The increasingly successful Gondwana Coast Fossil Walk, transient since inception in 2009, has found a permanent home in Ulladulla’s Oldest House on Green Street.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Oldest House, built in 1850, faced an uncertain future when Milton-Ulladulla Historical Society abandoned the building earlier in the year.
Since then Council has renovated the cottage, maintaining the building's character and the Fossil Walk has been offered a five year lease with an option to renew.
“It will be a much more pleasant space for the Fossil Walk volunteers and provide a wonderful environment for visitors to the new Fossil House," said president Phil Smart.
“It has been a very exciting time for all of the walk's volunteers and things are only going to get better when we are fully set up in our permanent home.
“We are only a few weeks away from opening the door to the public and it will be an exciting new tourism development right on the edge of Ulladulla’s business precinct.”
The Fossil Walks, previously housed in the abandoned Abalone Co-op building, went up in flames in the arson attack in 2013 that razed the adjacent Marine Rescue Unit.
Businessman Glenn Rowen offered a rent-free temporary home in a shopfront in Rowen's Arcade for more than two years “in a wonderful public-spirited response”, Mr Smart said.
From the misfortune of arson to greater exposure in the new high-profile location, the guided walks generated record participation last summer.
The heritage status of their new Oldest House and its importance as a historic asset for the town saved it from demolition when the Historical Society pulled the pin after eight years.
The society had leased the building from Shoalhaven City Council, which changed the agreement, preventing the group from renting it as a tea shop to a retailer to obtain an income.
The Millard family built the cottage in St Vincent Street in the 1850s to operate a bacon business.
When knockdown was imminent in 1996 descendant of the original family, Steve Millard, formed a fundraising committee and had the house relocated to Green Street, following a community campaign to save it.