Grant for Noojee Heritage Centre
The Noojee and District Historical Society has been awarded a $5,000 grant from the Gardiner Dairy Foundation and the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal (FRRR), as part of the 2018 ‘Working in Dairy Communities Small Grants Program.’
The grant program supports projects that will benefit local communities and also deliver a boost to local economies.
The grant will provide the bulk of the funding urgently required to seal the pathway approaches and the surface of the platform at the reconstructed Noojee railway station.
The station has functioned as the Noojee Heritage Centre since the community group raised funds to build it.
It was opened by Member for Narracan Gary Blackwood in 2014 as a replica of the original station that first served Noojee almost 100 years ago.
In both wet and dry weather, the current unsealed surfaces have proved difficult to keep serviceable for visitors.
Volunteers at the heritage centre have been battling against dust in the summers and mud in the winters, so the project to seal the surfaces will benefit volunteers and the visitors, equally.
“Once the works are completed, we are confident that visitors will now be able to make better use of our facilities, all year round,” Society president William Langoor said.
“We look forward to welcoming more groups and families as a result of this generous grant from the Gardiner Dairy Foundation and the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal.
“The works are planned for late September or early October, when the weather should be more suitable and we will be providing advice on our website of days when the centre may be closed for the sealing process to take place.”
The Noojee Heritage Centre is attracting record numbers of visitors at the weekends and is now firmly established as a regular stop for organised tour groups during the week.
It provides an additional attraction for Noojee, which ultimately benefits all local businesses that rely on increasing visitation.