Goldfields bid 'on home straight'

Along with City of Greater Bendigo, the City of Ballarat council has been a key driver in the state's bid for a UNESCO World Heritage nod, according to an expert in the space.

Barry Gamble has spent decades around the world developing bids for heritage mining spots and said the Victorian Goldfields were an "unparalleled" example.

He said to gain a World Heritage stamp, it has to be "the best of the best".

"This has to be something special," Mr Gamble said.

"It's the top heritage accolade you can achieve."

From Ballarat to Bendigo, across the west to the Grampians, as well as two satellite spaces in north-east Victoria and Gippsland - there was no other place in the world with the preserved evidence of the time's technology like what Victorian Goldfields have, he explained.

Mr Gamble has visited multiple mining sites across the globe, including in California. He said the mines in California were famous but didn't compare in quality to Victoria.

"California does not have the range of sites that illustrate the technology," he said.

The California gold mines could be operated by corporations and had access to water to sluice, whereas the mines in Victoria remained Crown land and were never sluiced because of the lack of water supply.

Ballarat was a particular example of a "glittering golden" city, now still a thriving, growing city of more than 100,000 people.

"The role of Ballarat and Bendigo, alongside all the other (councils), has been pivotal in keeping the momentum, sustaining the momentum, and generating the sheer amount of information that's needed," Mr Gamble said of the role Ballarat has played.

"The information that's been assembled in getting us to where we are is enormous - it's more than I've ever experienced on any nomination at this stage of the game, and Ballarat and Bendigo have been instrumental in providing those resources."

Mr Gamble said the Victorian gold rush was not only a technological movement, including a trigger for railways and social infrastructure - it was also a cultural movement, with multicultural sites as the gold rush drew in people from across the world seeking their fortune.

"No other gold rushes in the world came close to Victoria," he said.

Mr Gamble spoke about the first cultural layer, which was working with First Nations people, adding he said he had met with Djaara and Dja Dja Wurrung clans, and remained in discussions with them.

Mr Gamble said he was amazed by the level of work that has gone into the bid and the push from the local government.

The state budget contained $3.8 million in 2023 to progress two World Heritage projects, including the Goldfields bid.

Mr Gamble said from his point of view, the bid was now "on the home straight".

"The position we are in right now is the indication the state puts forward to the Commonwealth government and the Commonwealth government puts forward to UNESCO called the Tentative List," he said.

The first time the Goldfields bid was proposed was more than 30 years ago in 1986, with the bid gaining serious traction in 2019 when 13 local governments signed a memorandum of understanding to contribute funding and help progress the bid.

Mr Gamble said the scope of the bid, now encompassing the two sites on the southern side of Victoria, was a part of the length of the work and also community consultation.

"It's quite easy with one building, but you just think how much it is we're talking about - the historical centres, cities, townships we're talking about in a cultural landscape, we're talking about big chunks of landscapes with a lot of people in them," he said.

Mr Gamble said there were also many stakeholders involved like residents, land owners, Parks Victoria and more. "The consultation has to be with all those authorities and they become stakeholders in the bid."

Mr Gamble said the selection of the right spaces was vital to the success of the bid.

"That's a huge task and not only does it take time, but it should take time," he said.

"It's very complex."

The World Heritage inscription could be as early as February 1, 2026, as a bid must be on the Tentative List for at least 12 months. "This bid has been a long time in the making," Mr Gamble said.

However, the slot to go to UNESCO for nomination to go on the Tentative List has to be given to the bid by the Commonwealth government.

All nominations need to be in by February 1, so a nomination could be made for the Tentative list by February 1, 2025.

Cr Hudson said a World Heritage inscription would not impact council's day-to-day business, like planning.

"It wouldn't necessarily because we have our heritage overlays we already have in place in the parts of our heritage precincts we have identified," he said.

"I don't see the UNESCO World Heritage listing changing the way we do business day-to-day, this is about recognising an entire area and telling the story of what the goldfields delivered for Victoria and what role we played in terms of the goldfields - not only just about gold, but the story of Eureka, as well as some of the extra stories that will shine a light on Ballarat."

Mr Gamble said a World Heritage site was about community, people of the past and present.

"When a site is designated, our responsibility is to conserve, to take care of but also to make use of it," he said. "It brings pride, but it also brings socioeconomic benefit."

An example Mr Gamble gave was for the Cornwall site he worked on, which was listed in 2006 and had £100 million ($195 million) in grants over 10 years.

"Thirty per cent of that went to conservation and the other 70 per cent went to tourism infrastructure, community infrastructure, visitor access, visitor facilities, even private businesses were eligible for that support," he said.