Charlotte Varcoe
VANDALISM conducted to Penola’s historic Bond Store heritage building is set to be repaired soon with the Penola National Trust president labelling the incident as disappointing.
Police around the region continue the investigation of the vandalism with damages expected to proceed upwards of $5,000.
Last week several youths were witnessed removing bricks from the exterior walls of the heritage building located in Bowden Street all of which was critical to the structure of the building.
The Bond Store was originally under the ownership of the Wattle Range Council, however changed hands to the Penola National Trust three years ago.
Trust president Peter Balnaves said throughout the trust’s ownership of the building a number of volunteer based hours were put into maintaining and upgrading the facility which was now utilised for private meetings.
“We lease this building to the Coonawarra Vignerons for storage and meetings when there are dignitaries coming into the area which allows the organisation to conduct its business elsewhere from their own offices,” Mr Balnaves said.
“So to have this vandalised in such a significant manner is extremely disappointing.”
He said due to the manner of the incident the repairs would not be covered by insurance stating the costings would be at the expense of the National Trust itself.
“We have been very lucky to secure a tradesperson who is able to complete the repairs and we were hoping to get them here last week however they are currently in the middle of a job and due to the amount of rock and type of rock that has been pulled out, we will have to secure some paddock rock,” Mr Balnaves said.
“Penola is one of the oldest towns in the South East and to find this sort of damage is sad because it is a criminal offence and the Bond Store is a part of our history so by conducting this vandalism it is a complete disregard to that element.
“We have also had community members come forward stating they were more than happy to fund cameras for the area if needed which is something we will continue to look into.”
Any witnesses are asked to call Penola Police on 87372315 or to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
