Our Activities

The Mount Wilson Progress Association maintains the roadside areas of the villages, Founders' Corner, Gregson Park, Sloan Reserve, Wynne Reserve, Waterfall Reserve, Happy Valley, Silva Plana and Cathedral Reserve. It also maintains the Village Walk which enables people to safely walk through the Village from Breenhold to Cathedral Reserve.

In the early 1990s work was started to restore Sloan Reserve and in 1996 the Valder Bridge was constructed nearby.

The Progress Association also maintains the Mt Wilson, Mt Irvine and Bell War Memorial which is on The Avenue near the Study Centre. Each year a Remembrance Day Service is organised by the Progress Association and the Historical Society, followed by a talk about some of the servicemen and women who are remembered on the Memorial.

In September 2003 the Mt Wilson Progress Association surveyed residents about the use of the Village Hall about development of the Hall and programs the community would find useful. About 60% of the respondents were permanent residents and 40% weekenders. The responses indicated community preference for better tourist information on the history of the area and a permanent display of local historical objects, film evenings, more social gatherings, a lending library, etc.

In mid 2005 a lending library was started by a group of volunteers. It is open from 10.00-11.00am every Saturday and about 20% of permanent residents use the library regularly.

Signs and visitor information and facilities are provided by and maintained by the Progress Association.

The visitor sign near the Mt Wilson Fire Station was organised by the Progress Association and erected by Council and the Mt Wilson brochure is produced and printed and distribution boxes placed at convenient locations through the village.

Parking areas for visitors, mainly bushwalkers and canyoners have been created with the help of Council along The Avenue opposite Marcus Clark Reserve, and nearby adjacent to the Mt Wilson Fire Station.

Marcus Clark Reserve is owned and maintained by the Progress Association. There is an interesting background to this reserve which is on The Avenue adjacent to Breenhold and the Fire Station.

The Mt Wilson Village Hall has an audio visual system that was funded by the Progress Association and has been used extensively for everything from quizzes, Melbourne Cup lunches to serious presentations and forums.

On Saturday 26 September 2009 a Bushfire Forum was funded by the Progress Association. Organised by Joe Landsberg, the Mt Wilson Community Fire Forum brought people with bushfire experience and researchers together to get a better understanding of bushfires, how they occur and how to prepare for and resist bushfires.

One of the key goals of the Progress Association is to manage the character of the village. An important part of this is preserving the trees along the sides of the roads, particularly where power lines pass close to or through the trees. Putting the powerlines underground was investigated at length since this seems an obvious solution. However, the very high cost and the risk of killing trees where roots have been cut made this not practical. So the answer was to install aerial bundled cables which can pass through trees with little clearance. Integral Energy worked over several years to install bundled cabling in areas the Progress Association identified as a high priority. We would like to thank Integral Energy for their wonderful cooperation during this project and we recognise the investment they made to help us manage the local environment.