Landcare.Historical Perspective

As many of you will know, Hillview Quarries is the revenue generating arm of the philanthropic RE Ross Trust that presently runs a gravel quarry close to Arthurs Seat. But their reserves of gravel are running low and so over the past decade they have been looking for alternative revenue opportunities.

View of the area from the Bay side. To the far right is Arthurs Seat Road, in the centre is the current quarry, outlined in red to the left is the exhausted Pioneer Quarry that was proposed as a landfill site, and outlined in blue is the proposed new quarry. The remaining bush areas comprise Arthurs Seat State Park.

• In 1998, Hillview Quarries purchased the old Pioneer Quarry and its 65 ha of surrounding bushland situated just down the road from their present operation. This quarry at 115-121 Boundary Road, Dromana had ceased mining due to the exhaustion of granite reserves. The lease for mining at this site ran until 2014.
• Under their council permit, Hillview Quarries are required to undertake environmental site rehabilitation, using a carefully specified mix of indigenous species to ensure the establishment of a biodiverse ecosystem across the quarry floor, sides, and surrounds. They have now reached the 20th year of failure to meet this obligation.
• In 2013, after years of research and at enormous cost to the Trust, the “Dromana Landfill Proposal” (AKA the “Tip Proposal”) was rejected by the EPA because it did not comply with a number of threshold issues around ground water, construction design and management. That is not to mention the environmental impacts of the proposal which had been deferred to DELWP (then DEPI) and Parks Victoria. An environmental opinion was never required because the proposal never made it beyond first base thanks to a very motivated local community.
• A proposal by the Ross Trust in 2017 to reopen mining at 121 Boundary Road was rejected by both council and VCAT as their permit required extraction within 2 years of issue. There had been no mining for over 20 years.
• In 2018 the Ross Trust bypassed council and applied directly to the State Government Planning Department who have determined that an Environmental Effects Statement (EES) be conducted. This has been in progress for more than a year to date.

Reasons why Landcarers should care.

This project proposes the clearing of 38 Ha (93acres) of significant bushland within the Green Wedge of the Mornington Peninsula. It will result in a massive 190 metre deep crater that will not only scar our environment forever but will also divide 2 parts of the Arthurs Seat State Park, thus destroying an essential component of the Mornington Peninsula Biolinks Project. It is worth noting that 38 Ha represents a similar area to that which has been regenerated under the major Greens Bush to Arthurs Seat Biolink program during the past three years.

This is deemed to be a 70 year project. It would be naïve to believe that the Ross Trust would be any more committed to the task of environmental site rehabilitation then, having apparently ignored the same permit requirements for the last 20 years.

On release of the EES we have only 25 to 30 days to lodge an objection. The final decision is in the hands of the Minister for Planning, Richard Wynne, whose decision cannot be challenged. The EES is not an independent document as it is totally funded and written for the benefit of the Trust and will no doubt produce an enormity of information to which our community with limited funds, nor specific specialists, will have little time to respond.

What Landcarers should be in fear of losing.

I am a keen bird watcher and have been monitoring this area for many years. I have recorded over 100 species of birds in and around the site including the draining wetlands. Highlights include a pair of Peregrine Falcons that have nested on the wall of the old quarry for years, and a colony of Striated Pardalotes that nest within burrows in the upper east wall every Spring. There is a regular roosting tree for a family of Powerful Owls in the western Pine Forest and another consistent roost for a pair of Southern Boobooks. It is the only area on the Mornington Peninsula where I have seen White-winged Trillers, nesting Scarlet Robins (though alas not for several years now), and Painted Button-quail. It was the first place I ever recorded the Winter migratory Pink Robin.

Most of the 38 ha of bushland consists of mature and established eucalypts with abundant hollows that are used for nesting by a large variety of species.

Every person I have ever taken to the site cannot believe that such a massive mining proposal could realistically be considered for this area. I implore you to come and see for yourselves.

The Roy Everard Ross Heritage.

The founder of the Ross Trust, Roy Everard Ross, who died in 1970, was a keen bushman with an excellent knowledge of local flora and real love of our indigenous birds. He set up the trust with three core foci; social welfare, nature conservation, and education of foreign students. His wishes were that the trust be used in part- for the acquisition, preservation and maintenance of national or public parkland, particularly the protection and preservation of flora and fauna”. We consider that this mining proposal to be the antithesis of what Roy Everard Ross had intended for his legacy.

We have no doubt that the RE Ross Trust has a commendable philanthropic record. However we firmly believe that this amazing property has enormous potential for rehabilitation as part of the Arthurs Seat State Park and that the Roy Everard Ross legacy to our community should not be this proposed massive and destructive environmental scar.

And Finally.

A major cause for the diminishing biodiversity within our environment is loss of habitat. On the Mornington Peninsula with its encroachment of urbanisation, the shire and community groups such as Landcare have been working so hard to preserve and extend our unique habitats. This clearing of 38 Ha of prime bushland within the centre of our Peninsula-wide Biolinks and splitting of our two major major public native parks runs counter to this dedicated community effort.

– Article and Images by Mark Lethlean -President Friends of Hooded Plover MP, and Vice-President Sheepwash Creek Catchment Landcare Group (all images taken in the proposed quarry area).

To learn more:
Short Youtube presentation
Some more images
The Peninsula Preservation Groups website.