Bedford Cottage demolished THE National Parks and Wildlife Service has finally finished the job of demolishing Bedford Cottage. The wreckers who moved in last weekend to knock down the 100-year-old cottage were only the culmination of 20 years of benign neglect by the parks service. As recently as 1992, Bedford Cottage was a family home. Known as Bedford Cottage or Gardener’s Cottage, it was built between 1909 and 1915 for James Toyer, who was married to the daughter of the first Royal National Park manager. But long before the house was built the property housed the depot and garage for the earliest horse-drawn buses in Sutherland Shire and the region’s first motor bus depot. The fight to save the building began more than 20 years ago when the cottage was first listed in the shire’s local environmental plan as an item of local significance. Sutherland Shire Historical Society’s curator, Jim Cutbush, said the society and other groups had tried for more than 10 years to have the cottage restored. In 2007, they were advised by heritage building consultant Gary Waller that the foundations were sound and the brickwork, an unusual and attractive herringbone pattern, could be repaired. He estimated it would cost about $300,000 to replace the roof and repair the walls and flooring. Mr Cutbush said he believed the NPWS had let the building deteriorate deliberately as part of a wider agenda to erase the Royal National Park’s built environment. A proposal by shire radio station 2SSR to occupy the building as a radio studio was knocked back by the minister who suggested that a radio transmission tower might be detrimental the health of the park’s flora and fauna. ‘‘We found this a bit strange as Australia’s first official military signal came from the park,’’ Mr Cutbush said. ~ Pat Musick Source: theleader.au/story/1599581/bedford-cottage-demolished/?cs=1507
Posted on: Thu, 27 Jun 2013 13:42:53 +0000
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