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April 11th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Updated
Despite years of debate, several rescue plans and some desperate, last minute lobbying, a prized Bendigo property could be sold into private ownership.
Fortuna Villa holds a prominent, but peculiar, place in Bendigo’s history.
The Victorian mansion and its surrounds are a tangible link to the city’s gold rush days and to one of its most famous residents, the mining magnate, George Lansell, known as the ‘Quartz King’.
It is lauded for its opulence and heritage, and known far and wide as an outstanding relic of a bygone age.
There are 30 main rooms, seven bathrooms and a Pompeii fountain on 7.5 hectares.
Yet, in a city that celebrates and markets its history, Fortuna seems to be a mystery to many Bendigonians.
It is not instantly recognisable, unlike the Alexandra fountain, the Central Deborah Gold Mine, the Chinese gardens or the city’s fleet of historic trams.
The Commonwealth has owned the site since 1942 and up until 2008 it served as a base for the Army Survey Regiment and defence mapping.
The main building sits back from the road, surrounded by tall fences, largely out of view.
Relatively few people have been inside over the past decade.
I was lucky enough to tour Fortuna in 2010, when John Brumby travelled to Bendigo a few days before the Victorian election and promised $7 million to help turn the site into a community arts precinct.
But the proposal disappeared with the Brumby government when the Coalition seized power.
The plan was one of several to surface and sink since Fortuna became surplus to Defence requirements.
The State and Federal Governments have blamed each other and the Bendigo council for a failure to secure a deal.
Funding has been a major sticking point.
A public asset?
The Defence Department tried last year to sell the property on the open market.
A tender process yielded a handful of bids, but none was accepted.
The Commonwealth’s valuation of the property, said to be about $3 million, proved too high.
Just when it appeared a dead end had been reached, a new proposal emerged.
The former Bendigo mayor Daryl McClure contacted ABC News early last month to say he had been working on a plan to salvage the site as a community-owned asset.
“If the property is sold to the highest bidder, there’s a very real risk then that there’ll be inappropriate development and, once again, the Villa itself may not get the attention that it deserves or needs,” he said.
All three levels of government would have to make substantial donations to allow the plan to come fruition.
Abandoned mining land across the road would have to be developed to raise money for the mansion’s restoration and maintenance.
‘Considerably flawed’
The initial reaction was positive, with the local Federal MP Steve Gibbons and Bendigo councillors indicating it was something they could work with.
But when it was announced that an auction was planned for April 12, the cracks started to appear.
The State Government MP Damian Drum was the first to express concern about the plan publicly.
“The McClure Plan, from our perspective, is considerably flawed because it’s based on a parcel of land that in the plan needs to be heavily developed for residences, but that land is absolutely littered with literally hundreds of old mine shafts, and that land is also heavily contaminated,” he said.
“It would be great if there was merit in that deal, however it simply doesn’t stack up.”
The Bendigo council persisted with its lobbying, which took an unexpected turn when the recently-elected councillor Elise Chapman sensationally announced she was on a hunger strike.
“We’re 10 days out from an auction that could see Bendigo lose its rich, rich history there and I don’t really see any other alternative,” she said, urging the Premier Denis Napthine to sit down for talks.
The protest drew nation-wide attention, but polarised opinion.
Cr Chapman was praised, criticised and ridiculed.
Dr Napthine described her actions as dangerous; the mayor Lisa Ruffell labelled them a “cheap stunt”.
A meeting between the Premier and the council was arranged, and in a boost to plan’s hopes the State Government offered to hand over the old mining land.
But any hope that a deal could be reached, or that the auction could be postponed to allow for further negotiations, was quickly snuffed out.
Fatal blow
The Federal Government was yet to be convinced, and the Parliamentary Secretary for Defence, David Feeney, made that clear on Tuesday morning during an interview with ABC Central Victoria.
“I don’t think that it’s a viable business case, and I think what we’ve seen here is a very long and torturous process running now over almost five years,” Senator Feeney said.
“I’m always happy to talk to community representatives and councils about these sorts of issues, but I am saying here, as I’ve said in the past and as I will say into the future, that our firm resolve is that the auction go ahead.”
A council delegation of the mayor and the chief executive was sent to Canberra the following day to meet the Senator, but to no avail.
“We put forward council’s case for delaying the auction and for keeping Fortuna Villa in public hands and we are obviously disappointed in the outcome of today’s meeting,” Cr Ruffell said.
Uncertain future
And so, preparations for the auction at the Capital Theatre are being finalised.
The agents handling the sale say there is strong interest from potential buyers, although there are suspicions a high reserve price could mean the property is passed in.
The building needs some work.
There are many unresolved questions about whether turning Fortuna into a community space is viable.
Despite the ferocity of the debate and its sometimes bizarre twists and turns, there has been no obvious groundswell of support for the campaign to keep the property in public hands.
A comparison with the passionate argument that gripped Castlemaine as the town’s former jail was sold last year reveals a stark contrast.
Whether any substantial proportion of Bendigo’s population – beyond politicians, history buffs and the local media – really cares what happens to Fortuna remains something of a mystery.
A bit like the future of the property itself.
Topics:
architecture,
history,
regional,
federal—state-issues,
local-government,
bendigo-3550
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Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-11/bendigo27s-fortuna-conundrum3a-public-or-private3f/4623306
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