Batemans Bay is about to lose one of its ''Icons'' shortly with Council moving to demolish of old Batemans Bay Bowling Club that they bought for $2.73m in April 2016. The site will now be leased to the RMS to be used while they construct the new Batemans Bay Bridge and it has been agreed that the RMS will demolish the building, remove the material and return the site to Council as a cleared site in 3 to 4 years. Council borrowed $2m to buy the club and it is understood that they pay in the order of $80,000 per year in interest. (Council will not reveal the amount so 4% interest is assumed). It is rumoured that the RMS will be paying the sum of $150,000 per annum. to rent the space and that Council will sell the site once the bridge project has been completed. Unable to find a private partner to build the Gateway "vision" they have for the site being a bus interchange, shops at ground level then seniors accommodation above with possible provision for offices and even a pedestrian flyover over Vesper Street to the Village Plaza Council it is believed that Council still hopes that it can dictate that outcome by placing planning constraints on the land. The Batemans Bay Bowling Club was started by ''Volunteers'' in 1949. The ESC recently allowed members of the Courthouse Museum, along with local historians Leah Burke and Stephen Dunne into the building to salvage Trophies and Memorabilia, for the museum Below are some photos of articles salvaged, and the unsalvageable. Stephen Dunne reports that about 95% of the honour boards were unsalvageable ,having been placed in a container some years back and suffered very bad water damaged.
Click on the above for larger and slide show - Photos by Stephen Dunne and Leah Burke
These are a few more pics from inside the Batemans Bay Bowling Club soon to be demolished. 20/6/2018.
Click on the above for larger and slide show - Photos by Stephen Dunne and Leah Burke
