Meet the Buninyong builder making mini mailbox mockups

HISTORIC buildings in Buninyong are seeing their landmark facades replicated for an express, or standard delivery, purpose.

After creating a mailbox replica of the Old Buninyong Library, Buninyong Men’s Shed member Jeffrey Douglass has his hands full building projects for others looking to get in on the tiny town fun.

With his follow-up, a diminutive depiction of the Buninyong Community House, installed earlier this month, Mr Douglass said he’s overwhelmed by the local response.

“The talk’s been all over town,” he said. “Message gets around especially in a small village like Buninyong.

“A couple residents have asked for one at their houses too. I’ve got another one that’s just come in from the Meredith History Interest Group.

“Once words gets around more, I’ll probably finish up with an anchor around my neck.”

Working with a single photograph as reference, Mr Douglass said his mailboxes aren’t meant to be precise recreations.

“They’re not exactly to scale but in proportion,” he said. “They’re a representation, if you like.

“They’re mostly timber though the community house one has a metal roof and a metal roof on the veranda because the original building has a corrugated iron roof.

“The other one for the old library, you can’t see the roof on that because it’s flat and a very ornate facade so there’s just a timber roof for that one.”

A Buninyong local for seven years, and a Ross Creek resident before that, Mr Douglass worked as a plumber and taught various trades for 25 years at institutions in New South Wales until the mid-1990s.

He also credits his grandfather, who was an architectural model maker, as an influence on his current projects.

An early member of the Buninyong Men’s Shed for the past decade, Mr Douglass often makes cabinets and children’s toys through the group.

At 83 years old, Mr Douglass said the letterboxes as well as his other hands-on projects with the Men’s Shed are a rewarding way to keep active.

“I like to keep myself busy, keep my mind active and my skills up. That’s basically what the shed’s about,” he said.

“This is just one of the ways I do it. I enjoy working with my hands and tools, and I actually enjoy trying to give others in the shed these skills too if they want them.”