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Restoration Australia - Season 8 Episode 6 - Moruya Homestead
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Short filmTranscript
00:06many of Australia's oldest homes have been altered and augmented over their
00:11long histories as new owners have added rooms and closed-in spaces for growing
00:16families and other practical needs but often those changes and additions have
00:21been unsympathetic or downright ugly and sometimes those changes hide a hell of a
00:27lot of what's wrong with the original structure so what happens when you buy a
00:32200-year-old farmhouse and unwrap a series of unsightly layers to reveal a historic
00:38heart that's a precarious small and relatively plain structure that seems
00:44intent on falling down is a restoration even going to be worth it
00:54I'm Anthony Burke a professor of architecture brilliant passionate about buildings of the past
00:59this is incredibly impressive and what they can tell us about better ways to live in the future
01:06this is very confronting it's a ruin it is join me as I travel the country meeting homeowners
01:11embarking on the challenge of a lifetime restoring homes from the 1800s to the swinging 60s looking
01:20to balance our rich cultural heritage with life in modern Australia
01:40in a whisper quiet saddling yard in a whisper quiet pocket of the New South Wales South Coast
01:46Kelly Dunn and her very good friend Archie are having a quiet conversation
01:56boy it's quite amazing to have such a big animal you know and you build up such a trust with
02:05them
02:05boy to be fair Kelly does most of the talking but Archie's replies are unmistakable fluent faithful
02:14compliance they adore each other and it shows horses have pretty much always been my favorite thing
02:23really for as long as I can remember they're big huge strong animals but I find them very peaceful
02:31and doesn't really matter how much of a bad day I've had I always feel better if I go and
02:35spend some
02:36time with the horses it's no exaggeration to say Kelly has made horses her life she turned her
02:43affinity with them and affection for them into a number of careers as a jockey I was riding in
02:50the Sydney tracks had some winners at Ramwick work farm yeah quite a number of winners I knew it was
02:56never going to be a long-term career but I loved it while I did it Kelly then joined the
03:03police force
03:04and became a mounted officer as Sydney hosted the world at the 2000 Olympics there were so many highlights
03:11from anything from working under the New Year's Eve fireworks to doing all the football events and
03:17you get to go to a lot of sporting games so it's a good job I enjoyed it horses might
03:22just be the best
03:24thing to happen to Kelly but one fateful day they became the worst changed the course of everything
03:30really I ended up having a really bad fall from a it was a trial police force it wasn't actually
03:37a
03:37police force it was a new one that had come in for trial I actually fractured my top four ribs
03:44my
03:44collarbone my left shoulder completely shattered my shoulder blade and had several fractures through my
03:51thoracic spine I've had years and years of ongoing surgeries from my spinal injuries and shoulder injuries
04:00and their injuries are lifelong I have to manage it on a daily basis rebuilding her body and her
04:09confidence has been an arduous process but incredibly it hasn't deterred her from another confronting and
04:16complicated and potentially painful rebuilding project bringing this 200 year old teetering farmhouse on
04:26eight or so rolling hectares back from the brink what I was looking for was land land for the horses
04:33land
04:33for me I just love being open space when I came out here for the first time I walked away
04:40and thought
04:40there's no way I can take on this but then I started looking into the history and yeah I couldn't
04:45let it go it's
04:46just peaceful it's calm you can feel the history in the place I think even though sort of everything's falling
04:52down it's it has a weird charm about it Kelly bought the property known as Shannon View in 2024 for
05:02eight
05:02hundred and ten thousand dollars it's just outside the coastal riverside town of Morooya a four hour
05:09drive south of Sydney but importantly there's accommodation and some willing helpers nearby mum
05:15Lindy and dad Peter are 20 minutes away at Churros head I think it's a very clear hierarchical
05:22relationship yeah she's the boss she's at the top she's the boss and went we'll do what we're told
05:27I can't keep up with either one of them they're fit they go at it they get things done so
05:33I think it'll
05:34be great having them on board to help things she'll need all the help she can muster Kelly wants to
05:41be
05:41hands-on with this restoration but her injuries will define what she can and can't do
05:48I'm normally at work by around about eight o'clock plus she works full-time as a primary school teacher
05:55and she's studying to complete her master's in psychology often by the time I'm home it might be
06:01sort of 6 6 30 half shower and dinner and then get into it and I really need like as
06:07many hours as I can
06:08just sitting and knuckle down and until I just literally can't get my eyes open and get a bit
06:14of sleep and get up and go again the next day so finding enough time for this daunting project is
06:20going to be a challenge and Shannon's views going to need loads of time and love and attention it was
06:26built by the first European settler in the Maria area it stood for two centuries but now it's barely
06:34standing it's it's pretty decrepit I love the house but it's pretty disgusting in the state
06:40that it is some of the ceilings are peeling off it has huge cracks you can't walk anywhere without
06:49being very careful of where you're putting your feet I don't even know what's under the carpet so
06:54it's pretty bad it's pretty modest certainly no grand country pile but this homestead is a beloved
07:03landmark here and the local community will be watching Kelly's efforts very closely I feel like
07:09as much as I've done in my life taking on this the project of Shannon View is probably going to
07:16be
07:16the biggest thing I've ever tried to do oh boy heritage hiding amongst the ruins I think hi Kelly
07:33hello how are we are very well how are you doing good thank you welcome thank you very much lovely
07:39to
07:39meet you and lovely to meet your dream it absolutely is yeah what did you fall in love with if
07:45I'm
07:46it got webs I was gonna say it looks like a bit of a mongrel at the moment I know
07:51it's very old like
07:5218 20 18 29 29 that's very old for us so I can see that kind of part of it
07:58lurking behind this awful
08:01built-in veranda space yep so how do you just kind of get past that and say yes this is
08:07the one for me
08:09uh I don't really know I actually tried to talk myself out of it many times just thinking
08:14I'm crazy it's too big a project don't do it and then I kept on coming back so here I
08:21am I don't
08:22know I just I love it I want to keep it I want to save it so I'm gonna try
08:25and retain as much of the
08:26original as I can the whole core will stay the outside will will come off and then it will be
08:31rebuilt pretty much the same footprint so it'll be a mission it'll be hard yeah yeah that's the goal
08:37okay well I can see the beautiful old pan tiles here I can see the chimney falling over a few
08:42things out here that looks very precarious yeah so I guess underneath all of this there's some
08:47structural stuff to be done that's my assumption already what's it like inside it gets worse as we
08:52go come and have a look I'd love to see what's going on you'd expect over 200 years respective owners
09:00might add augment or restyle for extra space or out of personal taste hopefully sympathetically not
09:08in outright hostility so this is the veranda area oh this is nasty right is it not great no I
09:18mean
09:18all of this then gone yep and it will come back to an old open style georgian veranda nice okay
09:25so
09:25all gone some heritage reinstatement to be done that's this beautiful space out here yes what
09:31about the disaster that's waiting in here I can tell already so this is the main living area doesn't
09:38get much better in here does it you know really no probably worse it's a pretty modest footprint
09:44really you can really tell there's been a lot of lives through this space absolutely this is the
09:49room like it all pretty much happened here yeah you came in took your boots off and you ended up
09:55here the fire was on this over here though this this is what's got me a bit worried concerning yeah
10:01okay this has fallen off already oh and the more I oh the more I point the more the dangerous
10:07it gets
10:08it's very damp it feels damn yeah yeah ouch so have you done an inspection all around the walls then
10:15um no I'm very scared and I'm standing on a very spongy floor here which makes me think oh there's
10:23a
10:23lot of demo to probably be done now have you taken up the carpets uh we've only taken them up
10:30in the
10:31corners um and really you can just see dirt and there's a lot of plywood under it so it hasn't
10:38been
10:38taken up in the middle here so it's going to be a little bit of an experiment when that all
10:41starts to
10:42come up can I ask the question another way do you know what you're in for no you have a
10:48little scary
10:49it's a little scary I get it I get it it's a pocket-sized space but it holds a multitude
10:54of
10:55dramas and speaking of scary these are the steepest stairs I think I've probably ever seen in my life
11:00look at that and the most dangerous I'd suggest yeah right absolutely yeah like it's a two to one the
11:06riser to the going it's more of a ladder than a staircase and here's another challenge for Kelly
11:12how to introduce a compliant staircase a more graduated climb from the postage stamp of a
11:19living room you need climbing gear to get up here and hold on hold on yeah good advice up to
11:26the second
11:26floor of the original house so because the ceilings are so low here they can't be classified as bedrooms
11:34so it'll be sort of storage attic spaces up here okay yeah yeah so like I mean it's it's usable
11:41isn't it but it's just not to code that's right one of the things I do really like is the
11:46the view
11:47from out here yeah the view is beautiful it's part of what I fell in love with I think absolutely
11:52looking out it's breathtaking looking within it's nerve-wracking rising damp crumbling bricks spongy
12:00floors an unlivable room above a cramped one and a bunch of scary ugly additions so where to begin
12:07well the add-ons get subtracted for a start leaving that central very simple original 1820 stack Kelly's
12:16solving her spongy floor issue with concrete which she's told will also help stabilize the structure
12:22once crumbling bricks are replaced and rising damp conquered a new compliant staircase will fit once a
12:31little of the upstairs floor is sacrificed for safer ascent the attic storage area will get fresh paint and
12:38a new floor then it's Kelly creature comfort time into the former footprint goes a bedroom with walk-in
12:45and ensuite bathroom there's a mud room the original bathroom and entry will get a work over a new
12:53kitchen goes in behind a repurposed living dining room then another bedroom with a little bathroom
12:59wedged in for good measure at the front a wide and welcoming open veranda and on top a sparkling new
13:07galvanized roof so a colonial cubby hole becomes something of a 21st century TARDIS amazing amenity for the space
13:17how are you going to treat the old and the new it's one of those classic questions I'd talk about
13:22a
13:22lot yeah but in this instance you don't want that kind of faux you know restoration or faux Georgian you
13:30want something authentic which I feel like it's going to be really hard to to get that balance but
13:38hopefully with keeping as much of the original timbers as much of the original doors hopefully be able to
13:45reuse some of those wooden windows bringing the front veranda opening it back up to what it used
13:49to be there'll be as much of the old stuff in there as I can possibly use yeah okay so
13:55I know that
13:56you bought the property for eight hundred and ten thousand yeah how much are you going to spend on
14:00this five hundred thousands the goal half a million yep half a million but we're not quite sure what the
14:08project really is yet good luck don't make me nervous you're kind of taking a bit about well
14:15we'll see I do have a lot of ideas but it's I don't want to make any final decisions until
14:20the house is
14:21gutted because I feel like if I make all the decisions now there's going to be too many compromises
14:26whereas if I just hold off do one step at a time might be a bit of an easier process
14:31okay so not exactly
14:34knowing what you're going to be doing yeah how long is it going to take you look I'll go with
14:3812
14:38months that that would be an ultimate goal if it's not saved now it will be on the ground within
14:44six
14:44months yeah I mean I feel that it is literally falling apart as we speak yeah you've got to act
14:50yeah yeah it was not done now we'll literally be lost yeah you've got to move Kelly it's a beautiful
14:55project actually it's not a beautiful project it's going to be a beautiful project I'm sure you're going to
15:02save it I just hope it matches up to that vision that's in your head of the thing you fell
15:07in love with
15:09look definitely going to try hopefully I can do it some justice um yeah yeah fingers crossed
15:20while Kelly's heart is certainly in the right place there's always a precarious balancing act with
15:26restoration take too much away and replace with shiny new materials and you lose the heritage charm
15:33that attracted you to the building in the first place and finding that sweet spot can be hard in
15:39this case the ugly additions have fortunately protected the almost 200 year old Georgian era core
15:46but getting the new elements of the restoration balanced with the old will be critical for the design
15:53and building team blending recycled materials with new takes real skill but also a commitment to the
16:00original feel of the property otherwise you could just end up with another shiny Georgian themed mass
16:08production and I don't think anybody especially Kelly wants that for Shannon View's shaky shoddy additions it
16:26was going to be a case of what brought them tumbling down first the very imminent very pressing weight of
16:32time and the elements or a team of deaf deconstructors who will take special care to peel away these ugly
16:42extensions and ensure the original core is upright at the end thankfully they're here in the nick of time
16:50gravity plays a part in keeping things together so there's a lot of beams resting on beams and so
16:56you've just got to be careful that something doesn't come down and go the wrong direction I guess for head
17:03deconstructive surgeon mark it's softly softly steady as she goes basically we've got to suck it and see
17:10really and you never know how they're constructed so we'll just play it by ear and just take our time
17:15and
17:15yeah just be very careful with all of Kelly's work and study obligations it's impossible for her to be on
17:26site for each and every critical phase of this project we're the much-loved unpaid farm laborers
17:33that's when dad Peter steps in it's being able to be here and Kelly go to work and she's not
17:39worried
17:40that things are going to get out of control because she's explained exactly what she wants done today for
17:44for example anything comes up I can have those conversations quick text in the story honey I thought
17:58that today I'll be standing here really shaking every time they started to do something but they're being
18:06really careful the original building is built on stout and substantial granite footings still the team
18:19proceeds cautiously using the heavy equipment like a scalpel Peter's ex-military very senior he's seen
18:31plenty of well-drilled well-oiled operations so praise from him is praise indeed certainly it's
18:42I expected when you get big machinery around 200 year old stuff you never know what's going to happen
18:52Mark's doing a phenomenally delicate job here with that machinery I'm really impressed with that so he's
19:00taking all the care he can but so far so good hi darling hello how are you going yeah we're
19:17going okay
19:18it's gone really well so far I'll show you it's gone that's right it's gone the house is still standing
19:27oh wow how exciting so pretty amazing isn't it looks amazing Dean what are we going to do with it
19:46can we keep it well it's just floating in the breeze now and we've got some serious rot in this
19:56joist
19:57in this one here yeah so it's got to be replaced with the dust cleared the demo has uncovered hidden
20:04layers walls behind walls I'm just amazed that this wall was under the previous wall I feel like we just
20:13have to keep it we're going to be able to I think there may be some cracking but we've we've
20:19got
20:19enough to work with and as Kelly and build a Dean figure out how to save the delicate degraded timber
20:26there's an added reason she's keen to make the most of what's here because this to me is beautiful
20:31and yet another layer under old wallpaper backing that plays directly to Kelly's own passions horses
20:39and racing a hidden collage of turf reporting and racing forms from the early 20th century this is
20:47the one with a date on it this is a cool one 1915 racing is that while of what one
20:56races at while
20:57while that's pretty special to me yeah nice this one's actually from the 1915 Melbourne Cup which I
21:04just think is amazing I'd really like to keep this piece and if I can't if it won't go on
21:09the wall I
21:10might frame that one because I think it'd be pretty cool to keep a couple in the frame I just
21:16can't go
21:16over the fact that most of it is the sports section with a lot of the racing history which being
21:22an ex
21:22jockey is that right up my alley yeah it's it's actually too far gone you can see how much rot
21:29is in
21:29here this is kind of all the unexpected that I was expecting all the rot and the what can't be
21:36saved I
21:36wasn't expecting to find anything beautiful that we can save under it exactly yeah Dean will attempt
21:42to preserve as much of the timber and the sports memorabilia as possible as he dismantles this wall
21:49then builds a new sympathetic but solid weight-bearing one to underpin the sagging upstairs floor Kelly
21:56will try to incorporate the salvage materials elsewhere in the restoration two months on it's winter the
22:09icy grass is crunching underfoot the horses are rubbed against the chill these south coast mornings are
22:21freezing so the concrete pour goes in today you can see the underfloor heating zero degrees outside
22:28I'm pretty happy to be having some warm flooring in here so I think that'll be good strips to its
22:35barest components the original cottage looks like it could teeter over in the nearest gust of winter wind
22:41the new concrete floor is a structural imperative originally I really wanted floorboards because
22:49obviously that's what they would have had but every recommendation from the engineers came back
22:54with the heated concrete flooring will help to dry the bricks out over the years and and maintain
23:01their structure so the concrete decision was actually a structural one it's better for the the old bricks
23:11how many hours do you think it'll take to do this all day all right yeah Peter and Kelly's mum
23:26Lindy are here for what is a key event in this rescue I'm gonna leave this one to the experts
23:32it's going
23:34well it's kind of getting exciting again now so oh it is yeah yeah yeah I can't sort of believe
23:41it
23:42actually in lots of ways well what fascinates me is that here I have something that started in 1829
23:51and here we are with laser levels and all of these in what comes there which we can't do without
23:58yet
23:59these guys did all of this just a bit of water in a glass and things like that to level
24:07it up I find
24:08it amazing they must have known something because if they build something like that this lasted 200
24:13years we've definitely got it easier and I just can't help but be so impressed with the ingenuity
24:21determination this is beautiful away from sight Lindy and Peter have been helping Kelly compile a
24:31history of the cottage they know the original owner Irishman Francis Flanagan was up against it building
24:38his colonial dream home but he did manage to pull some strings and muster some help he had nine nine
24:45convicts assigned to me so he had physical hell yeah he had labor but I mean here he was if
24:50I had if I
24:51had nine convicts I'd do a lot of things oh you've only got one so there you go when do
24:57I get my ticket of
24:58leave it's been 53 years what was the sentence life yeah never to be released
25:17he arrives in Sydney on the 2nd of June in 1827 on the on the Aurelia yeah really he wanted
25:28to become a
25:28farmer Lindy and Peter's holiday house in nearby Turos head has become a busy specialist research
25:35center on the subject of Francis Flanagan Irish Taylor turned aspiring colonial farmer there's a
25:42letter here to the land board all right yeah to the land board he's trying to go through the system
25:49but
25:50he gets not bad he's obviously very literate the powers that be persistently refused Flanagan's
25:56request for a land grant here you go got it here a reoccurring theme in his appeals was the unfair
26:03treatment of Irish settlers frustrated by a hostile bureaucracy Flanagan went straight to the top in a
26:11barrage of letters he implored then governor Ralph darling to grant him a parcel of farmable land there
26:18is a classic comment in here on a note from the secretary to governor darling who says that the
26:25governor is of the opinion yeah that Francis Flanagan is a quote pain in the ass unquote
26:32who would have ever thought they use that expression then well he was persistent yeah absolutely persistent
26:40and of course after several exchanges uh he he actually gets his land grant and he's not going
26:47to be mucked around by the bureaucracy well done yeah well done Francis but it came at a cost
26:54Flanagan's ailing wife and mother of his two children died in the long wait for a grant and there was
27:01a
27:01caveat if Flanagan wanted land it had to be beyond what was described as the limits of settlement
27:09basically uncharted territory he actually had to go down south to look for this land and to actually
27:15choose it because he was told he had to go to the furthest part of the land the settlement really
27:22and
27:22that was the Moruya River north of the Moruya River well he thought right I'll go that far at least
27:28I guess he
27:29would be thinking it's rich and fertile because he was on the coast and it actually was a relatively good
27:35year apparently that year it's a classic example of someone who really sticks to their guns it seems
27:40to me with his perseverance his determination uh his downright bloody mindedness that it's quite
27:48appropriate that Kelly should buy the house yes I mean it all fits doesn't it personality it fits perfectly
27:55where would she get that where would she get that from can't imagine must be new
28:03Kelly's discovered a contemporary connection to Francis Flanagan well initially he started with
28:091200 acres Matthew Keating's a local historian whose great-great-grandfather worked at Shannon View
28:16as Flanagan quickly grew his holding and built that the house where it is on the hill then he added
28:22another 1200 a bit over 1200 acres to that so by the end of the 1830s he was farming two
28:29and a half thousand acres
28:30which would be a big farm now he had 800 cows 200 pigs and 12 horses and you know you
28:39can imagine to feed
28:39800 cows you would have to clear a lot of pasture to feed 200 pigs you couldn't feed them on
28:44table scraps so you
28:45would have been growing corn and barley and products like that you know he would have been working the
28:51land with draft horses which meant that they had to be land yeah so it would have been a really
28:55significant enterprise Morooya would eventually take shape in the mid to late 1800s as the farming
29:04and fishing communities grew today it's a lively riverside town and a popular regional holiday
29:10destination Francis became a magistrate was really quite a pillar of the community despite his profound
29:17influence here Francis Flanagan's grave in the local cemetery is relatively modest the headstone
29:23notes his second wife Bridget a convict transported for stealing sheep he died in 1863 and by that time
29:31he he was a very well respected pioneer of the area yeah he started a very strong Irish Catholic
29:39community here in Morooya by that time the population of Irish Catholics in us at the New
29:46South Wales colony was only about 25 percent here in Morooya was about 50 percent wow and you know
29:52that's all because of him I hear let's do it all these years on Francis Flanagan's simple little
30:07building is getting a new iron roof I have been worried the whole time about yes replacing the
30:14old beautiful rusty roof but as you can see it's already gone so I'm sort of over that phase I
30:20can't
30:21wait to see that roof go on so excited not without its challenges though working on the old timbers that
30:28have shifted and skewed over the years it could be a nightmare like that if the actual frames are running
30:35out I've got to keep my sheet straight in the gutter line if the frames are running out they're going
30:39to want to
30:39twist and warp and then it doesn't marry up at the other side and could be fun this is an
30:45aspect of the
30:46project that will radically change the nature of the place but swapping out the rusty old patina groove and all
30:54the history it
30:54represents with shiny new tin is a must-do if Kelly is going to be able to harvest a potable
31:01and sustainable supply of fresh water
31:05now we're running good now so we will be able to creep it a little bit
31:09we've seen how cold it gets down here that thick layer of new insulation will be working hard in tandem
31:16with the new heated ground floor
31:19actually it looks pretty cool it's not too bright
31:26this has been one of my biggest fears that it just looks horrible on the old house but I actually
31:31think it looks alright
31:32I'm happy with it I think we're doing well the old rusted sheets will find new purpose patching outbuildings
31:41and boxing garden beds this is a salvage reuse and repurpose operation as much as possible
31:55you want to see some of the characters still don't you yeah definitely yeah like all that like the scratches
32:00and stuff
32:01yeah well I mean they're so old like yeah like gotta have history you can get it
32:06it's an effort to retain and re-harness the original building's DNA
32:17I was all about all the bad things that I'd find when we started ripping it apart but this
32:21is one of the best things that I found originally I wanted floorboards downstairs because that's what
32:28would have been there but I chose to have the concrete for the preservation of the walls and a few
32:34other reasons but to then find these upstairs underneath the carpet yeah was an awesome find
32:42so yeah it's really important to keep these these beautiful old boards will go back where they came
32:49from and with the new roof providing protection from the weather some of that internal work can get cracking
33:01four months in spring is in the air so the perfect time to spring a visit
33:06hey Kelly but it turns out the surprises are all mine where's it all gone my cost saving strategy
33:15knock half the house down oh my god wow I mean you really kind of got stuck in haven't you
33:20yes I mean
33:21the character of it has changed enormously with all that curtilage gone now nice new roof up there
33:25that's got to feel very satisfying the rusty roof was something that I loved about the property
33:29yeah I didn't really want to change it um but now that it's on I do love it yeah it's
33:34not too bright
33:35I don't think it'll settle down pretty quickly though yeah um the new chimney looks good doesn't it look
33:41good and I'm actually at this stage of the build I'm a little surprised to see it so well finished
33:46I
33:46thought it'd still be kind of in process or you know but that's great to see the crumbling bricks and
33:51mortar that were collapsing and setting shannon view's chimney on a precarious lean have been
33:57replaced and now it's as straight and steadfast as the newly supported walls of Francis Flanagan's
34:03little house so you can see the metal angle braces that have gone in the whole way along yeah this
34:11beam through here looks pretty serious so some good hardware has gone in to stabilize the building is
34:16what it's looks looking like the beam actually is sort of like it is now it will be exposed but
34:22it's
34:22got a hardwood piece that goes over the front so that will match um so the stairs are going to
34:27be
34:27wood okay so now we've got steel and concrete and heritage fabric that's right okay interesting so we're
34:33actually kind of setting up a really interesting sort of palette of the new being inserted inside the
34:38old yeah yeah and how to kind of keep those two things reinforcing each other rather than competing
34:43with each other that's right that must be on your mind I'm sure it is oh it's it's tricky yeah
34:47it's
34:48very tricky such a small space with so many materials it's like a mixed media collage crammed into
34:56a tiny frame it's going to be interesting to see how or even if Kelly can make it all work
35:02like the
35:02stairs I like the stairs especially when that new slightly larger staircase she's planning further
35:08crams the space this is fantastic up here isn't it like it's so much more space now that you've kind
35:13of cleaned it out and given it some more elbow room don't the floorboards look fantastic they look
35:18beautiful so that was what was under those horrendous layers of carpet that was up there before
35:24oh this is going to be fantastic this space up here okay so now comes yet another challenging phase
35:30the additions how to add comfort and scale to the original house without gobbling up all its historical
35:43charm in Moruya a key member of the crack at Shannon view research unit has uncovered a
35:49blockbuster story huge granite blocks it places the town and the community made possible in no small
35:57part by Francis Flanagan at the heart of one of Australia's greatest engineering feats the Sydney
36:04Harbour Bridge Moruya certainly had a massive amount of granite they'd already been quarrying for
36:10probably a hundred years before but when they're planning the building of the Harbour Bridge the
36:15engineer and the British contractors called on the Moruya quarry to do so the quarries of Moruya 170 miles
36:22away were specially opened and equipped to supply stone for the approaches and the 20,000 the cubic
36:30yards of granite required for the piers and the pylons a big purpose-built village was established a few
36:37kilometres from Moruya to house the 250 or so stonemasons and their families involved in the giant
36:45quarrying exercise it was called granite town the neighbouring quarry was dedicated to one task providing
36:53perfectly sized beautifully prepared blocks for the bridge the workers actually came from everywhere 23 different
37:01nationalities but predominantly Scots and Italians and their precision was absolutely incredible they cleaved
37:10out these giant pieces of stone and then honed them into exact size and each and every one of them
37:15had to be
37:16numbered and then off they went to Sydney on their own ships it was a huge bridge by numbers construction
37:23effort as
37:24each block found its designated spot on one of the bridges imposing pylons blocks of stone were dressed and
37:32a face before shipment to Sydney all ready to slip into their positions in the great structure it was an
37:40enthralling
37:41spectacle for the depression era crowds in Sydney as this monumental structure inched across the harbour
37:48from south and north it certainly played a crucial role in Moruya's history and to think that that sort
37:56of granite is the same granite that's on the footings of Kelly's house I think it's phenomenal I guess I'll
38:02never look at the harbour bridge again without thinking about it the giant pylons built from the quarries from
38:07here and the house of course is very small compared to the harbour bridge but it's a huge undertaking by
38:13Kelly and certainly an important and interesting project historical project for Moruya
38:25at shannon view the fanning footprint of Kelly's extension has now become readily evident a new
38:32concrete pad wraps around the original building and plenty of timber framework is up but despite all
38:39the engineering work the steel and the stabilizing the original structure is still presenting headaches
38:45this wall was originally covered up these bricks have never been exposed like this so that you know
38:53there was always something over them protecting them and now they're just they're so brutal unstable
38:59cladding and plaster was stripped off the bricks in the early demolition phase so these 200 year old
39:06handmade bricks have been exposed to the elements for more than six months my biggest fear with the wall
39:14is that I lose well the whole lot or even a part of it because the 200 year old bricks
39:21is what makes this
39:23house and it's the whole mission essentially is to save them so the longer it's open the longer
39:31it's exposed the bigger the risk that I'm gonna have to replace bricks or or even a portion of it
39:37could fall
39:37down saving it means getting it solidly rendered but a specialist tradie has been difficult to find they are crumbling
39:46before our eyes so we've had lots of issues trying to find a renderer who will actually do the job
39:52we've had a couple
39:53Kelly's found a couple and then they're pulled out so yes there is a worry and that's a big worry
39:58that these bricks
39:59might crumble too far before someone gets to fix them we were very worried at the start for Kelly that
40:06she
40:07wouldn't be able to get the trades that she needed when she needed them so there's been a nervousness and
40:13Kelly's had to live with this tension all the way through
40:15that in order to repair the damage of time and neglect that we had to run the risk of the
40:25house
40:25hemorrhaging so it's been nerve-wracking and we've got to make sure that we move pretty quickly to get them
40:35rendered and stop the weather eating away at them if I lose the bricks essentially that's the 200 year old
40:42house gone so trying to save it meanwhile the work that can go on goes on roofing the extension should
40:59at least keep some of the weather off the unstable bricks I don't think that should be enough for us
41:09just flick it around turn around just go around that and there are other challenges to distract Kelly
41:16like will the new larger staircase actually fit I'm very nervous right now I'm going to go up
41:23and we are on yep it's longer and wider than the original and it's slotting into a very
41:35confined space spot on well let's leave it there as you'd expect the squares and angles of the new
41:43timber staircase are machined to precision problem is the space it's going into is not you can push that
41:53that outside back it's a fair bit out of square you can see us out of square it is oh
41:59that's what you
42:01get from an old heritage house that was and the building that side and that side are not the same
42:07length either so it's like this it's probably I'd back in the day done with I someone got a walkie
42:14I
42:14disappears that was that was after half a carton of beer builder Dean has come to know the crooked
42:22foibles of Francis Flanagan's house very well he's learned to think laterally and of course vertically and
42:29horizontally to get this restoration to work the whole stairs we're thinking of releasing all these
42:35Sam yep and releasing the bugles and just kicking that wall over to skew the whole thing over yeah that
42:43could work a bit how are we looking on the inside inside's good because we've got what 10 mil in
43:01the
43:01corner we go that way there's another 10 in what are we looking at there Darren that seemed like it
43:07moved heaps I thought I wouldn't go any further so we've moved it over about 30 mil to the wall
43:16but
43:16the walls still not straight so it's causing some issues but I think they're gonna have to be afterwards
43:23solution so we'll get the stairs in get them locked in place and we'll go from there it's the best
43:30we can do
43:36just somewhere there yep oh yeah awesome can I walk on it yet go for it bus him to do
43:44this actually
43:45go upstairs yeah I'm ready to move in now not so fast Kelly and her team have made good progress
43:58in
43:58seven months but there's still plenty to do within her 12-month time frame and those precarious bricks
44:05remain exposed
44:31it's striking country but it must have felt like another planet when Francis Flanagan came here
44:38forged his way through the bush staked out his holding and built his basic boxy two-story farmhouse
44:45it was built to last but I bet he'd be surprised that it stood for so long and he'd be
44:50astounded that
44:52all these years later someone's wandered along and said I love this little place I'm gonna save it and
44:57give it a whole new life I bet he'd be chuffed but now that the restoration is finished I wonder
45:04if Kelly is
45:29hi Anthony how are you going you must feel like a guardian angel having sort of resurrected this
45:35thing from the ashes it's come back from nowhere how good does it look I mean I can't believe this
45:40is a 200 year old building yeah fingers crossed it's gonna stand for another 200 years now after
45:45all this effort I'm pretty happy with it I'm very proud of how it's come up you know I think
45:50what
45:50you've got here is a beautiful sort of farmhouse country picture yeah it's it speaks to its age in a
45:57very lovely kind of way I do really like the fact that the the front facade there now you've opened
46:01up
46:01the veranda it feels appropriate yeah look that was my vision for it definitely feel like it's home
46:07always sort of felt at home on the property so now to have the house finished yes definitely feels
46:13like I'm home and yeah starting to enjoy living here I can start to relax a little bit now the
46:20repurposing and recycling effort at Shannon View begins at the front door and Francis Flanagan's
46:25centuries-old original looks great yeah unfortunately it wasn't structurally sound enough to retain as the
46:33actual door yeah so yeah the decision was made to turn it into the screen door so you've got to
46:39keep it
46:39so yeah yeah that's the main thing because we never used this door we use that door no this was
46:44actually permanently closed it never actually open I think because the house was so crooked I'm not I'm
46:48not really sure but I mean I love this veranda space I think you're gonna get heaps of use out
46:54of
46:54this definitely and you know sunrise sunset yeah cup of coffee gin and tonic you'll be out here a lot
47:00yeah definitely let's go inside all right welcome to the new lounge room oh wow a complete resurrection
47:10wouldn't you say resurrection probably use a good word for it the colonial dirt floor in this pocket
47:19size space got a 20th century layer of plywood and carpet and is now a 21st century pad of polished
47:26heated
47:27concrete I mean normally I would not advocate for concrete in an old building like this one but I
47:31think here you've solved so many issues that need to be solved yeah through that one move and it does
47:36look really good it actually gives you a kind of a nice clean slate if you like to let all
47:42the other
47:43texture come and it's level god forbid the bricks are phenomenal it kind of happened because the
47:52renderer left a little bit for the brickie to do and then when the brickie had finished I'm like
47:56just leave it like that like what do you mean I'm like that looks awesome that wall has been
48:00specially treated with a it's a brick glue yep that seals them all together so are they now stable yes
48:07and the mantles from the the old stables I can see over here too you've got the old wallpaper is
48:13it
48:13that you've put in a frame yeah I originally wanted to sort of have some of the wallpaper back on
48:18the
48:18wall but it was just too old too fragile it's that papers got 1915 and 1912 right on it so
48:25took a little
48:26bit of tricky work to get it together yeah yeah and then that's particularly important for you too
48:33because of the horses right that's right because most of it was all the racing section there's a few
48:37old articles which are gold they're very on brand that's right that's destiny speaking to it through
48:44the walls quite literally again the original doors are on show but in all their raw glory hanging from
48:52their hand forged hinges and leather washes their new washes I had to hand cut them measured from the
48:59200 year old washes which like we're just so paper was that one of those insane moments where you go
49:04what am I
49:05doing I mean I'm like really cutting a leather washer yeah and I actually didn't think it would
49:09work until we re-hung the doors and it was like wow yeah beautiful all that wriggling persuading
49:17nudging and pleading finally paid off with the spanking new more climber friendly staircase you
49:24fix this the renderer managed to kind of fix that gap that was there yeah he did a great job
49:28working on
49:29that oh this feels almost comfortable safe a little bit different than the last set yeah a little bit
49:37this is a huge transformation up here isn't it yeah looks amazing Kelly's worked wonders with the old
49:47cluttered attic space of Flanagan's original cottage because you had like a closet over there you had like
49:53one sort of funky room over here another one over there it was all kind of mixed up wasn't it
49:58funky room I like that yeah well it's been opened up yeah with the walls coming down to a mid
50:05wall
50:05yep it's a generous room actually for the kind of house that you've got here it feels nice and
50:09elbowy this is such a beautiful timber floor the original boards being kind of polished and brought
50:14up it's such a great color yeah and there's actually so many colors in them I think it's part
50:19of what makes it look so good yeah I love this I mean everything in here is starting to feel
50:24like
50:24it's plum level more or less relatively relatively I suppose you don't want to kind of get it too
50:29plum and too level because that takes all the character out of the place I don't think it was
50:33ever going to be too plum because it was governed by the big brick walls and they're rendering none of
50:38that straight yeah you got to keep the spirit of the house yeah that's right yeah of course the
50:44upstairs downstairs of the simple 1829 house now forms the core of Kelly's extended home all the comforts
50:53fanning into the footprint of the demolished veranda and ad hoc add-ons now far more comfy
50:59and coherent a simple but neatly appointed kitchen a guest bedroom an ensuite bathroom a mudroom for
51:07when Kelly's mucked out the stables and is making for the snazzy new bathroom off the main bedroom I
51:14suppose the most beautiful thing about this particular room is from here you can see the
51:19paddock where the horses are yeah that's probably one of my favorite parts of the whole thing so in
51:24the mornings when I wake up there standing right there at the gate waiting for breakfast it's a
51:30delightful array of new spaces that acknowledge the cornerstone structure celebrating the original
51:36brick walls and segueing across original timbers Kelly's respected and protected the authenticity of
51:44Shannon view but she's made it her own you've been through some pretty physically challenging periods
51:51in your life I mean does it ever occur to you that was just a mad thing to do to
51:54go into a building
51:55project while you were actually in that physical state like it's a very brave thing to do I think
52:01anyone that knows me knows that I take on mad things yeah all too many at once I was still
52:08going
52:09through rehabilitation and now fingers crossed I'm through all of the surgeries that I need I'm
52:15held together with a lot of screws and bolts but I feel like I've got a few things in common
52:20with the
52:20house yeah I can be in the saddle at sunrise and sip some cocktails at sunset who doesn't want that
52:29right that's right your mum and dad they've been a huge part of this project along the ride with you
52:33yeah I haven't been working with your mum and dad so closely look they've been great honestly I
52:39wouldn't be here now this far along if it wasn't for them and oh look there were a few moments
52:45but
52:45we ironed them out yeah you started off with a budget of five hundred thousand dollars yeah so
52:54where'd you end up um pretty close to six hundred thousand six hundred okay so not so 20% over
53:00too
53:00bad yeah not too bad yeah the overage what you put that down to I had to put the extra
53:06steel in the
53:08extra beam had to go in and so it was just kind of the the on flow effects yeah and
53:14I remember you
53:15saying 12 months I think was your initial timeline where have we ended up bang on 12 months 12 months
53:22so
53:22you actually came in on time yep nearly nearly to the day I'm still a bit shocked I definitely
53:29was very thankful for the amount of local trades that jumped on board and when I said to them
53:35something crazy like you need to do that next week they turned around and said sure we can do that
53:39for
53:39you you think maybe it had something to do with your dad being in the military potentially he drives
53:44a pretty tough tight ship that's right so what do you think Francis Flanagan would think about what
53:51you've done here I think he's pretty happy with things yeah that's my feeling funnily enough one
53:58of my friends suggested a seance to see if we could bring him back to actually get his thoughts on
54:02the
54:03matter not sure that we're gonna pull that one off but it'll be interesting to hear what he had to
54:09say
54:09yeah well if you do get in touch let us know will you I'd be curious to know what he
54:13had to say as
54:13well so I mean with all this again you know congratulations it's so it feels like you've
54:19given yourself a a beautiful place to kind of finally have a rest yes finally take all this
54:24in this beautiful place that you've got yourself yes surrounding yourself with the the landscape your
54:29horses the lifestyle that you imagined and you've saved a beautiful little piece of Australian history
54:34which is the total bonus so good on you for doing that thank you it's pretty relaxing being here I
54:40must say it's pretty good
54:49here comes an old car hello congratulations thank you oh that's enough for the horses I thought the horses
54:59can benefit too are they the original bricks yeah yeah 200 years old yeah convict convict bricks yes
55:09it's amazing that I get beautiful sunset and sunrises yeah because the colors the light changes yeah
55:15that is just a picture yeah
55:19to everyone that's here tonight I'd like to say a big thank you it has been amazing to have so
55:25much support
55:26within the community and to mum and dad a very big thank you for all the help because I couldn't
55:31have done it without you guys so a big cheers to the house
55:48Kelly's never been able to pin down precisely what it was about this tumble down building that first got
55:53her in there was just something about it that intuition is inexplicable but can also be powerful
56:01and goes a long way perhaps to explaining her beautiful relationship with her horses but also
56:07her deep conviction that this place should never crumble into oblivion Shannon View needed a champion
56:13a champion and it found one in Kelly
56:16so
56:17so
56:26so
56:30so
56:54Transcription by CastingWords
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