Friday Fun Day - Old Technical College and Art Gallery

Each year Bathurst has their "Autumn Colours" event, which showcases all sorts of things about the area during autumn, mainly being heritage related.

One item we were keen to take part in was a tour of the old Technical College (TAFE) building.

The facade is rather impressive.

(Sorry, not the best photo from this angle, what with all the traffic.)

The TAFE moved to a new campus in the mid 1990s and the building has been sitting empty ever since.  A few years ago the State Government gifted it to the Bathurst Regional Council.  It has been a bit contentious ever since, as what do you do with it?  How do you pay for whatever happens with it?  Last year the Council requested submissions of Expressions of Interest.  They were to close in mid February, but were extended until early May this year.  It sounds like there have been some applications, but there will be no public announcements until Council examines them.

The main reason we wanted to have a look through the building is that my Mum taught dressmaking there in the 1950s, Mick learned his trade there and I learned to type there.

This is the room Mum taught in.

And where I learned to type in the early 1980s.  It was a course designed for Year 11 school students. (I was a much better typist when I finished that course than I am now.  Too many years mainly using the number part of the keyboard.)

The ladies from the Council who conducted the tour were so knowledgeable.  The history of the building, how it fits into the growth and development of Bathurst as a whole, the techniques used in its building, the architectural style and the criteria in relation to the conservation significance of the various parts of the building and grounds was fascinating.  So much more than just opening the doors and taking us for a walk around.

When they pulled the carpet up in one of the rooms the discovered a trap door, which covered a well.  The well would predate the building.  They believe there were several wells located over the site before the Tech was built. This building was opened in 1896. During their investigations, they discovered that the footings were well made, with steel rods.  This has meant the building has withstood the test of time with no cracking.  Bathurst is built on reactive clay, which means that just about all the old brick buildings usually have quite a few cracks (which most are, as there were very few trees on the plains here, but good brick making clay).

Downstairs there was a museum.  I can vaguely remember visiting once when  I was little, but have no recollection of what was there, other than the Cobb and Co stagecoach, which is now at the visitor's centre.  Apparently, there were lots of mineral specimens, working models of machines and the likes.  These were used as teaching aids for the students.  Mick can remember being fascinated by the model engines etc. When the museum closed, the majority of the collection was transferred to the Powerhouse Museum.  Someone asked if there is any chance of getting them back now that Bathurst will shortly have a special centre for storing artworks and museum items.  Sadly, no, as their space will already be filled.

If you have a look back at the photo of the front of the building you will notice the variation in the roof height.  The high section of the building is still only two stories high.

This gives you an indication of the ceiling height of the ground floor.  I was standing on a mezzanine that would have had an eight foot high ceiling.  The rooms were all surprisingly light and they had funny little vents coming into the rooms, as the architects were conscious of the benefits of fresh air in class rooms.  (That sounds familiar, doesn't it, as that has been an argument for classrooms, since the COVID pandemic commenced.)

The stairway is beautiful.  The whole building has beautiful cedar joinery, albeit with lots of more modern infill walls from the 50s and 60s.  Those additions are not considered to be part of the conservation items.

At the top of the stairs you enter the Lecture Room, which is the top floor of the tall part of the building.

Wow!  What an impressive space.

I think you would need a bit more than the two fire places to heat this space in the winter time.

Now returning back downstairs and outside.....

There is a little lane running down the side of the building called "Ribbon Gang Lane", so named as it was the site of the public hanging of a band of bushrangers back in 1830. You can read more about it here. Council is trying to revitalise the centre of town and the latest installment is some artwork beside the old Tech.  

Firstly, there are some animated illuminations in some of the downstairs windows of the old Tech building.

The second is this artwork suspended above the lane.  The theme of the arches is taken from the domed roof of the courthouse, the domed roof or the Boer War memorial and the curves of the roof of the Council chambers, which can all be seen down this other side lane. (Trust me).

The other curve used for inspiration in the artwork is the arched entry to the carriageway of the old Tech building that runs off Ribbon Gang Lane.

Back inside, this is the carpentry classroom.  Those arches, which now go onto more rooms, originally opened onto the carriageway below and materials would have been winched up and through the openings.

It wasn't easy to take a photo, but there was also a caretaker's residence included in the building.  There are several further additions to the rear of the building, which are not of as much conservation significance or are unsafe to enter, including the kitchens, where I attending Microwave Cooking classes back in the mid 1980s.

The precinct also includes a vacant block, just around the corner and the headmaster's cottage, which is in a poor state of repair.  Some time in the past, the floor of the second storey was removed, making the building structurally unsound.  Council received a grant to shore it up, but that is all they have been able to do.

We do hope that such a major historic Bathurst building will find a reuse that benefits the community as well as preserving the past.  It certainly has great potential, but will need some one with very deep pockets to pay for it.

By now it was lunch time, so we found a cafe for a bite to eat, followed by a visit to the Regional Art Gallery.

There were a few exhibitions on display.  The main one was "Drought" by Sidney Nolan.  Back in 1952 the Courier Mail newspaper commissioned the artist to photograph the effects of the terrible drought experienced in outback Queensland.  

Some of the photos and paintings are a bit confronting, but then, so is a severe drought.

There was also this little series of line drawings of wild flowers that he had completed.  I think they would make rather nice stitcheries.

The next exhibition was "Past Night" by Robert Hirschmann, an artist from Portland, halfway between Bathurst and Lithgow.  His paintings were all on the theme of the moon.

I liked the effect of them all grouped on the wall.

The third exhibition was "Cycle" by Nicola Mason, another artist from our local area.  Her paintings were completed over the last couple of years and are mainly showing domestic items.  I just loved it.

A full bookcase is a beautiful thing in my opinion.  Someone else obviously thought so too, as the painting has been sold.

Now for the fun bit....

Mounted on the wall of the gallery were these floating shelves with the actual items that Nicola had painted.  How cool is that.

By then, it was about time to go home, as we had been playing the tourist in our own town for several hours, but what a great way to spend the day.  We do like our Friday Fun Days.