A section of Walhalla’s Telecom Track will become Spetts Track after councillors approved the change at their meeting last week.
Image, inset: a photograph of Spetts published in The Australasian in 1915 (via Trove, CC).
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The revision comes as part of the ANZAC Commemorative Naming Project, with a member of the community suggesting the entirety of Telecom Track be renamed Charles Spetts Track.
In Victoria, only the surname of a person can be used as part of a commemorative road name, which leaves us with Spetts Track.
Charles Spetts was born in Walhalla in 1883 and joined ANZAC forces during World War I.
The RSL’s Virtual War Memorial states Charles went to school at the Walhalla State School and worked as a quarryman.
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According to the Baw Baw Shire, he “served in the 5th Battalion, 2nd Reinforcement Unit and was killed in action on the 7th August 1915 in Gallipoli, Turkey.” He was 32 years old.
Charles’ family left Walhalla in 1945.
Image: a Google Street View photo of the Spetts Track/Main Road intersection.
“A site visit was conducted and for ease of identification it is proposed to rename Telecom Track from Main Road to the Long Tunnel Mine buildings to Spetts Track, and retain the name Telecom Track from the Long Tunnel Mine car park to the Mormon Town Track,” a council officer wrote in a report to councillors.
Fittingly, the Spetts family house, Spetts Cottage, is located just 200 metres down Main Road from the Spetts Track intersection.
Correct alignment
Renaming the road isn’t the only change to have come from the project:
“As part of this project it was identified that [the council’s] source of spatial road data, ‘VicMap Transport,’ incorrectly showed Telecom Track to be north of the Long Tunnel Mine between Main Road and Mormon Town Track,” the council officer said.
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“The correct alignment of this track is a sealed section from Main Road, south of the Long Tunnel Mine entrance to the mine buildings and continuing west from the mine car park as a 4WD track to the Mormon Town Track.
“This alignment will be updated in VicMap Transport as part of the track renaming.”
