The City of Greater Bendigo has closed the Rosalind Park Poppet Head tower to the general public following a recent engineering inspection of the structure which discovered significant rust issues on its upper levels which require rectification works.
The Rosalind Park Poppet Head was the original poppet head from the Garden Gully United Mine which operated from 1857 to 1921 so the structure is well over a hundred years old. In 1931 the Bendigo Amalgamated Goldfields Company gifted the mine’s steel poppet legs to the former City of Bendigo and the poppet legs were erected in Rosalind Park to serve as the lookout tower you see to this day.
City of Greater Bendigo Property Manager Daniella McClure said in the interests of public safety the City has closed access to the tower while further investigations are undertaken.
“In late 2022 the City commissioned a condition assessment of the existing structure to inform the need for works to protect the tower. However, a more recent inspection has identified some corroded sections of the upper floor landings which is impacting the safety of the stairwell structure,” Ms McClure said.
“To keep everyone safe we need to fix or replace these sections of steel.
“We are currently working on a plan to rectify the issues that have been identified. Once this is completed we can appoint a contractor to replace or repair the steel work and floor plates on each of the affected landings.
“We also need to clean and paint the structure to ensure its condition is maintained for generations to come.
“We are currently working through the best way to undertake this work both to reduce the impact to the public and to ensure value for money for the ratepayer.
“We cannot provide a confirmed timeframe for the works at this stage, but we anticipate that the tower could be closed for some time.
“The City understands how much residents and visitors enjoy climbing the Rosalind Park Poppet Head tower and we do apologise for any inconvenience the closure may cause.”