THE Mount Gambier community is stepping up its campaign to save the city’s heritage railway roundhouse, which potentially could be dismantled.
The National Trust of South Australia will hold a public meeting in Mount Gambier on Wednesday at the Old Courthouse to canvass community views about re-using the site as part of a heritage precinct.
This follows the SA Heritage Council halting the demolition of the roundhouse in June by giving it provisional heritage listing.
The heritage council will make a final decision after sifting through a cluster of submissions.
National Trust chief executive officer Dr Darren Peacock said the trust believed successful models of re-use from elsewhere could readily be applied to the roundhouse.
“With the highly successful landscaping of the railway lands creating new public open space for the community, the only thing missing is activation of the former railway structures, including the railway station and the roundhouse,” Dr Peacock said.
“The combination of attractive open space and activated heritage buildings is one of most successful formulas for generating tourism visitation in the world.”
Dr Peacock said the “opportunity was there for the taking” in Mount Gambier with a bit of co-operation from the State Government and an enthusiastic local community.
“We are looking to the State Government and Mount Gambier City Council to work with the Trust to create a new tourism destination,” he said.
If the state government proceeds with its plan to demolish the former roundhouse, he said the community would lose an irreplaceable heritage asset.
Dr Peacock said public money would also be wasted destroying something rather than creating something new with considerable potential social and economic benefits.
“The money that would have to be spent to demolish the roundhouse and re-mediate the site would be much better spent on creating something that provides community value and contributes to the tourism economy,” he said.
“We believe the economics of the decision to demolish the roundhouse just do not stack up.”
The Mount Gambier roundhouse is one of only three such structures remaining in the state and the only one not in active use.
The meeting will be addressed by Pat Kent – from Steamtown in Peterborough – and Dr Peacock.
The meeting is scheduled at 6.30pm for a light supper with the official part getting under way at 7pm.
