Museum work approved

By Melissa Donchi
THE Shire of Yarra Ranges has approved a controversial application to redevelop the Museum of Lillydale by partially demolishing a 118-year-old heritage-listed building.
The reconstruction of the late 19th century shire office to build a two-storey extension to the museum has been met with a mixed response from the community after it was revealed a historically significant staircase and a number of trees would be destroyed.
While some in the community have backed the project for more than 12 years and raised $400,000 to fund it, others believe there should have been more effort made to conserve the past.
The application was deliberated over for more than an hour at a council meeting last week.
Councillors Monika Keane, Jeanette McRae, Samantha Dunn and Noel Cliff said they strongly supported the project but objected to certain aspects of the application which involved demolishing a staircase and removing trees.
They were eventually overruled by other councillors and mayor Tim Heenan who cast his vote in favour of the application.
There was some debate over what role the council should play in community issues, in particular whether they should be leading the charge or listening to the community.
In total, 14 objections were received alongside 79 letters of support for the project.
Councillor Graham Warren said this was a strong enough indication that the community knew what it wanted.
“It’s taken 12 years to get to this point,” Cr Warren said. “Let’s not be as the council that let this opportunity pass us by.”
Objections were lodged from individuals and various interest groups including the National Trust, Heritage Network, GLADE and Save the Dandenong’s League.
The National Trust objected to the removal of the staircase for the sake of storage space and noted that the building should be redesigned to provide storage elsewhere.
Cr Cliff expressed his frustration that history could only be valued in retrospect.
“We seem to be destroying our history so rapidly recently,” Cr Cliff said. “Can we please learn to think things through and act now instead of later.”
Cr Dunn called on the council’s green credentials to argue a tree should not be cut down on the whim of an architect.
“Let us not be the council that opts for the last resort,” Cr Dunn said. “I think we can do a lot better than this.”
Museum coordinator Maggie Soli said delaying the project any longer could cost the museum up to $20,000 a month and urged the council to approve the project.
After the votes were cast in the museum’s favour, Ms Soli said normal planning procedures would ensue. “The community has been waiting 15 years for this and it has now been realised,” Ms Soli said.