By ALESHA CAPONE
THE call’s gone out for an old-fashioned sandstone grindstone, like those used by the blacksmiths of yesteryear?
Members of the Sunshine and District Historical Society want to hear from anyone who can help to track one down.
Dedicated members of the society recently cleaned up an old smithy located near Barclay Reserve in Albion.
The brown wooden building with a bark roof is a full-sized replica of the original smithy, which was built in 1884 and stood out the front of HV McKay’s iconic Sunshine Harvester Works from 1928 onwards.
The original smithy, which was donated to the Melbourne Museum during the fifties, is no longer on public display due to its fragile condition.
However the replica contains plenty of old-fashioned blacksmith’s equipment to give visitors a glimpse of life in the last century.
The historical society’s curator Alan Dash said photographs of old blacksmith buildings show that their sandstone grindstones were often prominently displayed out the front.
The Albion smithy used to have such a grindstone but it has since been stolen – much to the historical society’s dismay.
“If someone could create or donate an old-fashioned sandstone grindstone, that would be awesome,” Mr Dash said.
“The sandstone grindstone was pinched and we’re trying to work out how to get a new replica.
“Long-term, we’re also discussing restoration of the smithy’s roof, or else we don’t have a historical item to preserve for Sunshine.
“It’s not a crisis but we will be raising funds for that in the future.”
Mr Dash’s fellow historical society member Marie Zielinski said she enjoyed seeing the original HV smithy as a child.
“As a kid you used to go to the museum and see the name ‘Sunshine’ and feel really proud,” she said.
“I think often the current generation don’t realise Sunshine itself was involved in the first minimum wage case and how big the manufacturing industry was here.”
Visit www.sunshinehistoricalsociety.org.au for more information.
