The Victorian government will help bankroll community efforts to secure a better future for The Diggings at Wandiligong.

Wandiligong Preservation Society (WPS) Incorporated was last week notified its application for a grant of $41,036 from the government's Tiny Towns Fund to help prepare a masterplan for The Diggings had been successful.

WPS manages the 69 acres of land which constitute The Diggings on behalf of the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) and was supported in its application by DEECA, Alpine Shire Council and Tourism North East.

WPS president Kath Healy said the society's 13-strong committee, together with its 48 members, were thrilled to get the funding to develop a masterplan for the site.

"Community input will be pivotal in this process," Ms Healy told the Alpine Observer.

"We'll be engaging a consultant to undertake the masterplan, with public consultation to be a key factor.

"We want all users of the Diggings to attend consultation sessions and offer ideas.

"The area will still be kept as a nature reserve and it will always be, but our goals include improving the interactive signage and mapping and so on."

Ms Healy said the funding will help maintain The Diggings.

"It takes $11,000 per annum to maintain the area... we'll look to see how we can decrease those costs," she said.

"Some major improvements will be to the bird-watching area, which is 28 hectares."

Ms Healy said the consultation process would commence within a month or two, with the masterplan to be completed by early next year.

She said the completed masterplan would help identify projects and areas the society could apply for future government funding.

The Diggings area has a rich goldmining past with its Chinese Bridge a reminder to the many Chinese miners who once called the area home.

The Diggings loops allow you to walk through some of the former goldfields - from areas the first diggers in the 1860s sluiced for alluvial gold with gold pan, sluice box and cradle, to deep mine shafts sunk to locate deep leads of gold bearing rock and even areas of dredging undertaken in the area between 1905 to 1914.

Unearthing more of the history through interpretive boards has been suggested as a way to enhance the area's tourism benefits.