After several years of negotiation with Queensland Rail, Artworks GraniteBelt was able to obtain a lease in January on the old Queensland Fruitgrowers Society (QFS) building in the Stanthorpe Railway Precinct.
Although pretty derelict, Artworks GraniteBelt secretary Barbara Bowyer said the building has a long tradition as part of Stanthorpe’s history, in particular the relationship between fruit and the railway.
“It was one of the major co-operatives in Queensland during the 19th century, and they built it on the railway line to facilitate loading fruit,” Barbara said.
She said there was enormous potential to make it into a centre that reflects the history and meets the needs of a modern community if restored.
“It would be for community use – local arts and crafts, meetings, displays, music,” Barbara said.
Although the building itself is reasonably structurally sound, it needs to be restumped, which she said was very expensive.
“It also has to be done before any other restoration can take place,” Barbara said.
“As soon as the lease was obtained, Artworks applied for one of the large Community Gambling Fund Grants and we have only just heard that although the application was meritorious, the fund was oversubscribed and we were not successful.
“This is a real setback to our plans for making headway on the restoration and we are going to have to look at a whole lot of other avenues to raise the money.”
However, she said they were hoping there will be community interest and support for the project, and are set to have their first fundraising venture (a guided talk of the Railway precinct) on Saturday 20 August and Sunday 21 August at 2 pm.
The cost will be $10 for adults and $5 for children.
