MEMBERS of the Leitchville Lions Club say a recent meeting with Campaspe Shire staff and councillors has given them hope about the future of the picnic area at Kow Swamp.
The club was “deeply disappointed” to hear that the shire was preparing to remove the toilet block and barbecue that was installed in the area by the Lions decades ago.
The club had for many years been seeking action on the issue of erosion of the swamp bank, which has seen sections of it drop away, leaving the toilet block close to the water’s edge.
Acknowledging the significance of the area, council said Kow Swamp was “a high value site with respect to Aboriginal cultural significance” and was “located within the footprint of the area now registered to the Yorta Yorta National Aboriginal Corporation.”
Council said several agencies and entities were working together on plans for the area.
Goulburn-Murray Water has developed the Kow Swamp Land and On-Water Management Plan which aims to provide a strategic approach for the future.
Kow Swamp is believed to be the largest known burial site from the Pleistocene era, with remains dating back more than 20,000 years.
Former Leitchville Lions Club president Geoff Behrens, who has been petitioning the council for a decade to address erosion was disappointed to hear the facilities would be removed.
However, at the October Campaspe Shire Council meeting, where council representatives discussed plans to address the erosion, they said the toilet and barbecue facilities would be relocated and not completely removed.
“They want to get the erosion filled as soon as they can and as soon as they get the money for it,” Mr Behrens said.
“They said that they will re-site the toilet, so that people camping on the other side of the creek will have access to it.
“I think we’ll be waiting a while but they gave us hope the other day, and that’s the main thing,”he said.
The Campaspe Shire Council confirmed that the toilets had now been decommissioned and were due to be removed early next year because of their close proximity to the water.
The council said a Goulburn Murray Water plan to address the erosion, which covers the area from the corner of Taylors Creek to the end of the Lions Park, had been drafted.
It said the GMW Kow Swamp and On-Water Management Plan Implementation Group had been working with all interested parties to identify a suitable community access point to the lake and would look at what facilities could be located there once a suitable place had been identified.
Once a low lying swamp which filled when the Murray was in flood or running high, Kow Swamp is now used for water storage.
In the 1980s Lions Club members built a retaining wall, fundraising and contributing voluntary labour to install the facilities.
The picnic area they created, which has been maintained by the club ever since, with the assistance of the council, became a popular destination for people from around the district and broader region.
In 1993 following shire amalgamations, the management of the area passed from Cohuna to Campaspe Shire Council.
Mr Behrens described Kow Swamp as Leitchville’s only tourist attraction.
“There would’ve been a million photos taken across the swamp with Mt Hope in the background,” he said.
