Restoration of the Riverina’s largest woolshed and its conversion into a museum and major tourist attraction is gaining momentum, with locals hopeful they will officially own five acres of land containing old shearers’ quarters and sheds within weeks.

Toganmain Station, located between Darlington Point and Carrathool, was established in 1867 as one of the first grazing properties in the region.

By the early 1890s, the station covered more than 300,000 acres of land, with around 200,000 sheep shorn each year.

The station is referenced in the songs of legendary Australian poet Banjo Paterson and was also a focal point of violent union uprisings over workers’ right that erupted across Australia in the late 19th century, leading to the birth of the modern labour movement.

By the 1990s the landowners left the old woolshed largely unused, focusing instead on large scale cropping. The last sheep were shorn in 2002 and the shearing quarters and sheds steadily deteriorated.

However local history buffs united in 2014 to form the Toganmain Woolshed Precinct, which was incorporated as an association to negotiate with the current landowners – Macquarie Bank’s Paraway Pastoral Company – to take control of the iconic woolshed and shearing quarters’ precinct so the buildings could be conserved and reused.

Architect Peter Freeman, who authored a book on historic shearing sheds, is a driving force behind this campaign and Murrumbidgee Councillor Christine Chirgwin has been negotiating with Macquarie Bank on behalf of locals.

“Macquarie said that they wanted to make sure there was local involvement [in restoring the woolshed] … they gifted us the acreage around the shed and shearers quarters. It’s now in the final stages of getting signed over to us, this should happen in the next few weeks,” Cr Chirgwin said.

Her vision is to set up an interactive museum in the sheds that tells the history of the shearers and to provide accommodation quarters for visitors to stay.

Wool tourism could complement wine tourism in the region, with people visiting historic woolsheds across the Riverina, including at Yanga National Park and Jeraly Woolshed on the Hay Plains, she said.

Well-attended working bees have been held in recent weeks to fix up the shearing quarters.

However, getting the sheds back into shape will require a lot more funding in the form of corporate sponsorship or government grants.

Cr Chirgwin said We need the floor needed to be stabilised and the roof back on, which was a major project that would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

She seeks to spread the word to businesses who may consider helping out and the public can also make donations via an informative website set up by Peter Freeman.

More volunteers are also needed for future working bees.

Interested readers can follow the Friends of Toganmain Facebook page or email Cr Chirgwin at christinec@murrumbidgee.nsw.gov.au. 

This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 24 August 2023.