‘Apathy will let an opportunity go’: Narrowing in on Dhurringile site’s future

Dhurringile Revitalisation Committee chair Sherri Smith-Hoyer opened a community meeting on Thursday, March 20, with an acknowledgement of country before launching into proceedings.

The Dhurringile prison closure was announced by the Victorian Government on June 24, last year.

The revitalisation committee was formed shortly after and hosted its first community meeting on August 9, where more than 100 people attended to offer future use suggestions that might retain the estimated $25 million economic loss the closure would cause.

The committee set to work exploring the ideas put forward.

“What we came together for was to ensure that we bring an economic benefit back to our region, so we’ve been working hard at identifying finding those solutions that bring that $25 million back to our economy,” Mrs Smith-Hoyer said.

She went on to outline why the committee hadn’t deemed many of the suggestions viable solutions, starting with an agricultural education facility being unsuitable because of the site’s proximity to Dookie and Bendigo, and having no public transport or government money, “which is critical for this”, along with little interest from the Victorian Department of Education.

The idea of a drug and alcohol facility was also pushed aside due to there being services available in Shepparton and the facility having been originally opened as a drug and alcohol facility before morphing into a prison.

The committee determined the site was too open to properly protect domestic violence victims if it were to become a refuge, and that a youth justice facility was an unpopular suggestion within the community.

The committee met with Victorian Corrections Minister Enver Erdogan on August 24, who indicated he wanted to see a community solution.

Mrs Smith-Hoyer said she had been working personally to engage hotel chains.

“I had a very good conversation with RACV, who really want to keep an eye on where this is going,” she said.

“Depending on some of the outcomes in the next couple of months, they might be interested.”

Murchison Historical Society president Kay Ball outlined the history of the property and mansion, before Department of Justice and Community Safety general manager Nick Selisky responded to an audience question that it was unlikely there would be further open days hosted by the Victorian Government.

“It was a big day to put the tours on and it cost the department a lot of money,” he said.

“We wished we could’ve made it bigger. It was absolutely fantastic to see 450 members of the community there, but at this stage, there’s no further planned and I do apologise for that.

“We’d love to throw the doors open, but through this process, we hope the whole community gets to enjoy the mansion and surrounds in the future.”

After investigating these options, the committee is now focusing on tourism, accommodation and equestrian activities, with Mrs Hoyer-Smith reporting that it found the latter the answer to solving the $25 million loss to the community’s economy.

“Everything else we’ve looked at hasn’t come close to being able to return that,” she said.

She said the committe members had found the suggestion complemented many key council plans, including the 2030 Strategic Plan (Economic Development), Economic Development Tourism and Major Events Strategy, Heritage Strategy, Great Things Happen Here Regional Development Strategy, Sport 2050 Plan (Future Demand for Sport), Asset Plan and Financial Plan.

“We’ve got very willing equestrian groups wanting to find a central home and to have upgraded facilities that they currently don’t have, and this could be that solution,” Mrs Hoyer-Smith said.

Destination Goulburn Valley chair Eugenie Stragalinos took to the microphone to share statistics and figures on tourism in Victoria and how the region could get “a share of the pie” by converting the Dhurringile site to a tourist destination.

“You’re looking a potentially $530 million spend going into our local communities as a result of tourism dollars,” she said.

“Visitors come to the region for a number of different reasons and there’s lots of different segments that visit us; they come for holidays, they come for visiting family and friends, they come for business, they come for study. The opportunities are endless.”

She added that other tourist attractions in the area, including the Murchison meteorite, Italian Ossario, Thornbridge and Days Mill, bolstered the vision of the historical tourism draw for Dhurringile.

Ms Stragalinos also highlighted that spending secondary to the accommodation costs at other museums, attractions and venues was also attractive to the region.

Tallygaroopna dairy farmer and horse enthusiast Natalie Akers represented the equestrian community at the meeting.

She said the committee had spoken to several involved in the sector, including Northern Victorian Show Jumping Club, Goulburn Valley Show Jumping Club, Goulburn Valley Equine Centre, cutting, campdrafting, reining, Western, polocrosse, showing, eventing, Pony Club, Standardbred Riding Group, polo and Nutrien Equine, and that all had expressed interest if the amenities they required could be provided.

“This committee is just about trying to set up the vision; what do we want, what is our ideal goal?” she said.

“And then we go about setting and answering that question (’How will you pay for it?’), and I accept that there are certainly challenges associated with that.”

She went on to say that if the vision came to life, Dhurringile could be the only place in Victoria and southern NSW equipped to host cattle events, with other Victorian venues too small to handle them.

“Tamworth (Australian Equine and Livestock Events Centre) is probably our most interesting, comparable site,” she said.

“It is run by local government, it was created 20 years ago, council at the time invested $20 million in the site with $5 million from state and federal government and it’s now valued at $60 million.”

She said the site attracted 7000 competitors a year, including 9000 horses and 16,000 cattle, and that it generated $17 million for Tamworth’s economy.

“This site, if we got it right, has the potential to attract that sort of revenue for our region,” Mrs Akers said.

Leading Australian equine architect Tim Court, who designed AELEC, has been briefed and, if hired, would meet with equestrian groups to understand requirements, review how the existing buildings could be repurposed and design a potential layout of site and buildings for an estimated cost of $40,000.

Council director of sustainable development Geraldine Christou explained the first right of refusal process to the audience.

She said as soon as the closure was announced last year, council started working with the Department of Justice and Community Services to determine the site’s future.

Ms Christou said the first right of refusal offer was open to government entities.

Once the Victorian Government declares that the land is surplus to its needs, it then becomes available to lower levels of government.

The cut-off date for the first right of refusal was February 14.

“Knowing that council and the community is so concerned about the future of the site and wanting to really be in a position to potentially influence that, we sought an extension to that timeframe for council to submit an expression of interest,” Ms Christou said.

An extension until April 18 has been granted.

She said council had engaged a consultant to ascertain whether each of the opportunities presented fitted and what the constraints, costs and economic and social benefits of each would be.

“We understand there are other expressions of interest that have been entered during this time,” Ms Christou said.

“It is also important to know there is a significant condition during the first right of refusal process; the site needs to remain for community use and it can’t be for any commercial profit.”

If no purchase is made during the first right of refusal period, the site will then be offered for public sale and that condition no longer applies.

Ms Christou said the Victorian Government had communicated a $2.5 million sale figure for government entities, but stressed it would not necessarily be sold to the highest bidder if there were multiple applications.

She said it was up to the government to determine which offer it would accept after taking into account the proposed use of the site or where the several expressions of interest came from.

Council is looking to make its decision by April 15 to present to the government by April 18.

The committee members fielded questions from the audience surrounding funding and maintenance, all of which they promised to address once the site’s future use was decided.

Mr Selisky said the Department of Transport and Planning was responsible for the sale or moving the property on to another government entity, but the Department of Justice remained the current landholder.

“The government has made decisions. This is about looking forward,” he said.

“Apathy will let an opportunity go.”

He said the government had divested several assets to community groups worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“That stuff’s unheard of. I’ve been in government for a long time and usually the skip bins come,” Mr Selisky said.

“We’ve absolutely recognised the impact it’s had to the community. It’s heartbreaking, but it gives us great pleasure being able to give back to local community.”

Mr Selisky has 10 staff who remain working at the facility to maintain it and provide round-the-clock security.

He spoke of HM Prison Beechworth’s journey since its closure and how it has been transformed to a social enterprise where tours take place and office space is rented by a variety of tenants, such as a solicitor.

He also said an online clearing sale of equipment and machinery would be held in the coming weeks.

A member of the audience questioned Mr Selisky about recent public commentary suggesting Dhurringile might have been closed prematurely now bail laws had been reformed.

“Since the bail laws were changed, there’s been no change in the position of government in changing the outcomes for Dhurringile,” he said.

“The government’s position hasn’t changed. Dhurringile’s position hasn’t changed.”

The revitalisation committee is now looking to become incorporated and open a bank account, which has attracted its first donation of $1000 from Andrew Furphy.

The committee will again meet with Mr Erdogan on April 1.