LEHIA Spring 2025 Newsletter
July 2025 was a significant month in Eildon as the Eildon Lions Club celebrated 50 years of service to the Eildon Community; we thank the Lions for their wonderful service to the Eildon Community. Also, for me it was an important milestone as it was 50 years since I arrived in Eildon to manage the Golden Trout Hotel. Further it is 14 years since the Lake Eildon Houseboat Industry Association was formed.
LEHIA has achieved many things over this time with the most significant being we now have a cohesive positive industry where industry members respect that they are in competition with each other but when they all put in and work together, they all win. The proof is the vibrancy of the industry over the last decade.
LEHIA Members by their membership show support for their industry which includes support for the Executive and all the advocacy work that is undertaken on behalf of the industry.
There are some people who take this for granted and think things have always been like this and take advantage of it without putting in.
Being a member does make a statement about their business principles by supporting and contributing to the development and future direction of their industry.
Many LEHIA Member are also members of the peak Recreational Boating Association of Victoria, the BIA Vic. The BIA Vic has an important Code of Ethics which members agree to adhere to.
Lake Eildon is a very special waterway as it provides water for Agriculture to grow good clean food as well as providing drinking water for people in the towns and on farms. We should never take it for granted that houseboats and recreation have an unchallenged right to be on Lake Eildon. Some people call it a Social License. There are waterways in Australia where the local houseboat industry has lost the Social License, and the houseboats have been moved on. LEHIA plays an important role in maintaining this Social License.
When thinking about engaging a business to work on your houseboat, LEHIA encourages you to ask the question: – “Are you a member of LEHIA?”
A recent initiative of LEHIA to support its members that support the association is to highlight the businesses and trades provided by the industry with “Member of the Week”. You will see the Members of the Week on social media including Lakeeildon.com, the largest social media page covering Lake Eildon; LEHIA has a special arrangement with the owner of Lakeeildon.com to allow the “Member of the Week” to be highlighted on this page; another benefit of being a LEHIA Member. You can also find the contact details of members by going to the LEHIA web site Members page: https://www.lehia.com.au/
Recently LEHIA hosted the newly appointed CEO of Regional Development Victoria, Xavier Csar. Xavier requested to come to Eildon to gain an understanding of Lake Eildon and the Houseboat Industry and the potential for more jobs, jobs & jobs. Xavier was shown through the Anchorage & Status factories and gained an understanding of the quality of work and craftsmanship that goes into building a houseboat of today.
Next, we took Xavier to the Eildon Boat Club and onto a high quality modern houseboat, Oasis. With the assistance of the EBC, Xavier was taken for a quick trip out onto the Lake where he met a delegation of Lake Eildon Business Owners and representatives from Murrindindi Shire Council and received a presentation on Activating Lake Eildon and the potential of the Houseboat Industry to provide jobs. Fortunately, the weather gods were with us as Xavier took in the magic of Lake Eildon from on top of
Oasis looking down the main arm. It is extremely important having a senior bureaucrat in the State Government gain an understanding of the potential Lake Eildon provides. This doesn’t guarantee success, but we have an informed person at the table where decisions and recommendations to Ministers are made.
I cannot express how valuable LEHIA’s membership of the BIA Vic is. The BIA Vic team has been doing incredible work behind the scenes for recreation at Lake Eildon and for the houseboat industry. As the peak Recreational Boating Association in Victoria the BIA Vic has access to State Government Ministers on a regular basis. Their leadership and hard work has been exceptional. LEHIA has been involved in supporting this great work. Hopefully, we will see the results of this important work in the near future.
LEHIA members continue to work with DEECA and GMW on the trial and testing of a Grey Water Treatment System. Monash University engaged by DEECA has recently conducted further testing. We are hopeful of a positive result in the near future. It is important to recognise the incredible work of Aiden Gale (Faster Plumbers), John Gysberts (Status) and Paul Williams (owner of houseboat Imagine) for volunteering their time and intellectual property for the benefit of the industry.
Last year GMW appointed a new General Manager for Water Storage Services, and I expressed at the time that Alan was a breath of fresh air. Alan’s skills were then appreciated, and he was moved to another senior role at GMW. After the appropriate advertising process GMW has recently appointed a new General Manager for Water Storage Services, Jonathan McKeown. Recently we were able to meet to commence a positive relationship. Our meeting at Lake Eildon went for 2 hours and we discussed many opportunities and concerns for recreation and the houseboating industry. It was a very positive meeting. The GMW Strategic Plan certainly makes strong comment about “Achieving Together” and Water for a Thriving Northern Victoria. The communities of the Lake Eildon Region are very much part of Northern Victoria. With the foundations laid at this meeting we certainly look forward to working together for our mutual benefit. Hopefully, we can organize for Jonathan to meet industry members in the near future.
The Eildon Events Easter Twilight Market; LEHIA participated in the Easter Twilight Market with the inaugural Boat Show & Shine. Recently a debriefing with Karine from Eildon Events took place. The 2025 Easter Twilight Market was an outstanding success with around 5,000 people attending. With having the Boat Show & Shine as part of the event good feedback will enable improvements in the future. It is hoped to build on this concept in the future to not only enhance the numbers at the Eildon Events Twilight Markets to support the Eildon Community but also to highlight the different forms or disciplines of recreational boating with controlled and managed events on the Eildon Pondage Lakes.
Speaking at the Eildon Lions Club 50th Anniversary Dinner and mentioning the magnificent work the Eildon Lions had undertaken in transforming the experience to enable the enjoyment of the beautiful Eildon Pondage Lakes, it has highlighted the great further potential the Pondage Lakes have to assist the revival of the Eildon Community.
Key Worker Housing Project: LEHIA members continue to provide feedback regarding the difficulty in attracting staff and one of the roadblocks is finding appropriate accommodation. With this in mind, LEHIA supported the MSC Grant Application to fund the building of key worker accommodation in Eildon. The Grant application was successful, and we look forward to seeing this key worker accommodation becoming a reality in the near future as the need is still there.
Commercial Hire Houseboats businesses on Lake Eildon; LEHIA facilitated a meeting of the Commercial Hire Houseboat members with the Murrindindi Shire Council Economic Development team to explore possible benefits to expand their businesses and also discuss the co-operative marketing of Lake Eildon.
Lake Levels: After a very dry Summer and Autumn the demand for water for irrigation was strong. Lake Eildon was doing the job it was planned for. The very long and dry Autumn has also led to the Catchment being very dry as well. This has meant that a lot of the Winter Rains has not seen significant inflows yet as a lot of the water has been absorbed by the Catchment. Hopefully after the good July rains the Catchment is now wet enough for good runoff with future rains.
Recently there has been releases for Environmental Flows. I can understand the concerns I hear regarding Environmental Flows. Firstly, with Carp in such prolific numbers in the Goulburn and Murray River systems, I support the Victorian Fisheries Authority statements suggesting a lot of the environmental water is wasted with carp in prolific numbers. The second point to make regarding Environmental Water is this is not extra water being released; it is water that used to be owned by irrigation farmers and now belongs to the Commonwealth & State Government Environmental Water Holders. The impact is we see water releases at this time of the year and far less water being released in Summer & Autumn. At the end of an irrigation season, it should balance out. It should be noted that with so much water owned by the environment and not producing food it is having a serious impact on jobs in Northern Victoria. The third point is please don’t criticize GMW for the Environmental Releases as they act under instructions from the owner of the water rights. If you have any queries regarding Environmental Releases they should be directed to the GBCMA.
Looking forward to a wet end to Winter and a wet Spring with plenty of runoff.
Remember to always respect the water and stay Safe.
As an Industry we should be very proud, as we build World Class Houseboats that are amongst the most Environmentally Friendly Houseboats in the World, whilst providing many rewarding jobs in this Rural Area.
Love Lake Eildon
Mike Dalmau President LEHIA