Fish Creek Quarries is preparing an application for a second quarry (WA008569) on the Hoddle Range, beside the road to Wilsons Promontory. Nothing has been lodged or approved yet, so now is the time to speak up. [1]
Full photo ⤢
Full photo ⤢Prom Coast Guardians concept, based on information provided to date by Fish Creek Quarries’ environmental consultant. Same drone photo (11 Sep 2026, elevated), south-east to Corner Inlet and the Prom. Pit drawn on the consultant’s preliminary boundary (15 Apr 2025): about 17.7 ha, up to about 61 m deep. The tree belt is our assumption of a mature screen (about 15 m tall, about year 20). Indicative only. [3] [17]
What’s proposed
Fish Creek Quarries runs the existing quarry at 2365 Meeniyan-Promontory Road (work authority WA495, granted 1996; planning permit 1993). It plans a second pit, WA008569, on the Hoddle Range ridge immediately to the north. [13]
The company says the work authority area is just under 50 ha, with an extraction area of about 17 ha, and that rock from the new pit will be processed at the existing quarry. [2] Its consultant puts current production at about 150,000 tonnes a year. [3]
Fish Creek Quarries hasn’t said how deep the new pit would go or how long it would run. We’ve asked.
Where it’s at
No application has been lodged. Resources Victoria confirmed this in May 2026. [1]
Since August, the company has built an access track and drilled on the land. It says the results will inform its application.
The next step is a work plan to Resources Victoria, then a planning permit from South Gippsland Shire Council. We’ll post how to have your say at each step.
Why it’s the wrong place
Every figure here has a source listed at the bottom of the page. Where a figure is our own measurement or concept, we say so.
Homes close by
18 homes are within 500 m of the existing and proposed quarry. That’s EPA’s separation distance for a quarry with crystalline silica, and anything closer needs evidence the risk is low. 14 of the homes are on lots created before the existing quarry was approved in 1996. [4] [5]
Nature reserve next door
The Hoddle Range Flora Reserve is about 95 m from the proposed work authority. It’s a strict nature reserve with critically endangered Bog Gum and Slender Tree-fern, visited by Gang-gangs. [11] [9]
Low value rock
The company’s consultant says the rock is valued locally as cattle track sheeting. It isn’t in a Strategic Extractive Resource Area, and Woodside says no district quarry meets its specifications. [3] [15] [14]
The existing quarry
Condition 1.7 of the existing quarry’s permit says it must not affect the neighbourhood through noise, dust or grit. To our knowledge no agency has assessed it against that. Rock from the new pit would be processed there. [13] [2]
Silica in the rock
The operator’s own lab results put the rock at 63 to 66% quartz. Silica dust causes lung cancer and silicosis. WorkSafe holds no air monitoring for the existing quarry. [6] [8] [7]
Fish Creek’s town water
The Battery Creek catchment, Fish Creek’s town water supply, is about 23 m from the northern corner of the proposed work authority. [11]
A hill you can’t screen
Of 43 nearby homes we checked, 26 would see the ridge removed or the pit itself (our analysis). Trees can screen a pit floor, but nothing hides a missing hill. [17] [12]
The road to the Prom
Meeniyan-Promontory Road at the quarry entrance is rated 1 star out of 5 for safety. It’s the main road to Wilsons Promontory. [16]
Fish Creek Hall, 13 Falls Rd
Friday 23 October, 3 pm to 7 pm
Saturday 24 October, 9 am to 1 pm
Anyone can go, and going isn’t support. Take our question sheet, ask for answers in writing, and send your notes to info@promcoastguardians.org afterwards so we keep a community record.
Download the question sheet (PDF)On the day
- Ask for answers in writing. A verbal answer is easy to walk back.
- Hand your questions over on paper and ask that they’re recorded.
- Take your own notes: who you spoke to, what you asked, what they said.
- You don’t have to sign in or give your email or phone. A name and street is enough.
- Stay polite and stick to facts. Your questions speak for themselves.
What you can do
Go to the drop-ins
Fri 23 and Sat 24 Oct at the Fish Creek Hall. Take the question sheet and your own notebook.
Got a letter about photos?
Fish Creek Quarries has asked some neighbours for access to photograph from their property. It’s your choice. If you agree, ask for the consent form in advance, choose your own vantage points, take your own photos at the same spots, and ask for copies before anything is published. Email us for our tips.
Stay in the loop
Leave your details below. We’ll tell you how to have your say once an application is lodged, and we’ll never pass your details to the company or its consultants.
Sources
We hold a copy of each. Many are in our Library, with links to the official versions. Ask us if you’d like to see one that isn’t.
- Resources Victoria, letter to Prom Coast Guardians, 12 May 2026 (ref MIN-260500677): no work authority application lodged.
- Fish Creek Quarries, public Facebook post, 12 May 2026: work authority area just under 50 ha, extraction area about 17 ha, material to be processed at the existing quarry.
- Accent Environmental (for Fish Creek Quarries), letter to local stakeholders, 15 April 2025, with map of the preliminary quarry boundary; and information sheet, May 2025.
- EPA Victoria, Publication 1949, Separation distance guideline (April 2025), Table 4 and section 6.2.
- Prom Coast Guardians measurement, 3 October 2026: Vicmap Address and Property, DEECA work authority boundaries, house yards mapped per EPA Publication 1949 (Method 2); lot creation dates from title plans.
- Sharp & Howells report 25-0349 (July 2025), operator’s laboratory results, released by WorkSafe Victoria under FOI FOL/26/5589.
- WorkSafe Victoria, FOI FOL/26/5589, 28 July 2026.
- International Agency for Research on Cancer, Monographs Volume 100C (2012): crystalline silica dust, Group 1 carcinogen.
- Bowler, T. (2023), Flora and Fauna Assessment of Hoddle Range Nature Conservation Reserve, ID Ecological Management, final 18 August 2023, commissioned by Prom Coast Ecolink (used with its agreement). Status: Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act 1988 Threatened List.
- Ecocentric Environmental Consulting (2024), Engaeus Surveys: Hoddle Range Nature Conservation Reserve, report 23033, 24 June 2024, commissioned by Prom Coast Ecolink (used with its agreement).
- DEECA spatial data: Hoddle Range Flora Reserve (Parks Victoria, IUCN category Ia); Battery Creek special water supply catchment (declared, Government Gazette 10 November 1987). Distances measured by Prom Coast Guardians.
- South Gippsland Planning Scheme, Significant Landscape Overlay Schedule 3; overlay coverage measured by Prom Coast Guardians, 10 October 2026.
- South Gippsland Shire Council, Planning Permit 1993/8311227 (as amended 2005), condition 1.7; Resources Victoria tenement record, WA495.
- Woodside Energy, email to Prom Coast Guardians, 17 July 2026.
- Victorian Government, Strategic Extractive Resource Areas (planning scheme amendments VC196 and GC263).
- Department of Transport and Planning, AusRAP star ratings, Data Vic (August 2025): discover.data.vic.gov.au.
- Prom Coast Guardians concept and line-of-sight analysis, 5 to 12 October 2026, based on information provided to date by Fish Creek Quarries’ environmental consultant (preliminary quarry boundary, 15 April 2025) and Geoscience Australia’s 5 m LiDAR elevation model (2008, bare earth).
We’re residents, landowners, businesses and visitors around Fish Creek, the Hoddle Range and the Prom Coast. We’re volunteers, and we’ll reply within two business days. About us
We acknowledge the Bunurong and Gunaikurnai peoples, the Traditional Owners of the lands and waters where we live and work. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and recognise their continuing connection to Country.
