Alexandra Falls and Rhett Burnie
CHANGE is on the horizon for Broadford, with two of the town’s older main street properties demolished recently to make way for new developments.
The former Stray’s Blacksmith building and the Broadford Produce store were both demolished in January.
Broadford Historical Society president John Brissett said he was disappointed that the buildings had been demolished.
Mr Brissett said he was concerned that new development would ruin Broadford’s unique character.
“We want Broadford to look like Broadford, not like every other nondescript little modern town” he said.
He said the society is trying to maintain ‘the importance of invaluable local history’ and said that he was upset that nothing more could be done to maintain both buildings.
“It (the blacksmith building) was a point of history and it is gone forever and all record of it is gone,” he said.
“Now there’s nothing there but an empty block of land,” he said.
But heritage adviser to Mitchell Shire Council Willis Keeble told The Review that the blacksmith building had ‘sort of slipped into the heritage outlay’ and the decision to demolish it was made because it would have been too costly to restore the building and too problematic for it to remain.
She said that the demolition was unfortunate, but not much was known about the building’s history.
“It is unknown who built it or when, and there was no important history attached to it,” Ms Keeble said.
The building was also ridden with asbestos which was a danger to the public, she said.
Ms Keeble told The Review the produce building was not heritage listed.
Mitchell Shire currently has 230 locations covered in a heritage overlay; including buildings, bridges, trees and other important local sites.
Ms Keeble said that the Mitchell Shire is concerned with the conservation and protection of the heritage sites
According to Mr Brissett, the blacksmith building appeared to have been built prior to World War II and now the property will be redeveloped by new landowner Sam Grasso.
The former Broadford Produce Store lot will now be the base for a car wash.
Mitchell Shire Councillor Des Callaghan said he supported the demolition of both buildings and believed that development would help beautify Broadford’s main street.
“Let’s face it, I wouldn’t say they were anything to look at it – they were nothing to write home about,” he said.
“Both were derelict in my opinion.”
Cr Callaghan said he felt Broadford was ‘moving forward’ and hoped that more development would happen in the town.
“That corner that the produce store was on will look beautiful once the developers have finished it,” he said.
Cr Callaghan said that he hoped more forward-thinking developers would converge on Broadford.
“The bottom end of town, there’s empty shops and it would be great if someone went through there and developed them.
“To me that’s taking the town forward.
“Imagine what would happen if we didn’t allow anything,” he said.
