Cultivating digital connection across Moyne Shire

04/02/2025

Aerial view of Mortlake, with the township in the foreground of the image and rolling hills with scattered collections of trees visible in the background.

We've all been there.

You head out on the road, keen to spot some of the most beautiful sights Victoria has to offer.

But, as you travel further on your journey, your devices start to die, or you can’t find WiFi.

In an age when phones are our GPS and travel itineraries don't tend to exist on paper, this can scupper travel plans.

Well, for visitors to Port Fairy, Koroit and Mortlake, those worries will soon be a thing of the past.

Moyne Shire Council's three biggest towns will soon be home to 'smart street furniture', supported by more than $93,000 from our Council Support Package.

This furniture will give visitors and locals a place to relax and recharge - in every sense of the word. Offering free public WiFi, as well as USB and wireless charging ports, it’ll keep people connected via their devices.

‘It will provide people with access to some pretty wonderful technology, while also giving them somewhere to sit and relax,’ said Cr Karen Foster, Mayor of Moyne Shire Council.

'In Koroit, for example, we're looking to install the furniture at the village green, which is a major bus stop for local and state routes. It's also near shops and community spaces,' said Cr Foster.

The smart furniture will also provide a boost for local users.

'They'll be a general chill out space for young people, and there's an opportunity to integrate public art to really create a sense of place around them."

'It will also support local businesses - people will want to hang around for longer in the business areas, and they're more likely to pop into the shops.'

'The WiFi connection will also help people discover what's around them and encourage them to check out everything that's on offer around the towns,' added Cr Foster.

The street furniture also features sensors to capture data in a 50-metre radius, by clocking nearby mobile phone signals, as well as public WiFi logins.

This will help Moyne Shire capture important information about visitation numbers and peak usage hours across these sites.

That information will help the Shire to:

Better plan and execute projects
Measure crowd numbers, parking use and public facility usage
Enhance visitor and volunteer experiences at locally run events
Further collaboration with local partners, clubs and businesses.

'We're looking forward to seeing these put to good use across our biggest towns,' said Cr Foster.

'Moyne Shire is one of the biggest, covering more than 5,000 square kilometres. We have a lot of smaller townships where connectivity can be an issue.'

'Once we've got these three locations up and running, it will provide a blueprint for how we can expand the use of this technology,' she added.

‘It’s a very exciting development for the Shire.’

This support for Moyne Shire forms part of our record $45 billion investment into rural and regional Victoria over the past decade.

From funding support to install smart furniture, developing a masterplan for the Nirranda Recreation Reserve, or backing the installation of 3-phase power at the Port Fairy Goods Shed, we're working to make Moyne Shire an even better place to live, work, stay and play.