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FRIDAY, August 4, 2023
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Remembering their sacrifice Page 3
Overseas students on exchange Page 7
HAPPY DAYS WANGARATTA Players’ production of the Aussie musical Ladies in Black opens at Wangaratta Performing Arts and Convention Centre on August 17 and rehearsals are at full tilt. Cast members (from left) Amy Wighton (playing Fay), Gracie York (Lisa) and Julie Nolan (Patty) could still find plenty to smile about at rehearsals despite the heavy schedule. Full story page 4. PHOTO: Elevated Photography
Best in the state SPORT
Tower green light Kellyy familyy descendent’s attempt p to stop p tower,, bridge g works falls flat in Supreme p Court WORKS on the $5.459 million Ned Kelly viewing tower will be completed in time for it’s scheduled opening this month, after a Supreme Court judge rejected a bid by a relative of the infamous bushranger to cease works on the project. A newly built tower at Glenrowan’s Lions Park, with the help of $3.5m in State Government funding, will provide an experience for visitors, allowing them to learn about the history
BY STEVE KELLY skelly@ nemedia.com.au
connected to the capture of the Kelly Gang in 1880. Joanne Griffiths, great granddaughter of Ned Kelly’s sister, had applied to the Supreme Court of Victoria for an interlocutory injunction to restrain ongoing works on the visitor centre and replacement
bridge in the Glenrowan Heritage Precinct. Ms Griffiths, founding director of the Ned Kelly Centre Ltd, had alleged that works were contrary to Heritage Act 2017 (Vic) and Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic). Defendants included the Australian Rail Track Corporation, Rural City of Wangaratta, and Heritage Victoria. The Ned Kelly Centre
submitted that council’s permit application incorrectly identified ARTC as the owner of the relevant land, when it is in fact owned by VicTrack. However, Judge Melinda Richards’s said, “I do not see an arguable case that the mistake was material, in either a legal or a practical sense”. “Legally, there is no realistic possibility that identifying the owner as VicTrack rather than
ARTC could have made a difference to Heritage Victoria’s assessment of the permit application” Judge Richards said. “Secondly, the Ned Kelly Centre said that the Archlink heritage impact study (Archlink HIS) submitted to Heritage Victoria by the council misstated the contents of prior heritage impact studies of the precinct. “The Ned Kelly Centre further contended
that the Archlink HIS misrepresented the location, size and scale of the proposed visitor centre for which the permit was sought and ultimately granted. “The Ned Kelly Centre characterised these claimed misrepresentations as a ‘fraud in equity’ on the part of the council, and said that the fraud vitiated Heritage Victoria’s decision to grant the tower permit.” ■ Continued page 2