MORE than a century old, Keepsake Cottage in Tuncurry is made from timbers taken from the wreck of the Empress of India which sank on the Tuncurry bar in 1900, and sandstone footings that came to Tuncurry as ballast on board ships.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Last week, Great Lakes Council approved an application for consent to demolish the building on Manning Street, a move that has shocked members of the Great Lakes Historical Society.
Despite challenges the society would face in raising funds for the project, it always hoped to move the building to land adjoining the Great Lakes Museum where it could be part of the displays there.
Society patron John Bonventi said Forster and Tuncurry had lost so much history, it was important to try to save whatever we had left.
“It’s significant not just for Tuncurry but for the whole district,” he said.
“This week, we’ve been celebrating the role of our wonderful diggers who left our country to protect us, and protect our heritage, and here we are knocking it down – the oldest building in our area to be demolished.”
A structural engineer was brought in to examine the 114-year-old building, which is privately owned. The resulting report found the front and rear verandahs were in immediate danger of failure in high wind, manager of building assessments Gary Mead said.
“When it was built, there were very different requirements as far as tie-downs and bracing (for timber),” he said.
Mr Mead said, faced with the information in the report, council had no option but to grant the demolition consent. The building had previously been highlighted as significant to the community in a heritage study as significant to the community, and the decision was referred on to council’s heritage advisor.
The structural engineer was asked to look at relocation rather than demolition but it was found, due to the make-up of the building, that it “would not be practical or reasonable to undertake works”, Mr Mead said.
“The way the building is constructed, the timber is housed into each other. To break into the building, you would damage other parts of it,” he said.
As part of the consent, the sandstone footings will be donated to council, Mr Mead said, and some of the pressed metal sheets and the fireplace within will be offered to the Great Lakes Historical Society. A detailed photographic record will also be made and donated to the historical society. Mr Bonventi said he wanted to see the building moved and maintained.
“We’ve lost so much in Forster, it’s all been pulled down. This is one of the last still standing. It’s only a small cottage – without the verandahs it’s probably only 30 odd feet long and 20 odd feet wide,” Mr Bonventi said.
“I want to see it saved. It belongs to all of us.”
Keepsake Cottage, formerly known as Fazio Cottage, was built in 1901 by Simon Hemmy, an engineer at John Wright's sawmill, and later, on the tug Marian Mayfield, with much of the timber salvaged from the wreck of the coastal trader 'Empress of India' which was loaded with sawn timber when she ran aground on July 23, 1900 on the Cape Hawke bar, soon breaking up, and spilling all the timber onto Tuncurry Beach.
In 1902, soon after Hemmy had married Hannah Newton, he sold the cottage to Italian fisherman Vincenzo Fazio who had arrived in Tuncurry in 1896. Fazio soon completed the cottage and built a small shop extension on the back facing Kent Street. This shop became Tuncurry's first fish shop and since then has almost been constantly occupied with various businesses over the years.
The Great Lakes Historical Society remembers Vincenzo Fazio as a great lover of music and, being a fisherman, as tough as they come but he was also a renowned entertainer, able to play a variety of instruments including his beloved squeezebox.
Vince was a pioneer of the Great Lakes fishing industry, with the Fazio name today historically more connected to the transport industry after Vince realised that there was a dollar in transporting fish to the railhead after the line reached Taree in 1912.
Members of the Great Lakes Historical Society, desperate for more floor space, see acquisition of the Keepsake Cottage building as a much needed addition to the museums display capacity, apart from its essential preservation.