General News
20 January, 2026
Early days as community rally to refill Maryborough’s Goldfields Reservoir
Community groups and the general public rallied together last week to see the parched Goldfields Reservoir refilled.
Numerous community groups came together at Goldfields Reservoir last week, not to enjoy the little remaining water, but to work together to see the reservoir refilled.
Wednesday evening’s meeting was a first for the group who have begun investigating how Goldfields Reservoir can be refilled.
The now named ‘Refill Goldfields Res’ community advocacy group includes Maryborough’s field naturalists, angling, rotary and lions clubs, as well as park run and members of the general public.
Their plan is to purchase water on the open market and transfer it to Goldfields Reservoir.
But challenges like finding a farmer willing to sell or donate their water, raising the money needed, and the mechanics of getting it transferred are all obstacles in their path.
They’re challenges which will be faced by a local expert, Anthony Ohlsen, who spent over half his life in the local water industry starting in 1974.
He largely led last week’s meeting and is hopeful the plan will come together.
“I think it will but we just have to be careful that we don’t build too much hope without the knowledge of what’s going to happen,” he said.
“We’ll be coming back to the community in a few days with the next step.”
He believes that step may be fundraising in the community, or finding other sources of cash, to afford the water and get it pumped to Goldfields Reservoir.
According to multiple Central Goldfields Shire councillors and staff, the organisation was previously quoted $40,000 by Central Highlands Water (CHW) to refill Goldfields Reservoir.
CHW said in a statement they were committed to supporting council’s staff in their management of the reservoir with alternative water supplies when they are available for use.
“CHW cannot discuss any commercially sensitive information according to the confidential nature of the agreement between the two organisations as it relates to the Goldfields Reservoir,” they said.
CHW said any further information would require a joint statement between the organisations.
Central Goldfields Shire Council were contacted for comment.
Deputy mayor Anna de Villiers said councillors received a number of reasons why it couldn’t be filled but at its heart was the cost.
“There is a cost involved and as we know we don’t have the resources so it will depend largely on a community driven campaign,” she said.
“I think what we should do is do the same as the community did with the swimming pool and get together to do a fundraiser.”
The Refill Goldfields Res community group follows on from successful and ongoing community campaigns for the Maryborough Outdoor Swimming Pool and local VicRoads.
Cr de Villiers said if the community were onboard, and the local reservoir refilled, she hopes to see it become a tourist attraction with a new fishing competition.
Her idea is to offer a prize for whoever catches a marked fish released in the reservoir.
“Fishing is probably one of the oldest hobbies that people have ever had,” she said.
It’s a hobby president of the Maryborough Angling Club Kevin Wild said is good for the community.
He said over the past five years the club, with the help of fisheries, has released around 20,000 fish into the reservoir.
“The main reason was to get people up there to enjoy the area,” he said.
“There’s nothing better than seeing kids catching a fish.”
Despite the water only filling a fraction of Goldfields Reservoir, Mr Wild said thousands of fish including trout and yellow belly are still alive in the shallows.
“The fish are okay at the moment but I think if it gets way too low we’ll probably lose a lot of them because of the oxygen levels and the heat,” he said.
Stocking the reservoir has given fisherman and water skier Tony Savage many happy memories with his kids and grandkids.
“We used to go down there and throw the fishing line in,” he said.
“To me its got a great community aspect.”
However, now it has dried up, he said it’s “paramount” the town sees the reservoir refilled.
“It’s a disgrace this has gone this far,” he said.
However, the community is rallying, something Mr Wild said he was happy to see.
“It goes to show it’s not just one or two people that really care about the community and want to get it going,” he said.
The reason local supporters came together in the first place was thanks to Maryborough Lions Club’s Gary Hutchinson.
He organised the first meeting after a councillor approached him on Remembrance Day asking him to kickstart a community campaign.
“All I did was what I was told to do,” he said.
“I got the people there, got the people interested, got it out there to see what could be done.”
If successful, it wouldn’t be the first time Goldfields Reservoir was refilled thanks to community effort.
Mr Ohlsen said a similar plan was successfully completed locally around two decades ago.
He said, however, that the farmers involved in 2005 either already transferred their water or were no longer farming.
“We missed out there but that’s what happens,” he said.
“There’s plenty of water out there.”
The community advocacy group are now investigating the feasibility of their plans and will update the community on their progress through their upcoming Facebook page ‘Refill Goldfields Res’.