By Catherine Watson
I’VE HEARD so many good ideas lately. Some of them come from Post readers, some from radio conversations. With each one, I’ve thought “We could do that here!” These days I have to write things down quickly before I forget them so here goes. Feel free to add your own.
I’VE HEARD so many good ideas lately. Some of them come from Post readers, some from radio conversations. With each one, I’ve thought “We could do that here!” These days I have to write things down quickly before I forget them so here goes. Feel free to add your own.

Using heat from old mines
David Taylor wrote to the Post recently to ask why we couldn’t use heat exchangers in the old mines to heat Wonthaggi homes.
“Wonthaggi black coal dug by hand through a labyrinth of shafts and tunnels powered the state’s trains for many years. With the closure of the last coal mine in Wonthaggi came the end of the town’s boom.
“These same disused mines could now power our homes using the earth’s heat. There could be heat exchangers placed into the mines similar to what we use for our reverse cycle heaters. There is also the option to heat the town’s larger buildings and even spawn a greenhouse industry with cheap heating and a guaranteed supply of water from the desalination plant. It seems a shame not to use the resource our miners left for us.”
A bit of internet research showed that David might be on to something. Last year the Guardian newspaper reported that British Geological Survey scientists are undertaking a £9 million investigation to determine whether disused coal mines underneath Glasgow could be used to warm homes.
Heating homes and glasshouses is a good start. While we’re at it, how about a heated swimming pool and hot mineral baths?
David Taylor wrote to the Post recently to ask why we couldn’t use heat exchangers in the old mines to heat Wonthaggi homes.
“Wonthaggi black coal dug by hand through a labyrinth of shafts and tunnels powered the state’s trains for many years. With the closure of the last coal mine in Wonthaggi came the end of the town’s boom.
“These same disused mines could now power our homes using the earth’s heat. There could be heat exchangers placed into the mines similar to what we use for our reverse cycle heaters. There is also the option to heat the town’s larger buildings and even spawn a greenhouse industry with cheap heating and a guaranteed supply of water from the desalination plant. It seems a shame not to use the resource our miners left for us.”
A bit of internet research showed that David might be on to something. Last year the Guardian newspaper reported that British Geological Survey scientists are undertaking a £9 million investigation to determine whether disused coal mines underneath Glasgow could be used to warm homes.
Heating homes and glasshouses is a good start. While we’re at it, how about a heated swimming pool and hot mineral baths?
A smart community
This one comes from Maddy Harford, president of the Bass Coast Adult Learning Centre. Maddy is concerned that Bass Coast is putting too many eggs in too few job baskets, ie. tourism and construction.
She proposes that, with a little imagination from the council, our shire is also ideally placed to become a centre of knowledge work.
“I’m talking about the kind of work that doesn’t involve muscle or trade skills. That covers a whole range of employment types and services that people can do as micro businesses or sole traders. With the internet now people can develop products and ideas in their own homes.
“The council needs to encourage it with a little bit of infrastructure in terms of the physical space, perhaps a few business incubators where people are provided with some working space and a degree of support. We also need programs and policy positions that encourage that kind of work and encourage a migration of brain power from out of the city
“The idea of Bass Coast as a knowledge centre aligns really well with Plan Melbourne which has identified Wonthaggi as a kind of overflow to try and relieve congestion in Melbourne. It also aligns with the council plan which articulates A Village in a Technology World as one of its goals
“Bass Coast offers a beautiful environment in which to settle and work and have a family and still be in touch with the rest of the world and quite close to a major centre in Melbourne.
This one comes from Maddy Harford, president of the Bass Coast Adult Learning Centre. Maddy is concerned that Bass Coast is putting too many eggs in too few job baskets, ie. tourism and construction.
She proposes that, with a little imagination from the council, our shire is also ideally placed to become a centre of knowledge work.
“I’m talking about the kind of work that doesn’t involve muscle or trade skills. That covers a whole range of employment types and services that people can do as micro businesses or sole traders. With the internet now people can develop products and ideas in their own homes.
“The council needs to encourage it with a little bit of infrastructure in terms of the physical space, perhaps a few business incubators where people are provided with some working space and a degree of support. We also need programs and policy positions that encourage that kind of work and encourage a migration of brain power from out of the city
“The idea of Bass Coast as a knowledge centre aligns really well with Plan Melbourne which has identified Wonthaggi as a kind of overflow to try and relieve congestion in Melbourne. It also aligns with the council plan which articulates A Village in a Technology World as one of its goals
“Bass Coast offers a beautiful environment in which to settle and work and have a family and still be in touch with the rest of the world and quite close to a major centre in Melbourne.

Wonthaggi Botanical Gardens
This one is from Wendy Crellin, a former Wonthaggi Shire councillor and a leading light in Wonthaggi’s arts community. She is president of the Rescue Station Arts Centre.
In the early 1970s, Wendy recalls, the town was seeking a new identity after the closure of the State Coal Mine. The Lions Club approached the architecture firm of Sir Roy Grounds – lead architect of the National Gallery of Victoria and Arts Centre – to design a botanical garden in the area around the Number 5 Shaft, on the south-western side of town
The firm did come up with a plan, which included a miniature railway, but nothing came of it. Wendy believes a misunderstanding over fees put a dampener on the project.
The area around the Number 5 Shaft is now a historic reserve, dotted with massive rusting machinery from the mines. The remains of the old brace, now being slowly demolished by wind and rain, make a fantastic backdrop to this area which is adjacent to the old railway line and some impressive remnant vegetation, including massive stands of ancient grass trees.
The botanical gardens plan has been exhibited over the years as a historical curiosity. Almost 50 years later, is it time to revisit the idea?
This one is from Wendy Crellin, a former Wonthaggi Shire councillor and a leading light in Wonthaggi’s arts community. She is president of the Rescue Station Arts Centre.
In the early 1970s, Wendy recalls, the town was seeking a new identity after the closure of the State Coal Mine. The Lions Club approached the architecture firm of Sir Roy Grounds – lead architect of the National Gallery of Victoria and Arts Centre – to design a botanical garden in the area around the Number 5 Shaft, on the south-western side of town
The firm did come up with a plan, which included a miniature railway, but nothing came of it. Wendy believes a misunderstanding over fees put a dampener on the project.
The area around the Number 5 Shaft is now a historic reserve, dotted with massive rusting machinery from the mines. The remains of the old brace, now being slowly demolished by wind and rain, make a fantastic backdrop to this area which is adjacent to the old railway line and some impressive remnant vegetation, including massive stands of ancient grass trees.
The botanical gardens plan has been exhibited over the years as a historical curiosity. Almost 50 years later, is it time to revisit the idea?

Rural villages
Radio National’s Country Breakfast recently reported on Rivers Road Organic Farms, a strata title model of organic farming.
The 140-hectare farm, in Canowindra, NSW, is home to 22 people on a dozen plots growing wine grapes, sheep, figs, and olives. Each producer owns their piece of land and their own home, but they share equipment and knowledge and interact in ways that are mutually beneficial. For instance, the sheep graze the grass in the vineyard, providing fertiliser as they go, and the vineyard provides the sheep with nutrition and shelter during cold snaps.
Perhaps most importantly, the “rural village” provides the farmers with social support. There is always someone to talk to and discuss their ideas and problems, farming related and otherwise.
It made me think that while councils including our own go to great efforts to prevent rural land from being broken up, perhaps we’re moving in the wrong direction and we should be aiming for closer settlement.
Until the 1960s an ordinary dairy farm was 100 acres (40 hectares) and our rural areas were much more populated, hence the need for schools, halls, shops and factories at regular intervals across the countryside.
The most obvious place for rural villages is Phillip Island. Imagine the marginal farmland broken up for intensive horticulture enterprises. Instead of running a few sheep or cattle, how about families growing high value crops like berries, herbs, lettuces, olives, grapes, tamarillos, avocados and other fruits? The explosion in farmers markets and access to recycled water from Westernport Water make it possible.
More intensive settlement could be permitted on condition of mass replanting around the villages, helping to achieve the council’s revegetation target.
If you’ve heard a good idea that we could use locally, add your comment.
Radio National’s Country Breakfast recently reported on Rivers Road Organic Farms, a strata title model of organic farming.
The 140-hectare farm, in Canowindra, NSW, is home to 22 people on a dozen plots growing wine grapes, sheep, figs, and olives. Each producer owns their piece of land and their own home, but they share equipment and knowledge and interact in ways that are mutually beneficial. For instance, the sheep graze the grass in the vineyard, providing fertiliser as they go, and the vineyard provides the sheep with nutrition and shelter during cold snaps.
Perhaps most importantly, the “rural village” provides the farmers with social support. There is always someone to talk to and discuss their ideas and problems, farming related and otherwise.
It made me think that while councils including our own go to great efforts to prevent rural land from being broken up, perhaps we’re moving in the wrong direction and we should be aiming for closer settlement.
Until the 1960s an ordinary dairy farm was 100 acres (40 hectares) and our rural areas were much more populated, hence the need for schools, halls, shops and factories at regular intervals across the countryside.
The most obvious place for rural villages is Phillip Island. Imagine the marginal farmland broken up for intensive horticulture enterprises. Instead of running a few sheep or cattle, how about families growing high value crops like berries, herbs, lettuces, olives, grapes, tamarillos, avocados and other fruits? The explosion in farmers markets and access to recycled water from Westernport Water make it possible.
More intensive settlement could be permitted on condition of mass replanting around the villages, helping to achieve the council’s revegetation target.
If you’ve heard a good idea that we could use locally, add your comment.