Murrindindi Shire has put a renewed emphasis on the Kinglake Ranges including township name changes. Some residents are not impressed by the proposed changes.
The proposal is based on the Kinglake – Flowerdale – Toolangi (KFT) Plan drawn up by previous Councillors in 2015.
Charles Exton, son of former Yea Shire Mayor, Arnold ‘Arnie’ Exton, is not happy with the proposed changes.
“From Beales Lane to National Park Road [east] it always has been … and always should be known as Pheasant Creek.
“[The] Original Kinglake Potatoes Growers Co-Op was in the old [now privately owned] Mitre 10 building at Pheasant Creek.
“Back then it was the central distribution point for spuds throughout Australia,” Exton said.
Shire CEO Craig Lloyd said he was keen to advance the work in the KFT plan.
“Locals will recall the work done in 2015 to put in place a Kinglake – Flowerdale – Toolangi (KFT) Plan.
“One of the recommendations made by the independent panel and community members in the KFT was to look at the identity and status of Kinglake West and Pheasant Creek.
“We think the time to revisit this question is now.
“We are keen to see what the community thinks about this,” Lloyd said.
“Regardless of the naming outcome, we plan to look at the question of township boundaries in Kinglake West and Pheasant Creek,” Lloyd said.
The township names of Kinglake West [Tommy’s Hut] and Pheasant Creek hold significance in their own right for many locals.
In days’ past (late 1890s to 1950s) logging, raspberry farming and gold mining were conducted in Pheasant Creek and Kinglake West on a regular basis.
“It was very different to Kinglake township or Mountain Rush,” Exton said.
The Age reporter, Adrian Lowe, reported on October 5, 2011 “Exton, 58, told the Supreme Court that he had worked on the farm since he was 16 with his father [Arnold] until he died in 1996, after which he had kept it running as his father had.
“Sheep agistment and potatoes – particularly the specialist Exton potatoes – had been farmed on the property in the past, and earlier, cattle, the court heard.”
Some locals, particularity ‘old-timers’ [who requested not to be named] feel this proposal is not conduit to Kinglake’ s history.
Charles Exton (snr) settled in Kinglake in 1890 and the farm has been in the Exton family for three generations, with a fourth generation now managing the farm.
The Exton family donated land now known as the “Kinglake Memorial Oval” (on the corner of Whittlesea – Kinglake Rd and Extons Road) in the 1950s.
Prior to the 1950s local football and cricket was played on land behind the Kinglake Pub and on other land also donated by the Exton family.
From my recollection the KFT plan did not consider a single name for the whole area. It was more about getting planning issues fixed up and retaining the rural nature of the area. Why would anyone proud of living in Castella or Toolangi want to be known by a catchall title centred on a township about 20 kilometres away? For all businesses outside Kinglake township, this would be a dagger in the heart, as these towns lose their identity.