General News
14 January, 2025
Avoca gallery set for upgrade
Christmas came a day early for the Avoca Community Arts and Gardens group who recieved a $10,000 grant from VicTrack over the holidays
The grant money will continue the original refurbishment works of Gallery 127 which is housed within the town’s historic train station. The works will include ceiling insulation and extending the asphalt.
VicTrack’s $550,000 refurbish-ment project to restore the historical station preceded the gallery’s opening in 2017 but has left some ongoing issues for Arts and Gardens president Hugh Forster.
For example, Mr Forster has found a lack of insulation installed in the building’s roof to be a “sore point”.
“It’s been on our cards to get it done because we have to pay the extra costs of cooling and heating because everything is going through the ceiling,” he said.
Mr Forster said it’s a particular issue for the gallery because the temperature can’t vary too much.
“[If it] gets too hot, the oil will run down the paintings, gets too cold it gets to brittleness,” he said.
As a result, Gallery 127 have to run their split systems much of the year. He found that both in summer and winter the split system has had to come on earlier and run for longer, increasing costs.
The other part of the grant will go to improving the accessibility of the trackside platform.
The asphalted area under the verandah will be extended to the edge of the trackside platform wall removing the gravel as a tripping hazard. Mr Forster said that when the gravel gets wet, tables would sink into it during events and where it met the asphalt was a tripping hazard.
“It’s really rectifying old problems,” he said.
These works come in preparation for the first planned tourist train arrival in early May which will promote tourism in the region.
“It’ll have an ongoing positive roll for us and the town,” he said.