Piece by piece

BLOCK by block, a specialist contractor is now deconstructing the bluestone McAteer Cottage, making way for the Barwon Heads Road upgrade and closing a chapter on a community campaign to save the piece of local history.

After months of gathering support from petition signatories and eventually the City of Greater Geelong, campaigners accepted a compromise and recorded a “win”.

The 1860s cottage had to be removed for the Major Roads Project Victoria project to go ahead and reduce congestion on the busy road.

But an agreement to carefully document, deconstruct and store each piece was reached, allowing for the cottage to be rebuilt to its original design in the future when funding is secured and a new site have been decided.

While some pieces of building material from the cottage have deteriorated and might not be suitable for future use, key building materials such as the bluestone blocks, which have been individually numbered, internal wall and chimney bricks, windows, and doors will be among the materials retained and stored.

Campaigners have suggested nearby JF Field Reserve would be an appropriate new site for the cottage, which members believe would “result in negligible loss of open space”.