MOUNT Gambier’s 65-year-old towering railway roundhouse will soon become another forgotten landmark with demolition works well under way at the site.
The dismantling works were in full swing yesterday following heavy machinery moving onto the site on Friday.
While a lone protester stood in front of the makeshift gates early Friday, the machinery rolled in with little disruption.
A police presence was deployed to the site given the possibility of protesters getting in the way of heavy machinery.
Despite the National Trust of SA trying to stonewall the demolition at the 11th hour, the transport department and the State Government gave the green light for the galvanised shed to be razed.
The Mount Gambier roundhouse – which will have its timbers and graffiti artwork salvaged – is one of only three remaining in South Australia.
National Trust of SA chief executive officer Dr Darren Peacock said the roundhouse would now meet a “sad and regrettable end” despite building community pressure for the transport department to halt the works.
“It is disappointing the department is unwilling to listen to the community’s ideas about how to make Mount Gambier’s roundhouse a valuable asset rather than a neglected and derelict site,” Dr Peacock said.
“In pursuing demolition instead of rehabilitation, the department is destroying a potential asset and leaving behind an un-remediated contaminated site with the heritage listed turntable sitting derelict in isolation from the structure that was integral to its purpose.”
He said such “vandalism made no sense” given the former roundhouse in Peterborough had been transformed into a significant tourism destination as Steamtown.
Interstate, similar structures have been afforded full heritage protection and been restored and reused.
National Trust Mount Gambier branch chair Nathan Woodruff said correspondence with the department about the future of the roundhouse had “gone unanswered” for years.
“In recent months we have sought to engage the department on some exciting reuse possibilities, but there has been no response,” Mr Woodruff said.
“We have provided alternative engineering advice and identified materials for the restoration of the roundhouse, but the department appears uninterested in anything other than demolition.”
He said Mount Gambier would lose an “irreplaceable” part of its heritage and the chance to create something new with significant tourism potential, as has occurred with the former railway roundhouse in Peterborough.
The roundhouse failed to gain listing as a State Heritage Place late last month, which would have afforded some statutory protection for the building.
Both the roundhouse and turntable have been recognised as having local heritage significance as part of the railway heritage of Mount Gambier and the South East.
The government has not informed the community regarding its future plans for the site.
Meanwhile, the contractor tasked with dismantling the roundhouse has foreshadowed the works will take around two weeks to fully complete.
WFC Contracting company director Anthony Holmes – who was overseeing the works – said heavy machinery such as cherry pickers, excavators and a crane would be used.
Describing the dismantling works as “straight forward”, he said the company would salvage timbers and any other significant items.
“We will also salvage the artwork (graffiti) on there, it is considered notable art,” Mr Holmes said.
He revealed there would be up to eight workers on site during the works.
“We will push the roof off with an excavator and the crane will lift all the big timbers down.”
All salvaged material will be given to Mount Gambier City Council.
The State Government has estimated the works will cost around $50,000.
In a statement provided yesterday, a State Government spokesperson said the structure was not safe.
“The facts remain the same in that an independent engineering report confirmed the building is not structurally safe, could not reasonably be rehabilitated and the ultimate recommendation was the building be demolished,” the spokesperson said.
“As such, the decision has been made and the demolition works will continue.”
