coastal custodians - Department of Environment and Climate Change

Its position between Gulaga and
Najanuga and its obvious presence in
the open cultural landscape of the Tilba
Valley meant that a modest yet high
quality building was the only option.
Council has been prepared to go the
extra yards by ensuring that the
building is a highly durable, standalone
structure that needs no outside
energy or water inputs in order to
function. It has a state-of-the-art
‘Biolytix’ effluent disposal system, solar
power and an in-ground 5000-litre
rainwater storage tank. As such it is the
first fully integrated energy and water
efficient structure that council has
created and it sets a precedent for
future public works throughout the
shire.
Two Wallaga Lake Community men,
Hayden Briggs and Mervyn Naylor,
apprenticed to plumber Mick Cosgrove
from Bermagui, have put a lot of work
into the building and were
photographed recently whilst doing the
final fitting out and water connections
to the buildings’ infrastructure.
The design fits with the requirements of
the Tilba Conservation Area. It follows
the model of an outbuilding where
hardwood slab construction, rather
than the usual weatherboard cladding,
has been used. At present the building
is still shiny-bright in its newness, but
with time it will become less
conspicuous as the timber goes grey in
the sun and the zincalume roof softens.
Tree planting in the post-and-rail
enclosure off the building will also help
to lessen its impact by providing a
backdrop when viewed from the
highway, and will also partly obscure it
when viewed from Corkhill Drive. The
idea is that as time goes by the building
will disappear into the environment,
looking like an old slab hut in the
middle of a paddock.
However it is only when you get near to
it that the building will express its wider
cultural story.
A protective concrete apron that
surrounds the structure and the
verandah floors have been painted red,
yellow and black by members of the
Work-for-the-Dole team who helped me
over a three month period. Four Koori
men, two from Bodalla, one from
Narooma and a Wallaga Lake man were
part of that team.
The interior of the toilets will feature a
Native Flora Display (to a captive
audience) that is composed of
photographic panels of locally
indigenous wildflowers, shrubs and
trees photographed between Bermagui
and Moruya over the last two years. The
common, scientific and family names
accompany each image, but in addition
to this I have been able to include
Coastal Custodians 14