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Scattered throughout this landscape are structures that hint
of Ash Island’s more recent European past which includes dairy
farming, surveillance capabilities during World War II and a community
large enough to support a two teacher school. We have restored a
number of these sites so we can use the structures to indirectly
assist habitat restoration works. For example the 1890s schoolmasters
house has been restored to function as an Information Centre and
caretakers residence. Radar Buildings constructed in 1942, have been
restored and converted into an Estuarine Interpretative Centre.
Restoration of heritage sites such as these encourages a broader
visitor base to the site, and is part of our rehabilitation strategy.
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Old schoolmasters
house now restored as Kooragang Wetlands Information Centre
and caretakers house. |
Radar building built during World War
II as it was in 1993. |
Milham's Farm |
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The
Kooragang Project has included restoration of the following sites:
Schoolmaster’s
House
In the 1890s a solid brick house was built for the headmaster
of the Ash Island School. The house with its cedar doors and architraves,
baltic pine ceilings, tallowwood floors, and Italian marble fireplaces
has many a tale to tell. Past pupils remember needlework lessons
in the lounge room under the guidance of the headmasters wife. Successive
headmasters lived here until 1934. Since that time the house has
been home to a number of people including squatters, a young newly
married couple from Ash Island, and a lease holder who lived there
for forty years until her death in 1997.
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Before: old
schoolmasters house in 1997. |
After: now
Kooragang Wetlands Information Centre. |
After: now
restored and lived in by our caretaker and his family. |
Radar Buildings
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Before:
radar buildings, little more than cow sheds in 1997 |
Now used as Estuarine Interpretive Centre (EIC). |
Even Green Tree Frogs
enjoy the acoustics of the EIC. |
Milham’s Farmhouse
Rubbish has been cleared from the area, including the well. Restoration
of the site has been based on old photographs from ex-islanders.
A wire fence has been built around the sandstone and seashell mortar
ruins. Parts of the garden have been restored, and are currently
during maintained by a group of volunteers from PRA. A picnic table
has been incorporated into the site. Nearby is a well and a 160
year old pear tree, the sole survivor of two originally planted
there. Beside the House is a drain with the remains of a mini floodgate.
This is typical of how farmers drained excess water from their land,
but made sure that the tides wouldn’t get in to make the soils
saline.
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Before: Milham's
farmhouse in 1920s |
After: The cared for ruins now make
a perfect picnic spot. |
Remains of a well,
labourers' accommodation and a 160 year old pear tree add
interest to this site. |
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