September 2006 A Victorian Government initiative For further information on this Study and/or the Coastal Spaces Initiative please visit out website: www.dse.vic.gov.au/coastalspaces Report prepared by Planisphere. Published by the Victorian Government Department of Sustainability and Environment Melbourne, September 2006 © The State of Victoria Department of Sustainability and Environment 2006 This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Authorised by the Victorian Government, 8 Nicholson Street, East Melbourne. Printed by CMA Print Printed on 100% Recycled Paper ISBN 1 74152 579 9 For more information contact the DSE Customer Service Centre 136 186 Disclaimer This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its HPSOR\HHVGRQRWJXDUDQWHHWKDWWKHSXEOLFDWLRQLVZLWKRXWÀDZRIDQ\NLQGRULV 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. Foreword Victoria’s coastal landscapes are some of the most spectacular and recognisable in the country, if not the world. They include the rugged wilderness of Wilsons Promontory and the Croajingolong Coast, the unparalleled landscape of the Ninety Mile Beach and the iconic offshore rock formations of the Twelve Apostles and Bay of Islands in the Great Ocean Road region. The many visually significant landscapes along the coast, in both an individual and collective sense, contribute to the overall coastal experience and image portrayed in Australia and the world, which in turn delivers economic benefits through tourism and social benefits to all Victorians. The Coastal Spaces Landscape Assessment Study provides a thorough assessment of landscape characteristics and identification of visually significant landscape from State border to border (excluding metropolitan Melbourne). Importantly, it provides a detailed implementation framework to assist local government, landholders and other agencies to manage future development impacts within the coastal landscape. This study, along with the Great Ocean Road Region Landscape Assessment Study 2004, provides the most comprehensive understanding of landscapes for any coastline in Australia, confirming the meaning and worth of these landscapes to the Victorian community. The study delivers on the actions and objectives established within the Victorian Coastal Strategy 2002 and the Coastal Management Act 1995 by providing an appropriate package of tools and information to manage and protect visually significant landscapes across the entire Victorian coastline. The important challenge now is to implement its findings so that Victoria’s coastal landscapes are there for future generations. i Contents Foreword ..........................................................................................................i Contents .........................................................................................................ii Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1. Landscape Character Types and Areas......................................... 6 Chapter 2. Significant Coastal Landscapes ................................................... 46 Chapter 3. Protecting & Managing the Character & Significance of Coastal Landscapes................................................................................... 86 Acknowledgments.......................................................................................... 94 ii Coastal Spaces Landscape Assessment Study [ State Overview Report ] Introduction Study Area The project brief identified indicative areas of 5 kilometres and 30 kilometres The Coastal Spaces Landscape Assessment Study was commissioned in inland as ‘reference points’ for the project. It also stated that the work should: December 2004 as part of the Coastal Spaces Initiative, led by the Department of Sustainability and Environment. The study focuses on the x not extend seaward from the coastline coastal areas of Gippsland (Bass Coast to the NSW border), the Bellarine x exclude the urban areas of settlements Peninsula and the coast west of Warrnambool to the South Australian border. x exclude national and state parks, as these are subject to separate The project identifies and maps individual landscape characteristics within management arrangements; detailed landscape management guidelines these coastal regions, identifies significant landscapes and provides an were not prepared for these areas, but they were assessed for their implementation framework to assist local government and other agencies in significance and attributed a significance level in the statewide context. managing development impacts within coastal landscapes. The study area boundaries were expected to vary for different parts of the The study is designed to implement the objectives of the Coastal Management coast according to topography, landscape features and views. The study brief Act 1995 and the Victorian Coastal Strategy 2002. This study complements required the study area boundaries to be further defined and justified. the landscape assessment work undertaken for the Great Ocean Road region In the early stages of the project, it was determined that the Landscape as part of the Great Ocean Road Region Landscape Assessment Study 2004. Assessment Study should cover all landscapes that are visible from the coast, and from which the coast is visible. In this context, ‘visible’ is taken to cover This Document established patterns of public viewing, as it is from this pattern that the landscape character of the coast is constructed and understood by the viewer. This document, Protection and Management of Victoria’s Coastal ‘Established patterns of public viewing’ occur from roads, townships and Landscapes: State Overview Report, is an ‘executive summary’ of the recreational locations across the entire study area. coastal landscape character types and significant coastal landscapes of Victoria. The report contains the key recommendations for protecting and Inland Extent of Field Survey managing these landscapes, including changes to the State Planning Policy The initial field survey for the study involved the determination of an inland Framework. boundary that encompassed all important patterns of public viewing. The The State Overview Report is one of four sets of documents that make up assessment of landscape character was conducted across all landscapes the Coastal Spaces Landscape Assessment Study. An outline of the full located between this inland boundary and the coastline. The boundary is contents of the study follows this introduction. therefore expressed throughout the study documentation as the ‘inland extent of field survey’. It encompasses an area that can be referred to as the ‘coastal landscape’, from the perspective of public viewing patterns, and has been used to guide the development of coastal landscape management guidelines 1 Coastal Spaces Landscape Assessment Study [ State Overview Report ] and provide a more focused area from which visual landscape significance to the Princes Highway, as that formed the study area for the Great Ocean could be assessed and mapped. Road Region Strategy 2004. Inland Extent of Desktop / Character Area Analysis National and State Parks In the assessment of landscape character types and areas, desktop analysis Assessment of overall significance has been undertaken across all study enabled the delineation of character areas to be extended inland beyond the areas, irrespective of land tenure (public or private). This was considered field survey boundary. important to inform a comparative level of assessment of significance from which to judge other landscapes. In summary, the following study areas have been defined for the three coastal regions: Given the relative legislative and management frameworks for Crown land management, for the purposes of this study, consideration of Planning SW Victoria Bellarine Peninsula Gippsland Region Scheme controls to strengthen protection of significance values on public land Length of coastline South Australian The entire Bellarine New South Wales was not considered necessary, as the core findings of this study are able to be state border to the Peninsula is within state border in the given effect within existing public land management responsibilities. western extent of the study area, with east to the Bass the Great Ocean the western Coast Shire Road region at boundary defined municipal boundary Great Ocean Road Region Landscape Warrnambool by a change in in the west character, the Assessment Study Inland extent of Approximately extent of the Approximately field survey / 6 km to 10 km Geelong urban 4 km to 10 km The Great Ocean Road Region Landscape Assessment Study was proposed local inland from the area, and the Great inland from the undertaken by Planisphere in 2003. The study was the first of its kind in policy coastline Ocean Road region coastline Victoria, if not Australia, and produced the methodology on which this study is Inland extent of Approximately study area Approximately based. Though the Coastal Spaces Landscape Assessment Study has built on desktop / character 20 km inland from boundary (west of 20 km inland from and refined some aspects of the methodology (e.g. the determination of levels area analysis the coastline Breamlea)