Bringing life back to Linton’s library

LINTON’S Library building, an iconic part of the town’s historic Sussex streetscape, is set for restoration works.

Initially established in 1874 as a Mechanics’ Institute, the site currently has a book collection of 1600 volumes, and has always been a place of community reading and learning, whether residents wished to catch up on news from The Grenville Standard or undertake research.

The Linton and District Historical Society is the committee of management for the building, which is owned by the Shire, and includes old living quarters at its rear where librarians lived until 1990.

LDHS president Jill Wheeler said the 147-year-old building is sinking into the ground, and crumbling in part, but a recently received Federal Stronger Communities grant of $10,000 will help kick-start renovation works.

“In 2014, we got a conservation management plan done by a heritage architect who let us know what needed to be done to restore it, and we also had a heritage engineer look at the foundations. We’re referring to those plans,” she said.

“We have two things at the top of the priority list. We want to restump the back living quarters area because they’ve sunk into the ground, but in order to do that, we have to dismantle the chimney, which we will reinstall at a later stage.

“We’ve engaged a re-stumper, and at the same time, we’d like to engage a heritage bricklayer who will assess which bricks we can keep and reuse. To that stage, it will cost $15,685.”

The Society plans to apply for further grants to fund improvements to “wonky” walls and doorframes, and fully reinstate the chimney.

Ms Wheeler said the building is deteriorating as the years go on, making restoration more difficult and more expensive. She emphasised the importance of renovating the heritage asset sooner rather than later, as it is deeply “valued” by town residents.

“The ultimate goal is to complete restoration and make it a usable community space. We would like to have a museum there.

“We also want to repaint and fix some termite problems. It’s a long-term project,” she said.

The Golden Plains Shire are contributing $5685 to the initial works, which are expected to see action later this year.