Heathcote Community Hub redevelopment

Danboor Bagiin Health Hub

104 High Street, Heathcote

Operating hours from Monday August 4, 2025:

• Monday, 9am - 4.30pm
• Tuesday, 9am - 4pm
• Wednesday, Closed
• Thursday, 9am - 4.30pm
• Friday, 9am - 4.30pm

Heathcote Health

39 Hospital Street, Heathcote

To make an appointment visit:

Maternal and child health service

Heathcote Mechanics Institute and Halls

121 High Street, Heathcote

Operating hours from Tuesday September 2, 2025:

• Monday, Closed
• Tuesday, 9.30am - 12.30pm
• Wednesday, 9.30am - 12.30pm
• Thursday, 9.30am - 5pm
• Friday, 9.30am - 12.30pm
• Saturday, 9.30am - 12.30pm

Thank you to the users of the Heathcote Mechanics Institute and Halls - Heathcote Lions Club, Heathcote Senior Citizens Club, Australian Plant Association, Capture Your Essence (Zumba), U3A, Wesleyan Church, AA, and Heathcote Guides for accommodating the Library for this period.

Works on the buildings will include:

• Demolition of the toilets and Maternal and Child Health room
• Restoration of the heritage features of the former Court House and Municipal Offices
• 8 new all-gender toilet suites and an accessible bathroom with baby change facilities
• New Maternal and Child Health facilities
• Addition of a new multi-purpose activity room (can be booked by community groups)
• Landscaping of the rear courtyard
• Expansion of the library
• Access to the library via the main High St entrance
• Re-purposing of the former Court House to create a community co-working space
• Addition of a tech hub to the library
• Free public wifi throughout the buildings

The project will:

• Refurbish two existing and prominent heritage-listed buildings that are valued by the community but currently under utilised
• Provide a multi-purpose community hub that can support a wider range of services and community activities. This will include the City’s Customer Support Services, Maternal and Child Health Service and Heathcote Library. Community hubs are important for healthy, sustainable communities. They support community members' participation in community life and access to services, and they provide more cost-effective solutions to services and infrastructure provision
• Promote Heathcote Library as a prominent and key community hub service
• Approximately double the available space for library services. Upon project completion the library and shared programmable spaces will provide a library space that meets the national library standard for floorspace area to accommodate Heathcote and District's current and future population growth
• Enable Goldfields Libraries to increase library service delivery and allow for more community activities and flexible program delivery at Heathcote Library

The project will also enable:

• Expansion of library service hours without requiring additional payroll budget, due to the ability for Heathcote Library and City staff to be co-located, making integrated staff ratio models possible
• Establishment of co-working and meeting spaces for local community groups and small businesses
• Improved accessibility for all community members
• Improved building energy efficiency
• Better connections with outdoor spaces 

Community hubs play an important role in supporting community wellbeing and prosperity. They help people to connect with one another, with services, activities, events and learning opportunities. Community hubs are also a cost-effective way of providing community infrastructure and services.

Community hubs are characterised by:

• Being multi-purpose
• Able to support many different community needs and interests
• Being accessible to and inclusive of all community members
• Supporting ‘joined up’ service access and delivery for community members

The project is being funded by:

• $2M Australian Government Growing Regions Program grant
• $1M Victorian Government Living Libraries Infrastructure Program grant
• Remaining funds are being contributed by the City of Greater Bendigo

Yes. Consultation about this project has been ongoing for many years.

The project need was first identified in 2015/2016 after the City provided funding to Advance Heathcote Inc. for a community needs analysis to guide the Heathcote Community Plan renewal.

The community consultation processes engaged a diverse range of stakeholders from across the community.

In 2017/2018 the first stage of concept plan design started. It included meetings with existing building users and other interested organisations, as well as some public listening posts, and workshops. This consultation asked the community:

• What they liked about the buildings and how they are used,
  and why
• What changes they wanted, and why

The outcomes of this informed the concept plan first draft.

The community was then asked what they thought about the concept plan first draft.

Works will commence in the second half of 2025 for completion in the first half of 2027.

Yes. The City will undertake a separate formal process through Geographic Names Victoria as required by the Place Names Act 1998 to name the Community Hub which consists of the former Court House and Shire Office building and the Mechanics Institute building.

Residents will have an opportunity to comment on any proposed name and the City will notify residents when this process commences.

Public places need to be registered with Geographical Names Victoria. Registering places means they can be easily located and this reduces the chance of delays for emergency services to find a place.

Tenants of the buildings were:

• City of Greater Bendigo Customer Service Centre
• City of Greater Bendigo Maternal and Child Health Service
• Goldfields Library Corporation
• Courthouse Crafts
• Regular hirers of meeting rooms

Courthouse Crafts has permanently moved to new premises located at 170 High Street, Heathcote.

• City of Greater Bendigo Customer Service Centre
• City of Greater Bendigo Maternal and Child Health Service
• Goldfields Library Corporation
• Regular hirers of meeting rooms

Yes, community members will be able to book meeting spaces and desks in the co-working space. More information will be available about hiring processes in the future.

The former Heathcote Court House and Shire Council Chambers was designed by Melbourne architect, John Flannagan and constructed in 1863. The building was funded by both the local council and the state government and is quite unusual for incorporating the town hall with the courthouse.

Only a small number of other Victorian local councils have such buildings and very few have survived particularly those dating from the 1860s. Flannagan designed a similar building for the Hotham Municipal Council in 1862 and this previous design was used as a model by the Heathcote Council when lobbying the state government for funding.

The building when constructed was a face brick symmetrically arranged building with courthouse and town hall in large wings on either side of a central entrance bay. It is a good example of nineteenth century classicism. It was rendered in 1885.

The building has historical importance as it demonstrates the growth of the central goldfields area as a consequence of the gold fields and in particular the period of permanent settlement in the 1860s and 1870s when temporary buildings were replaced with permanent buildings.

Yes, preserving the unique heritage of the buildings is very important as the buildings are an important and much valued heritage asset for Heathcote.

The City has obtained approval from Heritage Victoria to undertake this project.

The upgrades will help to preserve and restore the heritage features of the buildings, bring them up to contemporary accessibility and multi-purpose standards and make them more energy efficient. This will help the precinct continue to function as an important community hub that can support many different community needs, and uses, now and into the future.