Volunteers restoring the homestead at the Truganina Explosives Reserve in Altona want it placed on the Victorian Heritage Register.
Ralph Coghill from the Truganina Explosives Reserve Preservation Society said the residence on Queen Street, built for the officer-in-charge and their family, had fallen in to disrepair and had been in danger of collapsing.
The society started the homestead restoration on a modest budget from public donations before successfully applying for funding assistance from Hobsons Bay council in 2015. It also received money from Toyota.
It has nominated the site for listing on the state heritage register.
“The state register requires that you show that the place has state significance and at the moment it’s only regarded as having local significance,” Mr Coghill said.
“We believe it has state significance because it was the only government-operated repository and distribution centre for explosives for civil use – for mining, quarrying, that sort of thing.
“Between when it opened in 1901 and when it closed in 1962, it made a substantial contribution to the industrial development of Victoria.”
Mr Coghill said the group, which is aiming to open the homestead to the public next month, hoped it could also be used by study groups.
“We don’t want to create a museum,” he said. “What we want to do is restore this to the way it would have looked when the first managers lived there in the early 1900s … we want to make it available for general community use.”
In 2000, the community campaigned to save the site from sale to developers and Hobsons Bay council was appointed to manage the site.
