Adding 30 acres and 30 years: Montrose quarry expansion proposal draws ire from 2,000+ locals

Montrose’s rock quarry – and pushback from locals over its existence – has been a part of the landscape since the mid-1950s. 

Now, a new proposal has caused a new uproar.

Already one of the largest quarries in the state, if approved, the proposal would see the area of the quarry grow by 30 acres and add another 30 years onto its lifetime.

Online, a petition has attracted more than 2,000 signatures, calling for site owner and operator Boral to consider other supply sites.

🗓️The history: Currently covering just over 203 acres, the site at 56-72 Canterbury Road in Montrose began its life as a quarry in 1947. Boral moved its operations into part of the site in 1967 before acquiring the remainder in 1976 – integrating the two separate pits into one larger pit.

• Protests against the quarry stretch all the way back to the early days - with an article from the Argus in September 1956 detailing a mass protest organised by the Dandenongs Preservation League.

• Other pushes for expansion of the Montrose site – the most recent being launched in 1996 and 2003 – attracted widespread community opposition, leading to these proposals eventually being squashed.

🚛 The proposal: In October, Boral southern executive general manager, Duncan Harris, announced the expansion, which would increase the quarry’s boundary by 30 acres – providing access to about 26 million tonnes of additional material.

• The decision on whether the proposal requires an Environmental Effects Statement – an assessment of a proposal’s potential environmental impacts – is currently with the Planning Minister Sonya Kilkenny.

• However, Kilkenny could decide to simply approve an amendment to the planning scheme without any public consultation or council oversight.

🪧Local reaction: STOP the Montrose Quarry Expansion member Alex said residents from far and wide were “deeply concerned” about the potential health impacts, including the danger of more exposure to dust particles.

• 🗣️“Many locals feel this new proposal simply isn't necessary and the risks to the local community are too great,” Alex told the Eastern Melburnian.

Green loss: A biodiversity impact assessment from March 2024 showed the works would impact about 21.7 acres of native vegetation – 30.83 percent of the total native vegetation on the site.

• The investigation also found 29 animal species within the site or likely to use the site as habitat, including the nationally significant Southern Greater Glider and the state significant Powerful Owl.

Living next door: Kim Wormald, who is a member of the Montrose Environmental Group and a resident living near the quarry since the early 1990s, said she was “horrified” she may have to face another 30 years of living near the site, believing it should have “closed a long time ago”.

• 🗣️“It’s a shameful expansion proposal,” Wormald told the Eastern Melburnian. “I think it shows utter contempt for the health and wellbeing of the local community.”