History up for grabs

By KATH GANNAWAY

HEALESVILLE’S Mechanics Institute building has an interesting and well-documented history.
The question now is what does the future hold for the building that, having been saved once from demolition, is again in desperate need of a saviour.
The 122-year-old building, one of only three remaining historic public buildings in Healesville, will be auctioned on 2 August.
Retired teacher-librarian Pam Firth (now Baragwanath) was its first saviour. She bought the dilapidated Church Street building in 1984 and with, literally, ‘blood, sweat and tears’ – along with a significant financial investment, restored the building and reopened it as The Old Mechanics’ Gallery and Tea Room in 1986.
By the time its centenary came around in 1992, it included being Recorded by the National Trust, assessed by the Upper Yarra Valley Dandenong Ranges Authority as an excellent example of regional historical significance, and listed on the National Estate by the Australian Heritage Commission.
Back in Healesville last week for the 30th birthday celebrations of the Healesville & District Historical Society, of which she was a founding member, Mrs Baragwanath said she was happy and relieved to learn that the building was up for sale, after languishing for a number of years.
“It’s happened at a good time,” she said.
The building is not yet beyond repair, but undoubtedly needs money spent on it.
“The building is an icon – part of a great movement (Mechanics’ Institute and Free Library) that was the basis for TAFE and our municipal library system we have today,” Ms Baragwanath said.
“If we can’t save a building that’s over 100 years old, what does that say about how we value our heritage.”
Healesville Historian Bryn Jones, who was also pleased to see the building on the market, said he hoped that it would be given a new lease on life.
He was a guest speaker in 1992 when Ms Firth launched a book celebrating the centenary of the original Institute and 100 years of Library Service to the Healesville Community.
In terms of historic public buildings, he said the Mechanics’ Institute, the railway station and the court house were the only remaining examples of early public buildings in the town.
“It would be wonderful as Healesville celebrates its 150th year, to see this building preserved for future generations,” he said.
In 1984 when it was advertised by S. Hoogenbosch and Associates, it was described as “a venerable” building and promoted as “an ideal opportunity for an imaginative purchaser”.
The building will be auctioned by Mark Gunther of First National Real Estate at noon on Saturday 2 August.
It remains ‘venerable’ … and the hope is it will find an imaginative purchaser ready to grasp another ‘ideal opportunity’.