Mount Alexander Shire Council Local Community Planning Project Community Profile Harcourt 3453 1 INTRODUCTION Mount Alexander Shire Council has been funded over three years until May 2014, through the State Government’s Department of Planning and Community Development, to undertake the Mount Alexander Shire Local Community Planning Project (LCPP). The project aims to support local community engagement across the Shire to enable communities to articulate their needs and aspirations through the development of local community-based Action Plans. In September 2011, Council announced that Harcourt would be one of three townships to participate in the first round of planning. This document has been formulated to provide some background information about Harcourt and a starting point for discussion. ABOUT MOUNT ALEXANDER SHIRE The original inhabitants of the Mount Alexander area were the Jaara Jaara Aboriginal people. European settlement dates from the late 1830s, with land used mainly for pastoral purposes, particularly sheep grazing. Population was minimal until the 1850s, spurred by gold mining from 1851, the construction of the railway line, and the establishment of several townships. Rapid growth took place into the late 1800s before declining as gold supplies waned and mines were closed. Relatively stable between the 1950’s and the 1980’s, the population increased from about 12,700 in 1981 to 16,600 in 2006. The preliminary Estimated Resident Population for 2010 is 18,421 1. Mount Alexander Shire (MAS, the Shire) forms part of the Loddon Mallee Region (the Region), which encompasses ten municipalities and covers nearly 59,000km2 in size, or approximately 26 percent of the land area of the State of Victoria. The Shire is approximately 1,530km2 in size and comprises several small towns and communities of national historic and environmental significance. The population of the Shire is quite centralised, with approximately two thirds of the population living in the greater Castlemaine area, including the townships of Chewton, Campbells Creek and Barkers Creek. Other primary townships include Newstead, Maldon, Taradale and Harcourt. Formed in 1995 from the merger of the City of Castlemaine, Shire of Newstead, most of the Shire of Maldon and Shire of Metcalfe, Mount Alexander is divided into five wards: Calder Ward, Castlemaine Ward, Coliban Ward, Loddon Ward and Tarrengower Ward. Castlemaine Ward has three councillors while the other wards are represented by one councillor each. 1 Estimated Resident Population – Mount Alexander Shire, Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 2011 2 Figure One: Map of Mount Alexander Shire Figure Two: Map of Harcourt 3 ABOUT HARCOURT HISTORY The rural township of Harcourt is located 30 kilometres south of Bendigo and nine kilometres north of Castlemaine in the municipality of Mount Alexander. The rich granite soils, climate and terrain of the Harcourt region enable the production of many agricultural and horticultural crops. The first apple orchard was planted in 1859 and the region is now one of Australia’s pre-eminent eating and cider apple and pear producing areas. Home to a growing wine industry, Harcourt boasts a number of vineyards producing varieties including Shiraz, Cabernet Savignon, Pinot, Reisling, Chardonnay and Viognier wines. Over forty producers and retailers have combined under the ‘Taste for Gold’ banner to collectively promote the food and wine attractions and produce of the region. Through federal and state government funding, progressive upgrades and realignment of the Calder Freeway began in 2005. In April 2009 the Harcourt bypass section of the project was opened creating an estimated daily reduction of 9,000 vehicle movements through the town and effectively bisecting its centre. The community took a pro-active and collective approach to considering the impacts and opportunities that this major infrastructure project presented, with a focus on economic prosperity and vitality. The community identified the need to develop a strategic action plan, which they named Harcourt After the Bypass . It was decided to focus on the following key elements: • A Place to Live: strengthening the local economy through residential growth and associated growth of facilities and services • The Town Centre: creating an attractive and vibrant community space; and • Tourism: making Harcourt a destination of choice. DEMOGRAPHICS Harcourt is home to an immediate population of 439 people (160 households). This is projected to increase to 1100 residents (500 households) by 2021 though it should be noted that the present rate of dwelling construction activity does not support this increase. 2 Attainment of these kinds of new dwellings would require considerable changes to zoning and release of land to accommodate this. Current migration trends indicate that almost 18% of the population arrived within the past five years, 66% have lived in Harcourt for more than five years, and the remaining 16%, all of their 2 SED Consulting Mount Alexander Shire Council Harcourt: After the Bypass, p16 4 lives. Only a small proportion of the population of Harcourt was born outside Australia (4.5%), and of those people all are proficient in English. Compared to the rest of the Shire, Harcourt’s population is slightly younger than average which points to a trend toward moving away for better services in old age – (13.6% of Harcourt’s adults are aged 65-84 as compared to 16% for MAS and 14% for Regional Victoria). Correspondingly, school attendance shows a slightly higher percentage of the population attending primary school and secondary school with marginally higher figures than MAS for tertiary attendance. Harcourt Valley Primary School currently has 84 students on the roll. An injection of 1.8 million dollars by Federal Government in 2009 saw old relocatable buildings replaced with state of the art facilities. The Harcourt and District Playgroup, run by the Uniting Church meets on a weekly basis and the Harcourt Pre-School Play Centre provides 3 & 4 year- old kinder services. Compared to the rest of the Shire, Harcourt is home to a lesser number of one-parent families and a significantly greater number of couples with children – 48.8% in comparison to 38.7% in MAS. In terms of Faith, 50% of the population describe themselves as Christian (compared to 68% in Regional Vic), 1.4% as Non-Christian, and 32% as having no religion. ECONOMICS Hundreds of hectares of apple orchards cover the Harcourt Valley with approximately 20 orchards producing 40 percent of Victoria's apples. There are currently 28 local businesses operating in the area and in addition to the aforementioned apple, pear and wine production, the area’s fertile soil supports the cultivation of other products including cherries, raspberries, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, olives and goats cheeses. All have been impacted by the continuing drought and climate change conditions. Harcourt also produces high quality granite that has been used for significant buildings and structures across Australia. Harcourt Post Office Tourist attractions in the area include the Heritage Centre, Skydancers Orchid and Butterfly Gardens, a range of vineyards and cideries and the Mount Alexander Regional Park. 5 Harcourt scores 1014 on the SEIFA index of disadvantage meaning that it has a relatively low level of disadvantage - the benchmark score being 1000. By comparison, Mount Alexander Shire scores 981 on the index. 38.2% of households in Harcourt earn over $1000 per week and 14.5% earn less than $350 per week (as compared to 17.6% in Regional Victoria). Unemployment in Harcourt is on a par with MAS at around 6.5% but higher than Regional Vic’s unemployment rate of 5.6%. Of those in employment the great majority work in Castlemaine or Bendigo. Rental accommodation accounts for 13.6% of the housing market as compared to 22.4% for Regional Victoria. Housing in Harcourt is either fully owned (35.2%) or being purchased with the aid of a mortgage (41.4%). These figures are consistent with the perceived trend towards new arrivals and/or the need to remortgage. COMMUNITY LIFE AND LEISURE Leisure Harcourt residents report enjoying having friends and family to stay, eating out/going to the pub and attending markets, festivals, theatre and the cinema. They also have a high level of interest in volunteering. Of particular importance to the town is the Harcourt Applefest, which takes place every Labour Day long weekend in March. The festival features a Saturday market with an emphasis on apples. Entertainment is provided, including the Harcourt Idol competition, apple pie baking competition, apple pie eating competition, street parade, and a premier event on the Saturday night. A fun run and pet parade and Harcourt’s famous ferret races also feature on the program. Castlemaine and Bendigo are the preferred destinations for bulk shopping, with ‘top-up’ shopping carried out locally. Transport Castlemaine Bus Lines currently operates a return weekday only service from Harcourt to Castlemaine departing Harcourt at 8.55am, 12.10pm and 2.25pm. 6 Community Life Harcourt does not have a community newsletter. In lieu of this The Harcourt Valley Community Website (www.harcourt.vic.au) was established at the beginning of 2010 as a resource and business directory for the communities of the Harcourt Valley but is not regularly updated. However, the community has since embraced social media by establishing an Applefest Facebook profile, currently supported by over 500 people. As a consequence of Harcourt’s active community, in 2009 the Harcourt 2020 group emerged from Harcourt: after the bypass. Initially, a number of meetings were held that were open to any interested members of the community, businesses, organisations or just people who were interested in the future of Harcourt following the opening of the Calder bypass. In mid 2010 following the presentation of a report to Mount Alexander Shire Council, Harcourt 2020 disbanded in favour of the Council Advisory/Reference Group Harcourt After the Bypass which meets four times a year, two meetings being closed and two being open to the public.