Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Will one of Warrnambool’s oldest original bridges survive the wrecking ball? Oh, I hope so.

The Warrnambool City Council will soon decide what to do about the failing Stanley St bridge/Edward’s Bridge that crosses the Merri River near the pastel monstrosity formerly known as the Lady Bay Hotel, and which has been in service for 130 years.

Demolition is an option, such is the Warrnambool way.

Just three years ago –  in 2017 – the council spent tens of thousands of dollars fixing this very bridge and strengthening the piles that hold it up.

Apart from the piles, the bridge was in “generally good condition” the WCC’s then-infrastructure manager said in a media release.

Even better, the end result of spending these tens of thousands of dollars on repairs was that “the historic bridge will be serviceable for decades to come”.

Decades? Not quite.

Here we are, just three years later, and Stanley St bridge is not only in need of major repairs – another $80,000 will be spent straight away – but is under threat of demolition.

How can this be?

And has the council demanded a refund for the works that failed to extend the life of the bridge for five years, let alone decades to come?

I asked the council spokesman these questions on 20 May and also for a figure on how much the 2017 bridge works cost: there has been no response.

Oddly, these 2017 works didn’t rate a mention in the report to the council meeting on 4 May when councillors talked about how much money they would need to borrow to either knock the old bridge down, repair it, or keep it and build a brand new bridge alongside.

Nobody put up their hand and said, hang on, didn’t we just spend a bucketload of public money a couple of years ago to fix this bridge?

Like the Merri River in flood, so much public money just swishes through and is never seen or heard of again.

The same could be said for the Hopkins River bridge which is also in need of major repairs, despite being completely replaced just 20 years ago.

It will soon have $460,000 spent on it to prevent “catastrophic failure” caused by defective concrete and other work that, obviously, couldn’t handle the harsh conditions.

Here’s part of the shopping list for Pontings, according to the tender:

Concrete patch repairs to pre-stressed beams;

Concrete patch repairs to pier headstocks and pier piles;

Crack injection to pier piles;

Silane treatment to pre-stressed beams;

Silane treatment to pier headstocks;

Silane treatment to pier headstocks; and

Protective paint system for pedestrian walkway galvanised beams & plates/cleats.

 

Cripes, that is some list.

The Stanley St bridge will cost around $2.6m to replace, or $1.2m to repair, with the council to cover half the cost and the remainder from a grant.

Perhaps if we had got it right the first time, we wouldn’t be facing the loss of another piece of our precious history.

My hope is the new bridge, if it must be built, runs alongside the old….and we push for a decent warranty.

Any other option should not be an option at all.

The Terrier – Carol Altmann

LAST DRINKS: Tonight (25/2/19) the W’Bool City Council voted 5/2 to try and raise rates above the cap because we are apparently in deep financial do-do.

It is just three months since W’bool City Council CEO Bruce Anson retired – he spent 11 years at the helm, passing each performance review with flying colours, and earning a salary package that toward the end was close to $320,000 a year.

You earn this kind of money for a reason – to keep the ship in shape.

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By Carol Altmann

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] W [/dropcap]e have all done it: browsed the property pages and found a renovator’s delight that prompts you to dream and ask “what if….?”

Except Melbourne couple John Watkinson and Colleen Guiney didn’t just close off their dream by closing the newspaper – and it was only the newspaper then – but took the next, huge step of actually buying the place.

“We had been looking at a couple of properties with a view to setting up luxury accommodation, and this ended up being the right one,” Colleen explains.

That property was the prominent, two-storey, historic home (b:1875) on the corner of Gipps and Regent streets, Port Fairy, a once majestic, white-washed stone building that had fallen into disrepair, but has since been spectacularly transformed into the Drift House.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] T[/dropcap]he house formerly known as “Riverdale”, for its proximity to the Moyne River, was owned at that time by well-known locals Tom and Irene Bartlett who at one stage operated a gallery on site.

“Tom was a bit of a collector, to say the least, and when we came to look at the place, even though it had been unoccupied for about five years, it was absolutely full of every conceivable thing you could imagine and multiples of those things,” John recalls, smiling.

That was eight years ago and when John and Colleen began the slow process of renovating, rebuilding and restoring the house, many of these things came in handy before they were relegated to the skip.

“We would come down on weekends from our place in Richmond and camp out here in the backyard and our boys (Milo, now 10, and Toby, 8) loved it. There were old kettles and toasters, about 14 chairs, six spring base bed sets…and it became their adventure playground,” Colleen laughs at the memory.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] F [/dropcap]ortunately there was also a working shower and flushing toilet, so the family set up a temporary kitchen in what was a brick double garage and spent the next six and a half years developing their dream.

The planning approvals alone through Moyne Shire Council took three years to finalise as it grappled with the contemporary-meets-historic design by Melbourne architects, Multiplicity, who also transformed the double garage into a small residence for the family.

And then there were the inevitable delays and cost blow-outs that come with any grand design.

“I must admit there was a couple of times when I wanted to give up,” Colleen says.

“There is no doubt it ended up costing a lot more money than we anticipated and also took a lot more time..but it has been worth it,” John adds.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] T [/dropcap]he Drift House was finally launched as boutique, luxury accommodation in December 2013 and combines the skills of both John and Colleen perfectly.

While both had only limited experience in running accommodation (“John’s parents had a B&B in the UK and we looked after that for a little while when we were in our 20s,” says Colleen), they have a sharp eye for what works.

John was previously a marketing executive, while Colleen, who is also a practicing artist, worked as a visual merchandiser – a person who styles products to make them appealing if not irresistible.

This potent combination explains why Drift House hit the ground running and has attracted awards, attention and accolades from around Australia and internationally since virtually the day it opened.

It was named best luxury accommodation in the Qantas 2014 Tourism Awards and recently took out the RACV Victorian Tourism Award for Luxury Accommodation for the second year running. It also made the finalist list in the prestigious Smith Hotel Awards 2014.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] S [/dropcap]uch was the enormous interest in the building, John and Colleen held an open home so that locals could wander through and take a look at the transformation.

The gold-coin-entry event was so popular, it raised $3000 for the Port Fairy rail trail.

Its appeal lies not only its funky design (such as slices of retro carpet on doors and fence railings as door handles) and its luxurious interiors, but its walking proximity to all the unique bits of Port Fairy, including the Merrijig Inn, Blarney Books & Art, the Whale Bone gallery, the Stag restaurant and on it goes.

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #8F9F59;”] T [/dropcap]hese are the very parts of Port Fairy which Colleen and John have come to love and neither misses Melbourne.

“We work seven days a week, and sometimes late hours, but I still get to swim at the beach every day, do yoga or get down to my studio in Port Fairy, and John gets to cycle without having to get up at 5.30am to miss the traffic,” Colleen laughs.

“It’s a pretty good life,” John says, smiling.

[box]You can find the Drift House on the web here. You can also visit Colleen’s visual art website here.[/box]

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