One selfless volunteer has been recognised for his hard work to improve the Ballarat East Town Hall Gardens with a tree planted in his honour.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Bob Carmichael has been volunteering for about four years in the gardens after he noticed that ivy was choking some of the trees.
Since then, Mr Carmichael has volunteered more than 150 hours of his own time getting the gardens back up to scratch.
With support from BGT and the Department of Education which are responsible for the site next to Barkly Square, Mr Carmichael's efforts have been able to expand.
With his interest in the history of the area, Mr Carmichael said he just wanted to see the garden back in its former state.
"Mainly because it needs attention, it's a beautiful area, underutilised; we should be able to use it a bit better than what it is now," he said.
"We've got people coming in having picnics over in the grass because the grass has been cut nicely and it's really good. A lot of people go through it every day.
"There's been a woman helping me clean out some of it and we were just working here the other day and a bloke was walking past and he said, 'I've got an hour to kill, I'll give you a hand'.
"So it's going to go from strength-to-strength, I think, as people see what can be achieved."
The site is one of historical significance to Ballarat, starting life as a mining area before being developed with a town hall, courthouse and fire station.
Ballarat mayor Daniel Moloney said while the COVID-19 pandemic has seen a reduction in volunteering, Mr Carmichael's efforts showed volunteers were still keen to help their community.
"Hopefully, Bob's work is a beacon to get others to come back to their community groups, to their sports clubs and to even just help out around the community again as we have in the past," he said. "We know people are eager to do it and Bob's work shows that people are eager to do it - it's just that there have been COVID restrictions in the past that just made it hard-to-impossible.
"It also shows that you can either get upset at seeing some mess or you can pick up a bit of litter yourself and, likewise, if you see some ivy and other things overgrowing, you can do something about it."
Mr Carmichael said his work was not finished, with a never-ending list of jobs to do.
"It's coming up well and I'll get right around to do the whole lot and we'll see how we go from there," he said.
"Once I get the ivy under control, I can more or less spray as it pops up again, so it's going to be an ongoing thing."
If you are seeing this message you are a loyal digital subscriber to The Courier, as we made this story available only to subscribers. Thank you very much for your support and allowing us to continue telling Ballarat's story. We appreciate your support of journalism in our great city.