You'll never be late again for church ...

... if you buy Nelligen's old St Joseph's Roman Catholic Church in Runnyford Road.

The first church building on this site was of wood and the total cost including altar and furnishings was about 200 in the old money. The official opening took place on Sunday 24 November 1872 with the Right Reverend The Vicar General (Sheehy) conducting the opening ceremony. The Very Reverend Dean White of Braidwood was in attendance; the incumbent priest, the Reverend J J Garvey, delivered the sermon.

In late 1894 a tender was let to Mr William Isley of Braidwood to construct a new brick church for the growing congregation. The clay for the bricks was donated by Mr Charles McCauley and was dug from the "Racecourse Paddock". The records show that a working bee of sixteen woodcutters was formed from the congregation to cut wood for the firing of the bricks. The wood was donated by Mr Stephen Richardson, the Nelligen butcher. Some of the woodcutters were: Pat Egan, Mick Byrne, Dave Roughley, and Ben, Jim, Pat, Bob and Vincent McCauley. The cornerstone was laid on 24 October 1895 and the new church was opened in 1896.

Socially the Church served its local Catholic congregation for more than three quarters of a century and, being of local significance, has been on the State Heritage Register since 1997. Aesthetically the building, designed in a late Victorian Gothic, has an unusually slender tower and spire, and the building has the potential to reveal information about the stature of the local Catholic church at the end of the 19th century and about the size of the local congregation at that time and the availability of skilled tradesmen.

The Church withstood the many bushfires that have swept the area over the past 90 years and still stands today. Restoration work on the Church was commenced in 1976. A 'damp course' was installed and the majority of the interior plasterwork removed, having been degraded by 'rising damp'. The Church authorities decided that no further services were to be held in Nelligen and restoration work was stopped. The last official service held in the Church was the funeral Mass for Horst Jagow in April 1976.

The building was sold sometime in the late 1990 and converted to an art gallery. It was sold again in 2006 for $475,000 but the new owners never used it, and it has now gone back on the market for $565,000.

Investing in real estate being something of a new religion, here's your chance to combine the old with the new!

Yes we Canberra!

Has a well-known "businessman" in Nelligen become the bellwether for the election on August the 21st?

As reported in the BAY POST, Nelligen businessman Rick Patman feeds many Eden-Monaro voters with his “all-day breakfasts” but says his vote depends on what Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott feed him.

"I might go Labor, it depends how the ranga bullshits,” Mr Patman said, referring to Ms Gillard and her distinctive red hair.

“Abbott has given me nothing to swing to him.”

Mr Patman has issued an open invitation to Ms Gillard to attend happy hour at 5pm today at the Steampacket Hotel.

Mr Patman said he could be swung by changes to the health system. His son is an asthmatic and he has experienced what he calls “understaffed hospitals”.

The 46-year-old shop owner said he had not seen Eden-Monaro Labor MP Mike Kelly.

To read more about the coffee-drinking swinging voters, pick up your copy of the BAY POST.

FINALLY! A better bus service to Canberra!

 

Want to go to Canberra with pick-up from home and drop-off at individual places in and around Canberra?


Call Rixon Bus Service on 44744243 or email Sue at malandsue@southernphone.com.au.

This new bus service leaves from the bus stop at the newsagency in Orient Street every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday at around 8.30 am and arrives at Canberra Airport at around 10.30 am and Jolimont Centre in the City Centre at 10.45 am.

It leaves Jolimont Centre for its return trip to the coast at around 4.30 pm.

The cost is $30 one-way or $55 if you return on the same day's bus in the afternoon (you've got more than five hours' shopping time!)

If you want an individual home pick-up, add $10 to the fare.

A typical Clyde River scene

 

Painted by local artist Ritchey Sealy

Progress in Nelligen?

The Eurobodalla Shire Council on the New South Wales Far South Coast says its draft Villages Development Control Plan will help preserve the cultural heritage of key towns in the region.

The plan is now on public exhibition in Rick’s Nelligen Cafe, and submissions can be made until July 26.

Its aim is to preserve the cultural heritage of Nelligen, Bodalla, Central Tilba, Tilba Tilba, as well as the Tilba Conservation Area.

The Council's Strategy and Heritage Planner, Steve Halicki, says the plan will assist developers.

"To a certain degree the development control plan sets a vision for the development of those areas, and gives an expectation and certainty to developers what they can and can't do within those areas with their development," he said.

Council has booked the Nelligen hall for 4.00 to 7.00pm Tuesday 22 June for public discussion.

For more regional news, [click here].

After a long and extinguished career ...

... I have been called to the bar!

Let's drink to that!

We have new neighbours!

Richard and Wendy aboard the Seven Seas 37 ketch "Charon" anchored off "Riverbend" yesterday. They are from Hobart and will sail for tropical Queensland in a day or two. The best neighbours to have!

Richard taking a photo of their ketch from Riverbend

The four of us had dinner by the fireplace, washed it all down with mulled wine, and then started on our sing-a-long. Richard plays a mean honkytonk piano and I joined in with my squeezebox and it turned into a really great night.

[Click here] to read Richard and Wendy's sailing blog.