RESTORATION OF OLD COURTHOUSE-STATIONMASTERS COTTAGE
Presentation of Our Community by Our Community for Our Community
The newly established publicly owned and managed Hastings Gateway Company was setup as a community involvement Project. This guiding principle has been the background of all the decisions designed to establish this publicly run and funded organisation. It also ensured that the founding directors would be local minded citizens with a proven record of community work as can be seen from the list of directors published elsewhere.
The Hastings Gateway Ltd, a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee incorporated on 26 June 2015, was set up to meet a range of social and cultural needs of Wauchope and district community in perpetuity. Clause X of its constitution provides that it will pursue the following charitable purposes: To advance education;To advance social and public welfare;To advance culture & To advance other purposes beneficial to the general public.
One of the first major projects is the complete restoration and upgrading of the former 1902 Police Station/Courthouse/Station Master’s cottage at Wauchope. In this valuable and historic building, the Gateway Company is establishing Wauchope’s first official Information Centre, which will be available to all organisations in the district.
The restoration plan inside the Cottage -Wauchope’s first Courthouse includes placement of the original Magistrate’s table completely restored to its former glory.
Given Wauchope’s history as ‘The Timbertown’, the NSW Forestry Corporation has agreed to relocate it’s outstanding ‘Henry Kendall Collection of Fine Wood Art’ into this building. Established in the 1980’s, it is a magnificent display of outstanding craftsmanship that is recognised as the best in the state, and can be seen nowhere else.
Hastings Gateway aims to provide, a comprehensive plan to advertise the Hastings with links to other community groups and businesses encompassing the whole Port Macquarie Hastings area. This is designed to highlight and support to the fullest extent, our local area, and its attractions in an extremely professional manner without fear or favour. Explore and develop plans to encourage projects that will develop and improve employment opportunities in the Hastings.
“” The last armed mail robbery in the State of New South Wales occurred at 5.30 a.m. on November 13, 1905 when two men held up Robinson’s Royal Mail. This occurred at the foot of Spencer’s Cut (Cutting) on the main road between Wauchope and Port Macquarie. Two masked and armed men stepped from behind a tree and demanded driver Jim Robinson to ‘Stand and deliver!’ The armed bandits took the mail bags and ordered Robinson to turn the four horses loose in the bush and walk to Port Macquarie. Robinson, started walking towards Port Macquarie, and when out of sight of the two hold-up men, pushed through the bush back to Wauchope where he reported the armed holdup and robbery to Senior Constable Lawler, at the Police Station, who returned to the scene of the crime with Constable Fahey. A further search found a piece of chaff bag with four holes cut in it, tied with a piece of black chalk line, as if used on a man’s face. They also found two mail bags, one labelled ‘Sydney’ bearing a Wauchope post-office seal and another labelled ‘Port Macquarie.’ Both bags had been ripped open. The two policemen collected all opened and unopened mail and taking these to Wauchope handed these over to the Post Master, Mr Jones. Senior Constable Lawler in company with Constable Livingstone and Fahey and black tracker Combo, returned to the scene of the robbery. They followed some marks and footprints in a south-westerly direction from where they had found the mail bags. They soon came upon a camp owned by Robert Crane. They also found a man named Peter Jordaunt and another called Harry and arrested them an locked them in the cell at the cottage. Jourant was charged and convicted. Regards Ray””
