Hanging Rock is at risk according to the locals ... yet it is important to ALL OF US. Please sign the petition.

From the Macedon Ranges Residents’ Association Inc. ~~~

Picture from here 

See the movie and read the book

and you will see why Hanging Rock is important

to Australians.

Hello Everyone,

Help needed, and it won’t take but a moment of your time. 

Here in Macedon Ranges Shire we have a terrible council.  It thinks it can operate and make decisions in isolation of and without consulting its community, while making the community pay for its decisions. 

Recently Macedon Ranges council took this culture a step too far.   It deliberately resolved (not once, but twice) to apply for funding for a conference centre (and other large-scale development) at Hanging Rock and to not consult the community on the development or funding.  

Hanging Rock does not belong to Macedon Ranges’ council officers and 5 of 9 councillors!  It is an international icon; it belongs to the people of Macedon Ranges, Victoria, and Australia.   Yet our council has shut everyone out.  It’s making big decisions on our behalf – and on yours – without us having a say.   We want our council to know this is not acceptable, and to rethink its decision.

The first favour we ask of you is PLEASE, PLEASE SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION “HANGING ROCK FOR SALE – HAVE YOUR SAY” by going to

http://www.communityrun.org/petitions/hanging-rock-for-sale-have-your-say

This petition has been authored and started by local residents in the Hanging Rock area community.  MRRA is supporting this initiative.

The second favour we ask is PLEASE, PLEASE SEND THIS EMAIL AROUND TO YOUR FRIENDS AND CONTACTS AND ASK THEM TO SIGN THE PETITION AS WELL. 

Here’s what some people are saying:

“If you have visited the Rock at some stage in your life you know the beauty and mysteriousness of the area, if you have not visited the Rock please google it and you will see what I mean.  I live near the Rock and drive past it every day to and from work and it never ceases to amaze me because I see the same view but it’s different.  I implore you to sign this petition to put a stop to the suggested development around the area of the Rock;  Landcare has spent 10 years building up the wildlife corridor here and as usual greedy people just want to tear the bush down and put in concrete.  Once you have signed it please email this to all your friends so we can save a natural beauty so close to Melb for visitors.”  Toni

“Development such as that being proposed by MRSC in an area protected by an environmental overlay is totally inappropriate.  It goes against all that this Landcare group has been working towards over a 10 year period!  The East paddock area was purchased to buffer the reserve at Hanging Rock - a haven for wild-life and city-weary folks.  So please add your name to the petition Luke has prepared and send it [the link] to your friends.”  Penny

As you can see, this awful decision affects many people and impacts many (irreplaceable) values.  

Many thanks for your help.

Christine Pruneau,

Secretary,

Macedon Ranges Residents’ Association Inc.

Imagining :: Library refurbishment - cultural precinct - community hub - dead parking area - and will there be money still for tea?

 

Last night, I attended the above consultation.   The consultation was done with Flightpath, an architectural consultancy, with two of their associates.  One , the principal, took the notes.  The second architect was said to have the knack for asking the good questions so he did most of the talking.  The third was a graphic designer who didn't say much at all but took his own notes. Lesley Morgan of the Ballarat Library and the Central Highlands Regional Library Corporation was there. Another person was there from the Council but, in spite of trying, have not yet tracked down who she is.  Besides those, there were about eight of us having our two bits worth - oops, giving our input.

Lesley Morgan is the manager of the Ballarat Library and a senior manager at Central Highlands Regional Library Corporation. She has held the role of Ballarat Manager for 4 1/2 years.Lesley has worked in libraries for 30 years in a variety of different roles, including Public, University, School and Tafe libraries. Lesley is a passionate advocate for public libraries, reading and literacy in general. One aim of hers is to assist in breaking down cultural barriers so that social inclusiveness becomes the right of all.

Click Here to visit the Central Highlands Regional Library Corporation website

Now I am not sure what this talk of re-making the Ballarat Library, perhaps making it a 'hub' is all about.  I have only been in Ballarat about eighteen months.  I have, however, come across this article from 2009 - a bare four years ago.   Then I came across this - which appears to be from April this year.

Now, we weren't told of this limited amount of money.  Perhaps the architects did not wish to cramp our style or limit our imagination.  However, for what we eventually got to talking about were were well past this financial limitation.  Why?  We named the elephants in the room which went beyond the boundaries of the Ballarat Library.  We named the parking space between the library and the civic hall - which has been left for a decade to rot in neglect - which, like so many parking facilities, has a period in its daily life cycle which means that is dead, empty, vacant, non-contributing.  And there is the on-going saga of the Civic Hall. My contribution on how to revive the Civic Hall and add to the area as a cultural precinct was this marvellous news of the eradication of urban blight in down-at-heel Newcastle:

So the wash up of all this? 

We few - we precious six o'clock few -  had our wide-ranging say.

We ranged from the library purists who wanted a library to be a library -

to those who were prepared to venture further

into the concepts of hubs and precincts.

One marvellous idea put forward which encouraged me to air the Westbury idea was the idea of flying the Ballarat historical and artistic and literary flag in a manner which is not done by our existing cultural institutions.  The proposer began with reminding us of the wonderful Will Dyson and progressed through a litany of distinguished cultural Ballarat-ians, male and female.

So we spilled past the 7pm timeline but in the end had to leave Library + Hub Dreaming.  Where will it take us?  What happened with the other two consultations?  Is anybody listening in a really meaningful way?  Will it become just a fleeting moment in time?  We wait to see.  I don't have a lot of confidence in the Ballarat Council's ability to make the most of opportunities, to respect heritage, to take good care of what it already holds.  I have come to this point of view because of the Civic Hall neglect and the Black Hill Look-out neglect.

Libraries are my thing - make them yours too, particularly our Ballarat Libraries. Time to have your say!

Morning all.

We need your help to guide us to the future of our Library Services in Ballarat!

Please feel free to attend one of 3 information sessions in the Library on Monday September 16.

Feel free to forward the information and attachment to others who may be interested…

LOVE YOUR LIBRARY!!  J

Elizabeth Hardiman | Cultural Partnerships Officer
City of Ballarat | PO Box 655, Ballarat, Victoria, 3353
P: 03 5320 5831 | M: 0438 205 620 | http://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au

   

Join the discussion. Have your say online at http://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/haveyoursay

From: Tara Hossack
Sent: Thursday, 5 September 2013 4:06 PM
To: Ballarat Library; Library Admin Staff; Cultural Diversity; Youth Services
Subject: Library community consultation

Hi everyone,

As you may well be aware, Council are currently conducting a study on the Central Library to assess its needs, growth and development for the future needs of the community. We have received money from the State government to complete the study and produce concept plans for the expanded library service. The current library space is used and loved a great deal by the local community and as such there is a need to expand the current floor area and provide for the growing Ballarat population (according to the figures, it is currently only half the floor space it needs to be).

As part of the process we are inviting members of the public to attend a community consultation session to get feedback on what is great about the library and what they would like to see in the future – general feedback and ideas.

We will be providing morning tea, afternoon tea and nibbles and it would be great to lots of members of the public to come along and have their say.

We have engaged some very skilled and experienced architects who have recently renovated over 12 libraries across Australia and they will be keen to develop and understanding of what we want for the future development of the Library.

Please feel free to forward this invite to your friends, family and networks

Regards

Tara Hossack | Libraries & Learning Services Manager

As Lewis Carroll wrote in Alice in Wonderland, “Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” And isn't that the story of waste!!!

Here is the Waste Strategy for Ballarat, the city where I live. I know it looks boring but what I would like to know is - do you think it does the trick? Does it help people to REALLY know how and what to recycle?