Parks Victoria scraps peak-season closure of major Lake Eildon campsites
Local traders have won a reprieve after Parks Victoria abandoned controversial plans to shut popular Lake Eildon campsites at the height of summer trading season.
Parks Victoria has abandoned plans to shut three major campsites in the Lake Eildon National Park at one of the busiest times of year.
The Devil Cove, Candlebark and Lakeside camp sites, which make up the popular Fraser Block, were originally slated to close from January 7 and reopen for Easter, upsetting cafes, restaurants and pubs in the Alexandra, Thornton and Eildon areas that were heavily reliant on summer trade.
Ageing toilet facilities will still be replaced, but Devil Cove and Lakeside won’t be closed until January 26 and Candlebark won’t close until after Easter.
Alexandra and District Traders and Tourism Association secretary Caolan O’Connor said “most businesses were fairly aghast” at the initial decision made last month, before last Friday’s backflip.
Lake Eildon is presently at 55 per cent capacity.
But cabins at Cape Conran in East Gippsland destroyed in the Black Summer 2019-20 bushfires and the Sealers Cove boardwalk at Wilsons Promontory damaged in floods and storms in 2021, will remain out of action this summer.
It comes as Parks Victoria major works funding provided by the Department of Energy, Environmentand Climate Action was cut from $44,614,000 to $22,942,000, according to the 2024-25 annual report.
Mr O’Connor welcomed the change which would lead to businesses scrambling to secure staff in the hope tourists would still come to Lake Eildon and had not made alternative plans.
“Eighty per cent of this is fantastic news,” he said.
“To have Lakeside, Candlebark and Devil Cove open again for the summer period is fantastic and what we were after.
“Ideally we would have loved this announcement a few works ago, but you can’t look a gift horse in the mouth too much.
“We’ve still got a bit a time up our sleeve, but all those hospitality operators will definitely be scrambling to make sure their rosters are full knowing there will be people in the region.”
The toilets being replaced were built in the 1960s. Their replacements will have a dry-vault system. removing dependency on running water.
Eildon Liberal MP Cindy McLeish, who raised the camp ground closures in parliament, said: “The government should be proactive and not always reactive waiting for the negative comments before changing their minds.
“This has happened in the past up here and I would have thought they would have learnt those lessons.”
Meanwhile, the Sealers Cove boardwalk replacement is starting this month following the granting of approvals and permits and recent awarding of a construction contract.
The Cape Conran cabins are due to be installed next summer with commencement of a complementary water supply upgrades in March.
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