A little bit about this place
Johanna is a beautiful, dairy hamlet on the coast of the Otway Ranges in Victoria. It sits at the foot of the Great Otway National Park and encompasses a windswept, wild and beautiful beach enjoyed by surfers, tourists, local residents, kangaroos and koalas. Right near the beach is a small public reserve offering access to a couple of tennis courts and a free gas BBQ. The Reserve is in need of love and funds to sustain it and return it to its former glory. That glory includes tennis played there for almost 100 years, Christmas parties and an open air space available for the local community and the public to meet and play. The Reserve Committee applies for grants to sustain it but funding is only intermittent. The local committee funds the gas that’s used by visitors at the BBQ; mow the area, manage trees and remove rubbish. Beyond this day to day effort, the committee is also working on revitalising the reserve. Funds have been raised and much has been achieved – and there are future plans for erecting fencing, resurfacing one of the tennis courts and erecting signs to draw users to the reserve. Right now the reserve needs more continuous financial support from locals and visitors to get it moving. If you love Johanna, or if you have enjoyed a visit here or have had a couple of BBQs in the BBQ pavilion, you’ll understand how critical it is to keep community spaces like this open, accessible and safe for all to enjoy them. We’d love and greatly appreciate your support.
A little bit about us
In 2010 the Department of Sustainability & Environment invited regional communities to manage facilities on DSE (now DLWP) land in their own areas. This is when JPPR Committee of Management was formed. We were incorporated in 2012. In 2004 Tennis Victoria and Colac Otway Shire did a comprehensive survey/audit of regional tennis facilities. It catergorised them as those worth saving and those worth letting go. Of those worth saving the Johanna Courts facility was rated as No.1 in need of repair. Estimated total cost by the audit was approximately $100,000. This included tree removal, landscaping, resurfacing, re-fencing etc. Our Committee of Management set the goal of restoring the facility as recommended by Tennis Victoria and raising funds to do this. JPPR were lucky to receive a small grant from the Colac Otway Shire in 2013 that helped contribute to the funding of our new BBQ facility. This facility will be used to attract further funding. The BBQ has since been housed in a brick enclosure and new post and rail fencing surround one end of the Reserve. This volunteer work was done by Committee and local community. The Johanna Courts reserve is the local community’s only gathering point (we do not have a Hall) and this is where our annual Christmas BBQ takes place. In 2014 JPPR Inc. were successful through the Grampians and Barwon South West Small Grants Program enabling removal of the surrounding cypress trees that over their 80 years had become an ineffective screen as well as hazardous and were clogging the Johanna river. Collaborative works with the local Landcare (HordernVale/Glenaire) group for the cleaning up and revegetation of the Reserve were carried out on the Anzac weekend of 2015. Planting and protection for 180 indigenous trees – still requiring fencing. All permissions from DEPI, neighbouring property owners & via Native Land Title search have been granted for our proposal. In 2015 the Committee were successful in attaining a small grant from the Bendigo Bank which will be leveraged for greater fund raising from other Grant applications. Further infrastructure improvements are required for practical functioning of the Reserve. These are: Drainage, Fencing, Furnishings, Water Tank, and Signage. Once these are done the Committee aims to reinstate a tennis court. The resurfacing and new fencing will require heavy funding challenges.