Winter Valley

Winter Valley is a western suburb of the City of Ballarat.[2] The population at the 2021 census was 3,440.[1] Established on 11 February 2016 as part of the western growth zone, Winter Valley was named after early colonist John Winter following a controversy on whether on not it should be named after the 19th-century Aboriginal elder Mullawallah.

Winter Valley
Ballarat, Victoria
Winter Valley is located in City of Ballarat
Winter Valley
Winter Valley
Coordinates37.5890°S 143.8140°E / -37.5890; 143.8140
Population3,440 (2021 census)[1]
Postcode(s)3358
LGA(s)City of Ballarat
State electorate(s)Wendouree
Federal division(s)Ballarat
Suburbs around Winter Valley:
Alfredton
Bunkers Hill Winter Valley Delacombe
Smythes Creek

History

Winter Valley was established on 11 February 2016 as part of Ballarat's western growth zone. It incorporated former parts of Delacombe and Smythes Creek.[3][4]

The naming of Winter Valley proved controversial in late 2014. A Wadawurrung man named Sean Fagan originally proposed the suburb be named after the 19th-century Aboriginal elder Mullawallah. Although the name was initially supported by the state government and city council, a residents' group opposing it was formed and the council received over a hundred objections.[5][6] In a well-attended public gallery held on 10 December at the town hall, residents argued that Mullawallah was too hard to spell or pronounce, while others claimed it was too similar to other suburb names. Proponents of the name said that the resistance was racially motivated. Winter Valley was eventually named after Jock Winter, an early prominent colonist, while Winter’s Swamp near Lucas was renamed Mullawallah Wetlands.[7][8]

On 21 March 2018, in Winter Valley, tradies Jack Brownlee and Charlie Howkins became trapped in a construction site after a six-foot trench collapsed, leading to their deaths. In 2019, Ballarat excavation company Pipecon was charged with two occupational health and safety offences.[9][10][11] After repeated court delays, Pipecon pleaded guilty to failing to adequately supervise the workers in November 2021 and were fined $555,000. The incident is considered key to the introduction of new industrial manslaughter legislation in Victioria in November 2019, and employers can now be sentenced up to $16.5 million in fines and 25 years of imprisonment.[12][13][14]

In 2020, a memorial was commissioned along Kensington Creek on the Winterfield estate. It commemorates those who have died on regional work sites and is close to the site of the accident. The streets bordering the memorial were named Howkins Avenue and Brownlee Boulevard.[15]

Infrastructure

The Winter Valley emergency precinct on Mirelle Drive contains a fire station and police complex.[16]

References
  1. Australian Bureau of Statistics (28 June 2022). "Winter Valley (State Suburb)". 2021 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 4 November 2022.
  2. "VICNAMES The Register of Geographic Names". VICNAMES. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  3. "City of Ballarat Roads & Open Space Index" (PDF). ballarat.vic.gov.au. 1998. Revised 21 January 2017. pp. 4, 53. Retrieved 18 December 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  4. Davey, Melissa (11 December 2014). "Mullawallah too hard to spell to be name of suburb, Ballarat council decides". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  5. Chew, Bonnie; Newton, Janice (2022). "Mullawallah (c. 1821–1896)". Indigenous Australian Dictionary of Biography. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  6. "Ballarat council rejects Indigenous name for new suburb". ABC News. 12 December 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  7. Newton, Janice (September 2016). "Rural Autochthony? The Rejection of an Aboriginal Placename in Ballarat, Victoria, Australia". Cultural Studies Review. University of Technology Sydney: UTS ePress. 22 (2). doi:10.5130/csr.v22i2.4478.
  8. Dyett, Greg (10 December 2014). "Racism blamed for campaign against Aboriginal suburb name". SBS News. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
  9. "Second man dies after trench collapse at Ballarat construction site". The Age. 22 March 2018. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  10. King, Charlotte (30 August 2021). "Pipecon pleads guilty to charge over trench collapse that killed Jack Brownlee, Charlie Howkins". ABC News. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  11. Whyte, Sally (17 October 2018). "Families' anxious wait on workplace deaths report". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  12. Mayers, Laura (15 June 2023). "Victorian coroner orders inquest into rescue of two men who died after 2018 trench collapse". ABC News. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  13. Bell, Sarah Jane (3 December 2019). "Safety measures were in place at Ballarat Pipecon site where two men died in trench collapse, court told". ABC News. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  14. "Workplace Manslaughter and the Long Fight for Justice". We Are Union. 6 September 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  15. Staley, Ruby (8 October 2020). "Workplace fatalities to be memorialised". Ballarat Times. Retrieved 21 July 2023.
  16. Hodson, Gabrielle (22 February 2023). "Lucas-Winter Valley area needs ambulance branch, manager says". The Courier. Retrieved 19 July 2023.


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