3630VEA History Book

In memory of Hon. William Archibald Borthwick, AM 1924 – 2001 Danielle Clode Victorian Environmental Assessment Council Published by the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council Melbourne, August 2006. © Danielle Clode and Victorian Environmental Assessment Council 2006 This publication is copyright. Apart from fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical or graphic) without the prior written permission of the author and the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council. Permitted copying by educational institutions must comply with the prescribed procedures under the Copyright Act 1968. For further information on these procedures, contact the Copyright Agency Limited. All requests and enquiries should be directed to the Victorian Environmental Assessment Council, (03) 9637 9902 or e-mail [email protected] Authorised by Victorian Environmental Assessment Council, 8 Nicholson Street, East Melbourne. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Clode, Danielle. As if for a thousand years : a history of Victoria's Land Conservation and Environment Conservation Councils. Bibliography. Includes index. ISBN 1 74152 463 6. 1. Environment Conservation Council (Victoria) – History. 2. Land Conservation Council, Victoria – History. 3. Conservation of natural resources – Victoria – History. I. Environment Conservation Council (Victoria). II. Victorian Environmental Assessment Council. III. Title. 333.7209945 Designed by Fragile Design, Prahran, Victoria Printed by XXXX Disclaimer This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication. Also by Danielle Clode – Killers in Eden Continent of Curiosities: A journey through Australian Natural History TABLE OF CONTENTS Photo acknowledgements 8 Foreword 9 Acknowledgements 10 Chapter 1 Out of the Desert 11 South West 1 19 South West 1 Review 19 Water Supply Catchment Investigations 21 Chapter 2 As if for a Thousand Years... 23 South Gippsland 1 32 Stradbroke Special Investigation 32 Chapter 3 One Step at a Time 33 North East 1 45 North East 2 46 Tribute to Roger Cowley 47 Social & Economic Studies 47 Chapter 4 Independence and Bare-Faced Defiance 49 North East 3, 4 and 5 60 Ovens Softwood Special Investigation 60 North East Benalla-Upper Murray Review 60 Mallee 62 Mallee Review 62 Melbourne 63 Melbourne District 1 Review 64 Melbourne District 2 Review 64 Hill End Special Investigation 66 Table of Contents Chapter 5 Look, Listen and Lead 67 Corangamite 74 North Central 76 South West 2 76 South Gippsland 2 78 Gellions Run Special Investigation 78 Latrobe Valley Special Investigation 78 Chapter 6 The Lie of the Land 79 Ballarat 86 Gippsland Lakes Hinterland 87 Murray Valley 87 Wimmera 88 Chapter 7 The Winds of Change 89 Alpine 97 Alpine Special Investigation 98 East Gippsland 99 East Gippsland Review 99 Chapter 8 Green Politics 101 Statewide Assessment of Public Land Use 108 Rivers and Streams Special Investigation 108 Wilderness Special Investigation 109 Historic Places South Western Victoria Special Investigation 110 Chapter 9 Change and Change Again 111 Marine and Coastal Special Investigation 122 Marine, Coastal and Estuarine Investigation 122 Box-Ironbark Forests and Woodlands Investigation 124 Table of Contents Chapter 10 Back to the Future 127 Postscript – VEAC 138 References 140 Appendices 149 Index 194 Figures and Tables Figure 2.1: The LCC Investigation Process 26 Figure 3.1: LCC and ECC Study Areas 34 Table 3.1: Public Land Use Categories: Past and Present System 38 Figure 3.2: Pre-1750 Broad Vegetation Types 43 Table 4.1: The distribution of LCC seats in relation to different agencies 55 Table 4.2: Ministries and Ministers responsible for the LCC and ECC 58 Figure 6.1: Victoria – Public Land Use 1970 82 Figure 6.2: Victoria – Public Land Use 2005 83 Figure 8.1: LCC and ECC Investigations 103 Figure 8.2: A comparison of protected areas in each state and territory 106 Figure 10.1: Differences between public consultation requirements of LCC, ECC & VEAC 128 Table 10.1: Study area summary 137 PHOTO ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Author and VEAC thank the following individuals and institutions for permission to use images in this book. Every reasonable attempt has been made to secure authority from copyright owners to reproduce their images. p.16 LCC collection p.20 Forests Commission collection p.28 Ben Wrigley p.29 LCC collection p.31 Andrew McCutcheon p.35 Brad Miles p.42 Paul Foreman p.50 LCC collection p.56 State Electricity Commission, Victoria p.61 Mel Mitchell p.65 Forests Service collection p.69 Snowy River Mail p.72 Shane Dwyer p.75 DSE collection p.77 Simon Ransome p.81 Forests Service collection p.84 Forests Service collection p.85 Forests Service collection p.88 LCC collection p.89 Forests Service collection p.95 Forests Service collection p.96 LCC collection p.100 Snowy River Mail p.102 Trevor Pinder, The Herald & Weekly Times Photographic Collection p.104 Simon Ransome p.109 Brad Miles p.116 Peter Kinchington p.118 Shane Dwyer p.120 Rachel Murphy p.123 Shane Dwyer p.125 Shane Dwyer p.130 Peter Kinchington p.134 Peter Kinchington FOREWORD It is with great pleasure that I write this foreword to the history of the Land Conservation Council (LCC) and its successor body the Environment Conservation Council (ECC). I take particular pleasure in this task because I was appointed one of twelve Councillors on the very first Council back in 1971. Those who have had an involvement or strong interest in land management in this State would be well aware of the importance to Victoria of the LCC over its 27 year history and the ECC over its four year history. Many oth- ers however, would not be aware of the profound importance of the role the Councils played in the changes to the way we perceive and use our land and its resources. Danielle Clode’s book will make this story available to a wide audience and I daresay will also provide a refresh- er to many people on some of the difficult land management issues that have been tackled over the last 30 years. One of the surprises is that a body that served Victoria so well, with bipartisan political support, has not been emulated elsewhere. Many would regard it as somewhat of a pity that a body such as the LCC/ECC is still unique in Australia and, indeed, internationally. Dr Clode’s book provides a rare insight to the unique set of social and political circumstances that led to the creation of the LCC and then enabled it to weather all the political and social changes over a period of 30 years. The story of the organisation that was born out of issues in the Little Desert is fascinating, lively and important, and I commend this book to the people of Victoria. John Landy, AC, MBE Governor of Victoria, 2001 – 2006 Land Conservation Council member, 1971 – 1978 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The opportunity to explore the history of the Land Conservation Council and its successor institutions has been immensely enjoyable and I am indebted to all of those whose invaluable assistance ensured its completion. I am particularly grateful to the members of the ECC (Prof. John Lovering AO, Mrs. Eda Ritchie and Ms. Jane Cutler) for commis- sioning and overseeing the history of the LCC, which somewhat unexpectedly expanded to include the history of the ECC as well. The motivation for recording the history originated with Don Saunders, the outgoing chairman of the LCC, a task diligently pro- moted by Shane Dwyer (CEO of the Council). Mandy Rossetto, (Communications Officer for the ECC), commenced the process with infectious enthusiasm. Many past and present members of the LCC and ECC assisted in the research required for this book. The time and recollections of the following individuals were invaluable: Mr Geoff Blackman The Hon Joan Kirner Mr Simon Ransome The Hon William Borthwick Dr John Landy, AC, MBE Mrs Eda Ritchie Dr Malcolm Calder Prof John Lovering, AO Mr Don Saunders Mr Shane Dwyer Dr Mick Lumb Dr David Scott Sir Rupert Hamer Mr Ian Miles The Hon Marie Tehan The comments of Jenny Lee and Nick Economou on the manuscript were greatly appreciated. The investigation sections provide brief snapshot summaries of each of the investigations carried out by the LCC and ECC. These summaries have been prepared by Simon Ransome, Mick Lumb, Ian Miles, Paul Peake, Joan Phillips and Shane Dwyer. This book would not have been completed without the support of two people in particular. I am indebted to Shane Dwyer for his ongoing and undiminished enthusiasm for the project and to Simon Ransome for his meticulous historical research and knowledge. This books owes as much to their efforts as it does to mine and I trust their pains to refine my interpretation of their organisation’s history have been adequately compensated. Danielle Clode OUT OF THE DESERT 1 Conservation: a concern for the wise use of resources The fight for land achievements and failures, supporters and obstacles. The debates over public spaces and our natural environment Victoria’s history is littered with disputes over the use of look set to intensify in the future. The experiences of the public land. From the earliest settlement struggles to last thirty years are well worth revisiting to help smooth the bloody Eureka stockade, public land use has excited the path for negotiating the next thirty years and beyond.

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