Thursday, 18 May 2023

Kyneton heritage woodshed

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (09:41): On Tuesday this week members of the Kyneton and District Town Square Co-op travelled to Parliament to hand me a petition with over 1500 signatures that opposes the Andrews government’s plan to demolish a culturally significant heritage bluestone woodshed that is part of the old Kyneton Primary School site. The redevelopment of the old Kyneton Primary School site is a project managed jointly by Creative Victoria, Development Victoria and Working Heritage. This project was a hot subject prior to the 2018 state election, and the Liberal Party backed the community to ensure the site was retained and community managed. Following the Liberals commitment, Labor asked the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning to conduct a community consultation, which found that the community wanted the site kept for community use with gallery space and areas for community groups. However, the community now feel their wishes are being ignored by the Andrews Labor government and fear that the demolition of the culturally significant heritage bluestone woodshed is imminent.

The debate about this historic, culturally significant building has been going on since the 1980s. Many residents in the community of Kyneton are appalled that the government has once again raised the prospect of demolishing it. Unfortunately, the petition could not be tabled, due to a wording error, but the intention is clear. The community want the culturally significant heritage bluestone woodshed preserved as part of the site for future generations. I have personally delivered the original petition to the office of the minister responsible for Creative Victoria and a copy of the petition to the minister responsible for Development Victoria, and I call on both ministers to stop the demolition and preserve this culturally significant building.