The State Government missed a chance to secure the old Holden Proving Ground for conservation.
By Neil Rankine
NEWS that a Chinese car company plans to buy the old Holden Proving Ground means the Government has missed its chance to secure a unique part of Victoria’s natural heritage.
This isn’t just any patch of land. The 900-hectare proving ground forms the central link in the Western Port Woodlands, a nationally significant stretch of coastal forest and the last functional forest left in Bass Coast.
If the site is cleared or fragmented, the woodland corridor will be effectively destroyed.
In late 2023, a coalition of 21 conservation and community groups wrote to Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos urging the State Government to buy the proving ground for conservation, a request backed by the Bunurong Land Council.
NEWS that a Chinese car company plans to buy the old Holden Proving Ground means the Government has missed its chance to secure a unique part of Victoria’s natural heritage.
This isn’t just any patch of land. The 900-hectare proving ground forms the central link in the Western Port Woodlands, a nationally significant stretch of coastal forest and the last functional forest left in Bass Coast.
If the site is cleared or fragmented, the woodland corridor will be effectively destroyed.
In late 2023, a coalition of 21 conservation and community groups wrote to Environment Minister Steve Dimopoulos urging the State Government to buy the proving ground for conservation, a request backed by the Bunurong Land Council.
The Lang Lang Proving Ground is the central link in the Western Port Woodlands, The entire site could have been purchased for around $25 million or just $8 million for the highest value eastern section. Small change compared with the tens of billions poured into extending Melbourne’s concrete sprawl.
Under Protecting Victoria's Environment – Biodiversity 2037, the government’s own strategy to halt biodiversity loss, the site could have been a haven for threatened species, education and cultural learning.
The Minister never replied to that letter, or follow-ups. Instead, seven months later, we got a bland official letter from the regional director of DEECA that didn’t even mention our request for the Government to buy the proving ground.
Since then, Trust for Nature has continued to press the case, emphasising that this site is both unique and irreplaceable.
Now we learn that Great Wall Motors wants to buy the proving ground to test and fine-tune vehicles for the Australian market.
Having dropped the ball, the State Government must act urgently to protect the site’s extraordinary ecological values under new ownership.
Locked behind a three-metre fence for almost 70 years, the proving ground has become a virtual ark of rare and threatened species once common in the region. Ecological surveys coordinated by Bass Coast Shire Council last year identified the largest known stand of the critically endangered Strzelecki gum, two threatened orchids, and the extremely rare Tea-tree Fingers fungus.
Under Protecting Victoria's Environment – Biodiversity 2037, the government’s own strategy to halt biodiversity loss, the site could have been a haven for threatened species, education and cultural learning.
The Minister never replied to that letter, or follow-ups. Instead, seven months later, we got a bland official letter from the regional director of DEECA that didn’t even mention our request for the Government to buy the proving ground.
Since then, Trust for Nature has continued to press the case, emphasising that this site is both unique and irreplaceable.
Now we learn that Great Wall Motors wants to buy the proving ground to test and fine-tune vehicles for the Australian market.
Having dropped the ball, the State Government must act urgently to protect the site’s extraordinary ecological values under new ownership.
Locked behind a three-metre fence for almost 70 years, the proving ground has become a virtual ark of rare and threatened species once common in the region. Ecological surveys coordinated by Bass Coast Shire Council last year identified the largest known stand of the critically endangered Strzelecki gum, two threatened orchids, and the extremely rare Tea-tree Fingers fungus.
Despite this significance, the area is still zoned for farming and listed in a sandmining interest area.
The Statement of Planning Policy for Bass Coast, approved this week by Planning Minister Sonia Kilkenny, recognises the Western Port Woodlands as an area of outstanding environmental significance and a distinctive attribute of Bass Coast.
Under the Planning and Environment Act 1987, the State Government is now legally obliged to protect and conserve this woodland.
Bass Coast Shire Council and Save Western Port Woodlands have both urged the Minister to introduce an interim Environmental Significance Overlay to protect it while further mapping and surveys are completed.
This would alert Great Wall Motors that protection of the proving ground’s ecological values must be part of any sale negotiations.
Save Western Port Woodlands has also written to the company to highlight the site’s environmental and community significance, and to urge it to protect the eastern section under a Trust for Nature conservation covenant.
The State Government has failed to grasp the opportunity. Now we have to hope that a foreign company will recognise what’s at stake and work with us to protect this extraordinary piece of Victoria’s natural heritage.
Neil Rankine is a member of Save Western Port Woodlands.
The Statement of Planning Policy for Bass Coast, approved this week by Planning Minister Sonia Kilkenny, recognises the Western Port Woodlands as an area of outstanding environmental significance and a distinctive attribute of Bass Coast.
Under the Planning and Environment Act 1987, the State Government is now legally obliged to protect and conserve this woodland.
Bass Coast Shire Council and Save Western Port Woodlands have both urged the Minister to introduce an interim Environmental Significance Overlay to protect it while further mapping and surveys are completed.
This would alert Great Wall Motors that protection of the proving ground’s ecological values must be part of any sale negotiations.
Save Western Port Woodlands has also written to the company to highlight the site’s environmental and community significance, and to urge it to protect the eastern section under a Trust for Nature conservation covenant.
The State Government has failed to grasp the opportunity. Now we have to hope that a foreign company will recognise what’s at stake and work with us to protect this extraordinary piece of Victoria’s natural heritage.
Neil Rankine is a member of Save Western Port Woodlands.