1 Dec 2023
The Auburn National Trust is very excited to receive a $20k State Heritage Grant for further works to the roof of the Auburn Courthouse. This is to follow up on works completed in October 2023 where we had the original Welsh slate roof restored using money from a Community Assets Grant via the Clare and Gilbert Valley Council.
The difficulty with managing a building on the State Heritage Register is that any works require the submission of Development and Building Applications, which are costly and time consuming to prepare, so we are fortunate that James Guy, Heritage Projects Officer from National Trust of SA was able to assist with applying for these. However, as it costs the same to apply for a large job as it does for a small one, we obtained permission for restoration to the roof of the entire building. This means that we were immediately ready to apply for the State Heritage Conservation Grant as the approvals were already done, and the local Auburn Branch of the National Trust would be struggling to come up with enough money to get all the works done that are necessary on our own.
The Auburn Courthouse is a beautiful and interesting building and an excellent example of colonial architecture. The building was handed over to the Auburn National Trust as custodians in 1975, and is used to store the history of the town and its surrounds.
The Auburn National Trust has also recently opened the first stage of a refurbished garden in the Police Paddock (where the police horses were kept) and celebrated our 50 year anniversary of our branch.
To be awarded this grant means the building will be able to be better preserved for the benefit of the town of Auburn and its visitors well into the future, and we look forward to the works commencing.
