Students singing, stories of soldiers, painstaking research for learned tomes, plus a battered old homestead – all things keeping Eurobodalla’s history alive and all recognised at the 2026 Fergus Thomson OAM Heritage Award presentation.
From an exceptionally strong field, the award was taken home by Kelly Dunn for her work restoring Shannon View Homestead – over a year of hard graft to bring back the building on the corner of Larrys Mountain Road from a state of disrepair to a beautiful homestead leaning heavily on original features and character. Ms Dunn was presented the award by Yvonne Thomson.
Ms Dunn purchased the property – associated with the early European settlement of Moruya – in 2024 and set about restoring it, carefully respecting those vital original details and distinctive silhouette. The whole process was filmed by ABC’s Restoration Australia, with the episode airing in June and still available to watch on ABC iView.
Accepting the award from Yvonne Thomson, Ms Dunn says the restoration has changed the way she sees history, giving her new appreciation for the stories behind the old buildings, and that one of her biggest fears had been how the finished house would be regarded by the community. She was also pleasantly surprised by the support from Council.
“Everyone asked if I had a battle with Council? I actually loved being able to say it was completely the opposite. You guys were great to work with, so thank you. I loved every step of this,” Ms Dunn said.
Eurobodalla Mayor Mathew Hatcher praised the quality of this year’s nominations, saying the shire’s heritage was in good hands.
“I want to acknowledge all the work involved in researching and documenting our local stories, particularly all the local volunteers spending countless hours preserving material and writing books we will appreciate for a long time,” says the Mayor.
Two other projects were highly commended – Michelle Garcia and Lynne Thomas for their song and video Stop the World, and the Batemans Bay Heritage Museum Research Group for its publication Mogo Anzacs. Other finalists included Christine Greig for her extensive work researching and publishing local history, Kevin Setter for his two-volume history of Moruya’s Sacred Heart Church, and Narooma School of Arts for a documentary film celebrating 100 years of the School of Arts Memorial Hall.
