Authority Takes on Management of 42 New Crown Land Sites
Published on 01 May 2025
We’ve been appointed as the land manager for a further 42 parcels of public land.
The coasts and parks along the Great Ocean Road are so special, and so important to Victorians, that the Government established us as the dedicated parks manager to enable holistic approach to management of this iconic and treasured part of Victoria. We are excited to continue our evolution as we take on management responsibility for additional land, sea and bushland.
From 1 May 2025, we’ve been appointed as the land manager for a further 42 parcels of public land located between Lorne to Peterborough, which includes coastal areas, bushland, waterway frontages, and ecologically significant areas that were previously managed by DEECA and Parks Victoria. This includes land around the Lorne Country Club, the Aire River Valley and Wildlife Reserve, Johanna Falls Scenic Reserve, and Latrobe Bushland Reserve.
It is part of a series of transfers of land management responsibility within the Great Ocean Road Coast and Parks that is reducing the historically fragmented land management that has hindered a coherent approach to addressing the challenges of high and increasing visitation, environmental processes, and impacts of climate change.
How will we manage these parcels of land?
We are working closely with Parks Victoria and DEECA to ensure the smooth transition of management responsibility, so the local community and visitors should not experience any change in the way they use the areas.
The management of these parcels is governed by the purpose for which each one was reserved. While our short-to-medium term management of this land will remain consistent with that applied by DEECA and Parks Victoria, we are engaging with community to best understand the values and interests to shape our land management plans for the future.
We’re also working with Eastern Maar Peoples, the traditional custodians of the land to respect and uphold the cultural values and support how their rights, obligations and assertions are embedded into marine and coastal planning and management.