“At this stage, there are no council-owned buildings available to meet the specialist requirements for housing theiInstitute’s collection. The Woodend Community Hub building is not a suitable location due to existing planning constraints and the intended use of the site,” Ms Drago-Stevens said.
