General News
8 February, 2025
Golden nugget towns strike heritage rush
By CHRIS EARL PARTS of central Victoria’s historic golden triangle could have UNESCO World Heritage listing within three years. Areas around Tarnagulla, Moliagul and Dunolly will be mapped over the next 12 months as part of the Victorian...
By CHRIS EARL
PARTS of central Victoria’s historic golden triangle could have UNESCO World Heritage listing within three years.
Areas around Tarnagulla, Moliagul and Dunolly will be mapped over the next 12 months as part of the Victorian Goldfields World Heritage Bid by Loddon Shire and 14 other councils.
The Federal and State Governments last Friday announced six sites on their tentative list.
Dubbed the Great Nuggets Historic Landscape, bid leaders say the local diggings yielded the greatest concentration of the largest gold nuggets the world had ever known.
The world’s largest nugget, the Welcome Stranger, was found at Moliagul by John Deason and Richard Oates in 1869.
City of Greater Bendigo’s world heritage strategic project officer Trevor Budge said: “The broader component areas have to be defined - while some preliminary mapping has been developed, the detailed task for the next year - extensive consultation with councils, various public authorities, private owners only if they support inclusion - will be undertaken as part of an extensive engagement program.
“The way tentative listing works is that there is one longitude/latitude for each of the six sites in the list, eg the Bendigo site is the former post office, the great nuggets site is the Welcome Stranger monument. This indicates that the nominated site is located in an area or collection of areas that represent this element - the proposal at the moment is to recognise the wider historical context.“
The nuggets landscape stretches across Loddon and Central Goldfields Shires.
Premier Jacinta Allan and federal Environment and Water Minister Tanya Plibersek told Friday’s announcement attended by Bendigo and Ballarat mayors that World Heritage listing would boost interest and visitation to the area.
Ms Allan said there would be no change to land access and use. Mr Budge said the bid nomination preserved access and miner’s licences.
Mr Budge said Prospectors’ and Miners’ Association of Victoria had been consulted and there was potential for more gold detecting tours in the region if the bid succeeded.
Ms Plibersek said: “Australia is home to some of the most spectacular places in the world. These places tell our unique story. We want to better protect those places so they can be enjoyed by our kids and grandkids. International recognition protects our heritage and attracts visitors from all over the world.”.
She said the UNESCO heritage-listed Sydney Opera House was already a key destination for tourism.
According to Ms Allan: “World Heritage sites are on bucket lists of tourists worldwide, and our historic Goldfields are on their way to be right there among them – helping to draw in more visitors from all corners of the globe and inject millions into our regional economies.”
They tipped another 2.2 million visitors to Victoria within a decade if the bid is successful. Loddon tourism operators at the weekend kept a lid on comments about the bid’s potential. “There’s still a long way to go ... we might make the final list,” one said.
The tentative list also includes Bendigo historic urban landscape, Castlemaine goldfields and historic townships, Creswick and the deep lead landscape, Mt Franklin and the Walhalla alpine mining landscape.