title: West Moorabool Heritage Study Stage 2A Review council: moorabool state: vic category: constraint classification: MAJOR status: unknown last_compiled: 2026-05-31 source_docs:
- attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf
- attachment-b-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-reduced.pdf
- west-moorabool-heritage-study-report-volume-1-oct-2016.pdf
- west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review.pdf
West Moorabool Heritage Study Stage 2A Review
The West Moorabool Heritage Study Stage 2A Review is a statutory heritage implementation package for the western part of Moorabool Shire, converting earlier heritage survey work into proposed Heritage Overlay controls, curtilage mapping, statements of significance and permit-exemption machinery for Amendment C085moor. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.5) Its practical effect is not simply to identify heritage places: it determines which buildings, precincts, trees, outbuildings, fences, interiors and mapped land parcels would become decision constraints under Clause 43.01 and which earlier candidate places are removed because the evidence, integrity or control mechanism is insufficient. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.5-6)
Background
Stage 1 of the West Moorabool Heritage Study was completed in May 2010 and identified 720 potential heritage places in western Moorabool, including 641 potential places not already included in heritage overlays. (Source: west-moorabool-heritage-study-report-volume-1-oct-2016.pdf, p.3) Because the Stage 2A budget could fund only part of that wider candidate pool, Council prioritised heritage precincts, the Ballan to Leigh Creek corridor, Blackwood and selected complex and single post-contact built heritage places for assessment. (Source: west-moorabool-heritage-study-report-volume-1-oct-2016.pdf, pp.3-5)
The 2016 Stage 2A study originally recommended 6 heritage precincts containing 79 places and 108 individual heritage places for inclusion in the Moorabool Planning Scheme through a planning scheme amendment. (Source: west-moorabool-heritage-study-report-volume-1-oct-2016.pdf, pp.28-29) The 2016 study also identified a substantial unfinished heritage workload: 124 priority single places, 11 priority complex places, 12 single places with existing overlays but insufficient assessment, 9 complex places with existing overlays but insufficient assessment, 75 archaeological sites and 9 known dry stone walls were recommended for later assessment. (Source: west-moorabool-heritage-study-report-volume-1-oct-2016.pdf, pp.36-37)
A desktop review by Context Pty Ltd in 2018 found that the 2016 work needed further implementation testing before it could reliably support Amendment C85, including review of statements of significance, curtilage, comparative analysis, additional controls, permit exemptions, physical integrity and 21 places that had not been visited in Stage 1 or Stage 2. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.30-31) Plan Heritage was then engaged in 2020 to complete the review, including ground truthing, final recommendations, revised schedules, revised curtilage and precinct maps showing gradings. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.7)
Analysis
Statutory Mechanism and Net Change
The updated November 2025 review recommends 7 precincts and 105 individual places for the Heritage Overlay, with all overlay extents defined by curtilage maps in the citations. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.5) This is a narrower and more legally tested package than the 2016 study: the earlier 2016 position was 6 precincts and 108 individual places, while the updated review adds a seventh precinct framework but reduces the individual-place count after reassessment, demolition, relocation evidence and integrity testing. (Source: west-moorabool-heritage-study-report-volume-1-oct-2016.pdf, pp.28-29; Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.5, 42-43)
The proposed amendment mechanism has four moving parts. First, Clause 43.01 would receive new schedule entries for 7 precincts and 105 individual places. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.35) Second, Heritage Overlay maps would add the curtilage for those places and remove the curtilage for 3 existing individual places that would be absorbed into broader precincts. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.35) Third, Clause 72.04 would incorporate statements of significance and the Moorabool Shire Heritage Precincts and Places Incorporated Plan Permit Exemptions, May 2021. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.35) Fourth, Clause 72.08 would list the West Moorabool Heritage Study Stage 2A Review, May 2021 as a background document. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.35)
The three existing individual overlays proposed for integration into new precincts are HO18 Railway Station at Atkinson Street, Ballan; HO28 All Saints Anglican Church at Byres Road, Blackwood; and HO41 Lal Lal Railway Station and Water Tank at Eaglesons Road, Lal Lal. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.42) The mechanism matters because the protected fabric is not being deleted from the heritage system; it is being re-housed inside precinct controls so that streetscape, setting and contributory relationships can be managed as a group rather than as isolated sites. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.16-18, 22-24, 27-29)
Precinct Findings and Development Control Effects
The 7 precincts recommended for the Heritage Overlay are Fisken Street and Steiglitz Street in Ballan; Martin Street, Prayer Hill, Simmons Reef Road and Whalebone Road in Blackwood; and Lal Lal Heritage Precinct in Lal Lal. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.38) These precincts are not uniform controls: each has a different mix of significant, contributory and non-contributory fabric, which means the effect on permit assessment will vary from demolition resistance for significant fabric to contextual design management for non-contributory sites. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.16-29)
Fisken Street remains locally significant but its intactness has reduced since 2016 because 3 contributory places were demolished and replaced with non-contributory buildings at 22 Fisken Street, 22a Fisken Street and 70 Steiglitz Street. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.17) The revised grading is 1 significant place, 17 contributory places and 12 non-contributory places, with tree controls narrowed to specific street trees, the Aleppo Pine in McLean Reserve and the Theresa Graham memorial Pin Oak rather than applying blanket tree control across the whole precinct. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.17-18)
Steiglitz Street is a compact precinct of 4 contributory Victorian residential places, and the review upgraded the earlier “conservation desirable” place to contributory because its form and scale remained legible despite reversible recladding. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.18-19) By contrast, Golden Point Road failed as a precinct because 13 Golden Point Road had been substantially altered, 25 Golden Point Road lacked enough intactness, and the former water race had become more appropriately understood as an archaeological element. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.19-20) The review therefore shifts control from a precinct to an individual overlay for the dwelling and water race at 15 Golden Point Road, including the whole title and the water race running through that title. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.20)
The Blackwood precincts show the strongest mechanism-level refinement. Martin Street is retained as the historic commercial core with 3 significant, 6 contributory and 2 non-contributory places, but the review rejects prohibited-use controls because the existing Township Zone provided a limited and unsuitable set of otherwise prohibited uses. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.20-22) Prayer Hill is retained and expanded in significance logic: the former parsonage at 54 Byres Road is reassessed as significant alongside the former All Saints Anglican Church, but tree controls are narrowed after inspection showed the trees at 54 and 60 Byres Road did not contribute to significance. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.22-24) Simmons Reef Road remains locally significant with 11 contributory elements after mature Pin Oak and Golden Elm street trees were added as contributory, while immature Liquidambar and Chinese Elm plantings were treated as non-contributory. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.24-26)
Whalebone Road is the most spatially sensitive precinct because the review found 7 contributory log huts, including separate title recognition for 10 Richards Road and a newly identified hut at 40 Whalebone Road. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.26-27) Standard permit exemptions were considered inappropriate for Whalebone Road because later dwellings had been built beside, in front of, or behind the log huts, making a generic rear-addition exemption potentially unsafe for heritage management. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.27)
The Lal Lal precinct was retained but narrowed in places to match title boundaries, remove land north of Parkers Road where the water tower was previously thought to be located, and reduce the extent at 10 Lal Lal Falls Road and 391 Clarendon-Lal Lal Road. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.28-29) The November 2025 update also records that consent was given on 8 June 2023 for demolition of the dwelling at 410 Clarendon-Lal Lal Road under section 29A of the Building Act 1993, causing that property to change from contributory to non-contributory in the amendment documents. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.29)
Individual Places, Additional Controls and State-Level Escalation
The review recommends 105 individual places for local Heritage Overlay protection across Ballan, Blackwood, Bungaree, Gordon, Millbrook, Mount Egerton and Wallace. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.38-42) This distribution matters because the amendment is not concentrated only in township commercial streets; it also reaches cemeteries, churches, schools, farms, rural homesteads, recreation reserves, former industrial places and isolated landscape elements. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.38-42)
Five places are recommended for nomination to the Victorian Heritage Register: Hunterston at 360 Ballan-Egerton Road, the Pinus radiata at Blackwood Cricket and Recreation Reserve, the former Police Quarters and Court House at 14 Clarendon Street Blackwood, the former Police Residence and Lock Up at 255 Bungaree-Wallace Road, and the former London Bank of Australia at 323 Bungaree-Wallace Road. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.43) This separates local planning-scheme control from potential state-registration pathways: a local HO manages municipal significance, while Victorian Heritage Register nomination would trigger a separate state-level assessment and control regime if accepted. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.43)
Additional controls are targeted rather than universal. Precinct tree controls are proposed for identified trees in Fisken Street, Martin Street, Prayer Hill, Simmons Reef Road and Lal Lal, while no precinct-wide external paint, prohibited-use, outbuilding/fence or internal controls are proposed. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.43-44) For individual places, the review identifies outbuildings or fences of note, tree controls, external paint controls, prohibited-use controls and internal controls only where the specific fabric or use-management rationale is justified. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.45-48)
The most restrictive individual controls are internal alteration controls for the Ballan Mechanics Institute and Free Library at 143 Inglis Street and Oakvale at 179 Donnellans Road, Millbrook. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.48) Oakvale’s internal controls are unusually detailed because they cover layout across all three levels, original joinery, masonry skirtings, fireplace mantles, pencilled graffiti, plaster cornices, papier mache ceiling centres and early paint finishes. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.48)
Places Removed or Redirected
The review is as important for what it removes as for what it protects. The updated appendix lists individual places not recommended for the Heritage Overlay, including Caledonian Park, 53-55 Inglis Street Ballan, 79 Inglis Street Ballan, 49 Edols Street Ballan, 14 Victoria Street Blackwood, part of 519 Bungaree-Wallace Road, Summerhill at 55 Boundary Road Gordon and the demolished dwelling at 37 Main Street Gordon. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.42-43) The reasons are mechanism-specific: limited built fabric at Caledonian Park suggests another control such as a Significant Landscape Overlay, low integrity removes 53-55 Inglis Street and 14 Victoria Street, relocation evidence removes 49 Edols Street, and demolition removes 37 Main Street Gordon. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.32-33, 42-43)
This is a stronger statutory position than simply carrying forward all 2016 recommendations. The 2018 review found that many 2016 citations had inconsistent statements of significance, limited comparative analysis, missing GIS layers, possible curtilage problems, potentially duplicated paint controls and tree controls based on amenity rather than heritage value. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.30-31) The 2021 review responded by rewriting most statements of significance into the current “What, How, Why” format under Planning Practice Note 1, revising comparative analysis and checking curtilage against aerial images, VicPlan, Google Street View, GIS layers and fieldwork. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.32-34)
Current Status
The available source set shows that the May 2021 review was updated in November 2025 after the Planning Panel hearing for Moorabool Planning Scheme Amendment C085moor. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.1, 5, 7) The source set does not include the Panel report, Council adoption report, Ministerial approval decision, gazettal notice or current planning-scheme schedule, so this page treats the amendment’s final legal status as unknown rather than approved. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.35)
Dependencies
- Blocks: The study blocks reliable statutory implementation of the nominated West Moorabool heritage places until the Amendment C085moor schedule entries, HO maps, incorporated documents and application requirements are finalised. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.35)
- Blocked by: Final certainty is blocked by missing amendment lifecycle documents, including the Panel report, adoption material, approval material and gazettal evidence. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.5, 35)
- Informed by: The review is informed by the 2016 Stage 2A study, the 2018 Context review, ground truthing, site inspections, Burra Charter principles, HERCON criteria and Planning Practice Note 1. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.7-8)
- Implements: The package implements local heritage protection through Clause 43.01, Clause 72.04 incorporated documents and Clause 72.08 background-document listing. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.35)
- Conflicts with: No direct policy conflict is identified in the supplied documents, but Caledonian Park is flagged as a case where the Heritage Overlay may not be the best control because the values are primarily landscape and social rather than built fabric. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.32-33)
Cross-Jurisdictional Links
The supplied documents identify Heritage Victoria involvement only in the sense that the 2016 list of potentially state-significant places was peer reviewed by a Heritage Victoria officer. (Source: west-moorabool-heritage-study-report-volume-1-oct-2016.pdf, p.35) The November 2025 review also recommends five Victorian Heritage Register nominations, which would shift those places into a state-assessment pathway if progressed. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.43) No water authority, transport authority or adjacent-council dependency is identified in the supplied source documents. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.35-36)
Gaps in This Analysis
The main analytical gap is amendment-status evidence. The review says it was updated after the Planning Panel hearing for Amendment C085moor, but the manifest does not include the Panel report, Council meeting report, adopted amendment documents, approval decision, gazettal notice or current Clause 43.01 schedule. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, pp.5, 35)
The second gap is the wider unfinished heritage corpus. The 2016 study recorded remaining work on 124 priority single places, 11 priority complex places, 12 existing single HO places without adequate assessment, 9 existing complex HO places without adequate assessment, 75 archaeological sites and 9 known dry stone walls. (Source: west-moorabool-heritage-study-report-volume-1-oct-2016.pdf, pp.36-37) The November 2025 review repeats the need for a whole-municipality thematic environmental history, strategic review of heritage gaps, HERMES uploads, heritage guidelines and a revised heritage strategy, meaning the Stage 2A Review should be read as one implementation tranche rather than a complete heritage framework for Moorabool. (Source: attachment-3-west-moorabool-heritage-study-stage-2a-review-updated-november-2025_low-res.pdf, p.36)