Caroline Hammat
Hundreds of books were destroyed last week when a popular ‘stop and swap’ street library made from an old commercial glass door fridge was set alight on the edge of Millicent.
Anne and Peter Hughes received a phone call Tuesday morning from a local dog walker who asked what had happened to the ‘book box’ as there was only ash where the books once sat.
Ms Hughes said rather than feeling angry about the act of vandalism it just made her and her grandchildren sad.
“I’ve got a little seven year old grandson who’s an avid reader and he just couldn’t believe that somebody would do that to books,” she said.
“But we’ve had some wonderful offers of support since it happened.”
The community have quickly rallied around with a nearby neighbour loading the burnt out fridge onto his trailer for disposal and a local business offering a double glass door fridge as a replacement.
Measurements of the new fridge have been taken and a new pad of cement will be poured with the help of another neighbour for it to sit on.
Numerous offers of books to fill the ‘book box’ have come from across the community with Ms Hughes asking people to hold on to them until the new library is installed.
For about five years the Hughes’ have had the little library at their Williams Road gate.
For the first two years it was in a couple of bedside cupboards nailed together and placed on the fence.
Students from the Mount Burr Primary School inspired an upgrade after Ms Hughes visited the school to talk about the initiative.
“The kids asked me how do people know what’s in the box and I said there’s a really good question, because I hadn’t even thought about it,” she said.
“We had a little sign on the top that said stop and swap, but what were you swapping?”
“Pete then got on to the buy, swap and sell pages and found a fridge in Mount Gambier for 50 bucks, which was perfect.
“It had a glass door so people could see what’s in there, shelves and it was sheltered from the weather.”
That fridge was placed on a cement slab and encouraged the Hughes’ to beautify their entrance with gabion walls and small garden beds.
Their street library was originally inspired by the Hughes’ daughter-in-law who travelled around Australia with her husband and two young sons.
“They couldn’t carry a lot of stuff so everywhere they went Jo would swap her books,” she said.
“She came back from that and said you need to start up a book swap, you have so many travellers going past your gate.
“I’m a reader, my mum’s a reader and my aunty is a reader, so it basically started with us all.
“Once we’d read a book we would hang on to them to pass on to other people, so we had a few to start with, and a friend of mine knew someone who was cleaning out all of her books.
“It started off with donations, much the same as how it’s going to restart.
“It’s been amazing what it’s done for the community, hardly a day goes past when there’s not half a dozen or a dozen people stop at that box.”
The little library is registered with Wiki Camps and Street Library Australia ensuring regular visits from tourists.
It has also grown to include a trolley for excess produce.
People aren’t expected to swap for the produce they collect from the site but there are often things left by others.
“Mum and Dad have a veggie garden and we have a veggie garden, you always have way more than use.
“We’ve had people leave trays of little succulents down there and other people bring plums and lemons.”
The Hughes grandchildren have also used the site to sell kindling and pine cones to earn some pocket money and learn about money handling.
“They have to give a percentage of it to a charity of their choice, they have a percentage they can spend and the rest has to go in the bank.”
The act of vandalism was reported to police who visited the property at 9am Tuesday morning.
Police are investigating and ask anyone with information that may assist to contact Crime Stoppers.
Information can be provided anonymously to Crime Stoppers online at https://crimestopperssa.com.au or free call 1800 333 000.
