In mid-March, many Gisborne locals watched in horror as the 148-year-old bluestone Bunjil Creek Bridge was demolished, a month before it would be found to meet heritage standards protecting its destruction.
The bridge was removed by Regional Roads Victoria contractors to install a roundabout at the intersection of Melbourne and Kilmore roads in a $12.5 million upgrade, despite loud opposition from Macedon Ranges council and the community.
The government-appointed planning panel considering council’s heritage overlay application concluded in April it was “appropriate and justified to apply the Heritage Overlay (HO351) to the Bunjil Creek bridge and channel” – but it was too late, Bunjil Creek Bridge was gone.
Council also sought protection for two oaks and one elm tree aligned with the heritage avenue in Howey Reserve, Gisborne, which the planning panel deemed “strategically justified”, according to council documents.
At a planning meeting on Wednesday, June 8, council voted to adopt the heritage overlay for the remaining trees, but with an amendment to exclude the bridge, considering it no longer existed.
Councillor Anne Moore expressed her sadness over the destruction of the bridge, saying she was “bitterly disappointed and disturbed” the town had lost a part of “probably gold field history”.
“I’m disappointed with the amount of history we have lost, the heritage that we have lost, the character that we have lost to the gateway of Gisborne after the exit off Melbourne Road,” she said.
Cr Mark Ridgeway echoed Cr Moore’s anger, but said it was important to make sure the trees would be protected going into the future.
“In particular the loss of the channel is an absolute disgrace and the fact that we can’t actually preserve what’s left of it just makes life very, very difficult,” Cr Ridgeway said.
“But at least with this motion, we do provide some protection for Howey Reserve – the trees and some other aspects in the area, I think that’s what we need to focus on now.”
