Woolmers visitors will soon have access to two additional historic buildings thanks to an $80,000 federal government grant announced by Environment Minister Greg Hunt on Tuesday.
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Woolmers heritage advisor Jo Lyngcoln said the grant would allow the estate to restore an 1840s era chapel and doctor's cottage, which had since been modified for alternative purposes.
“(The Archers) used to make use of all the buildings they had, they converted the chapel into an apple sorting shed and converted Mountgarret's Cottage into a pump shed for generating power,” Ms Lyngcoln said.
“We're looking at using both of those buildings and interpreting them back to what their original uses were and also talking about the evolution, the changes and layering of history in this site that makes it so special.”
Both buildings will undergo structural stabilisation before being opened to the public.
Minister Hunt also stopped by the Longford Football Club with Liberal Lyons MHR Eric Hutchinson to promise $100,000 in solar energy grants should the government be re-elected in July.
Longford, Perth and Evandale football clubs have each been allocated $10,000 towards the installation of solar battery and storage.
Longford club president David Blair hoped the move to solar would free up finances and help maintain buildings for the other community groups that utilise the club's facilities.
“It's a high cost for the club in power bills at the moment, especially during the winter months it costs a fair bit of money, so to keep the costs down would be great,” Mr Blair said.
“Because we're community-based we've got a lot of other sports other than football using the facility so that's a big thing for us.”