Pick of the week: The Roving Party

BENDIGO’S residential Strategy will be reviewed because of greater than expected growth.

The State Government has announced a grant of $50,000 to carry out the review.

The review is needed because, according to the State Government, 40 per cent of the forecast growth between 2006 and 2031 had already been realised.

Regional Development Parliamentary Secretary Damian Drum made the announcement this morning.

Mr Drum said the Bendigo Residential Strategy Review would deliver greater community and investor certainty, helping the region grow.

“The Bendigo Residential Development Strategy was adopted in 2004 and is currently being audited because of the faster than anticipated growth that has occurred in Bendigo in recent years,” he said.

“Strong residential growth has many flow-on economic benefits and having a clear framework for future development will position Greater Bendigo City Council to undertake more detailed, place-based planning in the future.”

Deputy Premier Peter Ryan said about 40 per cent of the forecast growth between 2006 and 2031 had already been realised.

The Residential Strategy impacts directly on where and how property developments use “infill” parcels of land, range of housing styles and also on housing affordability.

“This project will review the strategy, assess current and estimated land supply and demand and consider various legislative and policy changes,” Mr Ryan said,

“It will also consider the latest demographic data and establish a new strategic framework to guide the long-term residential growth of Greater Bendigo.

“The project will result in a revised residential strategy that will give developers, the community and service providers greater surety and confidence about where land can be developed for residential purposes, and that sufficient land is available to accommodate the City of Greater Bendigo’s future growth.”

Mr Ryan said a contemporary strategic planning framework was essential to the economic development of a large regional centre like Bendigo.

“Clearly identifying future growth options and supporting infrastructure needs will enable the Greater Bendigo City Council and other infrastructure providers to plan their capital works programs well in advance,” he said.

“Identifying long-term growth areas will enable the council and other service authorities to start planning for the delivery of services, thereby minimising the lag time between when residential development occurs and when the services need to be in place.”

| Bendigo Weekly | 16-Jun-2011

The Roving Party
Rohan Wilson
Allen & Unwin, $27.99

IT has been a fair while since something as memorable as Kate Grenville’s Lilian’s Story (1984) or Andrew McGahan’s Praise (1991) came out of the Vogel’s Award.
It’s almost as if The Hand That Signed the Paper by Helen Demidenko (1993) soured its reputation, although the rise of creative writing courses has also meant a different kind of novel seems to be dominating the under-35 writing scene.
This year’s winner, The Roving Party by Rohan Wilson, is very bold, and a strong piece of writing, but as a story, it is loose and difficult to engage with.
It is set in Tasmania in 1829, and describes a vicious assault on the Aborigines, led by one of the future founders of Melbourne, the ruthless John Batman.
Wilson builds the narrative across several characters, including Black Bill, who was brought up by white colonists and who is fixated on killing the Aboriginal warrior, Manalargena.
It’s a dark project Wilson has taken on, and he has chosen a slow but economical style for the task. The reader is dropped straight into the time and place, abruptly, and this is disorienting.
The Vogel’s judges said it was a “surprisingly beautiful evocation of horror and brutality”: not sure what they mean by beautiful, except that perhaps they are referring to the self-consciously poetic language. – Rosemary Sorensen

Online at www.bendigoweekly.com.au/book-club/ this week’s book news and Top Ten, supplied by Dymocks Bendigo. Join the bookclub, and we’ll send you a book to say welcome: email to bookclub@bendigoweekly.com.au.