A DECISION on whether to heritage list Swan Hill’s iconic tourist attraction, Pioneer Settlement, is expected to be handed down in the next two weeks.
If Heritage Victoria’s recommendation is upheld, Swan Hill Council’s plans for the $10 million Our Place could be thrown into chaos.
The interpretive centre and tourist destination is slated to be built on the site, which began life as a folk museum in the 1960s.
The council’s plan to combine the settlement with a new visitor information centre, Aboriginal cultural hub, and enlarged art gallery was intended to turn it from a money pit into a break-even concern.
Opponents of the council’s development nominated the settlement for inclusion on the heritage register in August 2020.
Heritage Victoria conducted an assessment, advising the independent decision-making Heritage Council that the site had state-level significance in April last year.
Council resolved to make a submission of objection at its June 2021 meeting.
A Heritage Council of Victoria spokesperson said public hearings on Heritage Victoria’s recommendation to include Pioneer Settlement on the Victorian Heritage Register was held on December 9, 2021.
“The Heritage Council must make a determination 90 days from the date of the hearing (March 9, 2022).
“A report detailing the reasons for the Heritage Council’s decision will be provided to all people who participated in the hearing and will be made available through the Heritage Council’s website and Australian Legal Information Institute’s Victorian Law Resources.”
Council director of development and planning Heather Green declined to speculate on scenarios if heritage status was upheld.
“Council will consider a range of responses, depending on the outcome,” Ms Green said in a statement.
“Council will outline these options to the community once we have received a decision regarding the heritage status of the Pioneer Settlement.”
Cr Nicole McKay was the only councillor to reject council’s objection to heritage protection.
“I find it absolutely intriguing that we, as a council, are considering not supporting the heritage recommendation, when it would give a great amount of recognition,” she said at the time.
Cr Ann Young, who also presented to the public hearing as a private citizen, said the settlement had long been a financial burden to ratepayers, with council looking at ways to ease this burden and to secure the future of its existence.
Then-mayor Bill Moar said the cost of running the settlement was $15 million during the past decade.
He said council was “pouring money down into a tourism business that continues to be a frag on the council’s finances”.
“The costs will be bigger if this heritage listing goes ahead as it sits.”
Former council mayor David Quayle, who has been vocal against Our Place, said the council’s proposal would ruin the original walk-through design of the site and place a modern-looking building in a heritage-style village.
