A third historic building in Diggers Rest has been destroyed by fire.
‘Athenry’, known to residents as ‘The Castle’, was engulfed by flames on May 26. It is the third historical building in Diggers Rest to be destroyed by fire in the past six years.
The Diggers Rest-Coimadai Road property, spared the wrecking ball in April, was engulfed in flames when police and firefighters arrived about 3.30am.
Built in 1906, the house was extensively altered and extended in the 1920s and ’30s. It was vacant at the time of the fire and had no electricity or gas connected.
Melton Inspector Stephen Mutton said the fire was being investigated by the crime investigation unit.
In April, this newspaper reported that the Melton council had rejected an application by property owner DivCorp to demolish the house.
RELATED: Moves to protect Diggers Rest house ‘Athenry’
Instead, councillors unanimously opted to ask Planning Minister Matthew Guy to prepare a planning scheme amendment to apply for permanent heritage controls.
An earlier heritage assessment had found the weatherboard house to be historically significant.
Cambridge Coburn and Watts Residents Association president Nathan Miles said the fire at Athenry was a sad loss.
“It’s the third historic building in Diggers Rest to be burnt in six years,” he said.
The other two buildings were the Diggers Rest Hotel, gutted by fire in October, 2008, and the much-loved original general store and post office burned in June, 2011.
Both fires were deemed to be suspicious.
Some walls and the chimney of the hotel remain but are part-covered in graffiti.
The Diggers Rest general store and post office reopened in late 2013.
“I’d like to know the statistical chance of having so many historical sites in the same area burned down in such a short time … I doubt it’s happened anywhere else,” Mr Miles said.
David Kilgariff, son of former Melton mayor Michael Kilgariff, lived in Athenry for most of his life. He said he was sad to see the historic property go up in flames.
“We got so close to getting heritage listing. It was burned to the ground before it even got that chance,” he said.
Mr Kilgariff had been hopeful the “quirky” building would be used as a community centre or cafe.
“It’s a real missed opportunity for the Diggers Rest township.”
