Locals fed up - Resident takes former campus upkeep into own hands

THE wheels appear to be in motion for the future of the former Wonthaggi McBride Campus.

The campus was used for as a COVID testing site for Bass Coast Health for some time, but since then, there has been little word on what the next stage of its life would be.

The Department of Education currently manages the former site of Wonthaggi Secondary College, located on the corner of McBride Avenue and Watts Street.

The site was ‘gifted’ to council for it to be redeveloped. 

But both the shire and the department had been tight lipped on when anything would progress, with the Department of Education recently stating, “Discussions with the council about the future of the site are ongoing.”

However, this week the shire has announced via their ‘Engage’ platform that they have commenced pre-feasibility studies.

This includes exhaustive examinations of the property’s condition, including building and structural integrity.

This will identify short-, medium- and long-term costs plus risks associated with taking on the site, to ensure a full understanding of the costs involved in managing the site are understood.

A decision to transfer management of the site will be made after the completion of all pre-feasibility studies.

The studies are anticipated to be completed in July this year.

Good Samaritan

A Wonthaggi good Samaritan has taken matters into their own hands at the old tech school after becoming incensed at the condition.

For the past three weeks, the resident, who wished to remain anonymous, has headed to the outdoor areas and using his own tools mowed the grass and whipper snipped. 

“We started walking that way in the morning,” resident explained.

“We’ve had issues with the council with overgrown footpaths and trees down, so I started taking clippers with me and cutting a pathway through. (This day) we turned up towards the tech school, which we don’t normally do, and I said, ‘this is disgusting here.’

“There was two foot of grass up to the tech school main office and as we walked along, I thought somebody has to do something, so I wrote an article hoping that the council would pick it up and then we’d see the lawn mowers out there mowing it, but they didn’t do anything.

“I thought, well, I’ve opened my big mouth, so I better get out there and mow it. I’d made a statement, so I had to back it up.”

This weekend past counts the third week the resident has mowed.

“I left a big strip out the front in Watt Street, just so the council could see the difference, and (last week) blow and behold there was two young council blokes there with their brush cutters, doing the edging and cutting it back down.

“After four weeks they got into action, but they haven’t touched anything on the school. 

“There’s debate over who owns it, but since the COVID testing left, mother nature has taken its course.”

It took the resident four hours each time to mow the grass, which initially was over two foot tall, and clean up the rubbish, which was hidden in the long grass, particularly on the natures strips. 

“Community groups could be using the facilities; the tennis and basketball courts the kids could continue to use. We grew up using these facilities, we may not have liked going to school but we certainly utilised the cricket nets.”

Jessica Harrison from Housing Matters Bass Coast also added the organisation wants to see the site utilised. 

“Housing Matters wants more public and community housing built across the shire as a matter of urgency,” Jessica said.

“The Council could easily offer the eastern end of the old high school site, facing Baillieu Street East, for rental development under the Big Housing Build, as they offered road reserves in the past. It would be ideal, as it’s close to services and shops.”