The project that Huntly Common proposes to undertake in the Huntly Streamside Reserve area, through the Bendigo Creek Reclamation and Rehabilitation Project, has been making headlines both locally and across Victoria.

Following the Minister for Planning’s acceptance of Huntly Common’s Environmental Effects Statement (EES) referral in December 2020, news quickly spread that ‘miners were putting in a multi-million-dollar proposal to the Victorian Government’, to ‘strip the creek of the sludge’ and extract any remaining gold (source: Channel 9 News, December 2020: ‘Creek’ video).

But it’s not just the gold that got the story.

Huntly Common’s other, equally important objective is to restore and progressively rehabilitate the Huntly Streamside Reserve, introducing shared benefits to all.

Bendigo Historian, Darren Wright, was filmed by Channel 9 News saying, “The Creek was an absolute vision of loveliness in its early days, and I think we should strive to return it to that”.

As well as just delivering a ‘vision of loveliness’ once again, Huntly Common will be restoring Huntly Streamside Reserve to its original topography, returning a more natural creek system and ameliorating and promoting a more valuable future ecology and increased biodiversity.

“They seem to be very genuine in wanting to rehabilitate areas as they go about strip-mining,” stated Northern Bendigo Landcare Group committee member, Aldo Pembrook, in the Bendigo Advertiser, on 28 December 2020, adding that Huntly Common will be listening to the community and regarding their input every step of the way.

Also worth noting is that this project is strongly supported by the land’s traditional owners, the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation, and will be undertaken at no cost to the community, with the recovered gold helping to fund the project. Furthermore, the project will support the government’s efforts to embrace diversity, and fast-track employment opportunities for people of all ages, genders and cultural backgrounds.

More information on the project and its benefits can be found here.

Referenced news channels:

• Channel 9 News, December 2020: ‘Creek’ video
• Bendigo Advertiser, 28 December 2020: Sludge Bid: Gold Miners as minister’s permission to scour Bendigo Creek.
• Bendigo Advertiser, 28 December 2020: Gold miners send sludge-busting Bendigo Creek plan to planning minister Note: available to Bendigo Advertiser subscribers only.