RESTORATION works to one of the Manning Valley’s historical maritime sites, the Wingham Wharf, are now complete making it safe and accessible to the community.
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The wharf remained fenced off for a number of years after it suffered the impact of flooding which caused some of the piers on the eastern end of the wharf to collapse.
Federal grant funding was secured to complete the works.
Council’s senior leader strategic planning, Richard Pamplin believes, “that the next flood would have resulted in the collapse of a large portion of the historic wharf if this work had not been undertaken. We are very grateful for the funding provided through the Federal Government’s Your Community Heritage Program. Without these funds we would still be looking at the wharf through a fence.”
Richard revealed that, “we regularly inspected the site while construction was underway and were amazed by the number of visitors and locals enjoying the river. Having the wharf open again to walk along, fish and ponder the past is wonderful.”
Local businesses were used to remove the silt, replace the piers and provide engineering advice.
"When it came to construction we could not go past the bridge crew within council," said Richard.
"They have expertise in building with timber and worked closely with our heritage advisor to ensure the wharf was restored in a way that reflected its past."
The historic wharf is a magnificent reminder of how important the river was to the establishment of the Manning Valley - everything came by boat.
Historic photographs show the wharf as a centre of activity with large ships unloading goods and passengers.
Removing the concrete decking and returning to a timber platform on a section of the wharf is a great reminder of how the whole wharf would have looked when it was first built.