National Trust conservation director for NSW, Graham Quint, said the September
eviction contravenes existing heritage agreements and that immediate action was
needed to protect the workshop.
“The whole site is on the heritage register,” Mr Quint said. “It’s got the
highest level of protection in the state yet they are evicting the people who
are caring for it.
“It is disappointing that a place of such international significance, under
grave and immediate threat now requires a re-nomination,” he said. “This does
highlight serious resourcing and legislative impediments.”
Some 200 steam trains have been built at the Eveleigh Railway Yard since 1887.
At its peak in the 1930s the workshop overhauled around 540 locomotives a year.
One of the few qualified blacksmithing operations in the country, Wrought
Artworks has been continuing that tradition for the past 17 years.
The ATP website acknowledges that the Blacksmith’s Workshop houses the largest
collection of steam-powered machinery in the southern hemisphere, with much of
the equipment still in working order.
Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority CEO Robert Domm told The City News last
week that Wrought Artworks had been operating at the ATP without a lease and
without paying rent.
“This is obviously not a tenable situation in the long run and the ATP has
tried on a number of occasions to resolve this issue,” Mr Domm said.
But Mr Quint said there are simply no other blacksmiths who could preserve the
site. “I think the shoe is on the other foot,” Mr Quint said. “They can’t evict
this person… he is the ideal tenant and has put a lot of his own money into
this.”
Meanwhile, Wrought Artworks blacksmith Guido Gouverneur is now in demand
elsewhere in the city. He has been approached to restore gates and fencing at
both Centennial Park and Observatory Hill. “There have
been some very important projects and he is the main person [involved],” Mr
Quint said. “You don’t get rid of these sorts of people.”