OUR BAYFRONT BOMBSITES: CLEAN UP THE WATERFRONT: Power up for bayside foodbank

By Noel Murphy
CORIO Bay’s dangerous abandoned power station at North Geelong could be transformed into an all-purpose food bank, homeless shelter and training centre.
Instead, it stands neglected and disused, an unsecured mess of broken glass and twisted metal, graffiti, dangerous pit holes and unprotected high platforms.
It’s been raised as a possible host for heritage exhibitions in the past but, like other projects for the degraded bay, fallen off the radar.
Now, as Geelong’s north tries to reinvent itself, it could be utilised as a critical, integrated community centre, according to community activist Ferg Hamilton.
Mr Hamilton has pitched the idea at local MPs but like other ideas he’s raised for Geelong’s ailing north, such as a Corio Bay heritage trail, it’s not winning much traction.
“It’s an area that would suit the requirements of a central food receiving, storage, preparation and distribution area,’’ Mr Hamilton said.
“It’s somewhere secure and easily accessible to people and transport; maybe also a small emergency accommodation area plus somewhere for training facilities.
“There are no doubt industries and others in our area who could be persuaded to donate surplus food and unsold stock to this one centralised area.”
Mr Hamilton suggested canteens at major employers, food shops, supermarkets and others could be recruited to assist such a centre.
A centralised food bank could save on distribution, staff, refrigeration, rent, lighting and waste costs.
The old power station is just one of many degraded and abandoned sites around Corio Bay that have prompted calls for a new authority to resurrect the so-called jewel in the crown of Geelong.
Polluted, toxic, rubbish-strewn, and neglected sites can be found right round the bay from asbestos at North Geelong to extensive tracts of shattered shotgun targets and vandalised heritage sites at Eastern Park.
Geelong mayoral candidates, along with MPs, a former conservation minister, coastal authorities, environmentalists and community activists have called for action on the Corio Bay crisis.