Korumburra Community Hub springs to life

WITH less than a month until the official opening of the Korumburra Community Hub (November 10), excitement is building as the town’s Myli Library branch and Korumburra Historical Society establish a presence in their new home.

The Sentinel-Times paid a visit on Thursday, checking out the modern facility and chatting to staff and volunteers busy organising their collections.

The Historical Society area was full of boxes, well organised into categories and labelled by member Helen Comer.

She said she has drawn on her experience setting up large retail premises.

“The Shire was awesome,” she said, explaining it has paid for the removalists and required storage of items after the Historical Society needed to vacate its previous home.

Historical Society president Bob Newton said Helen’s efficient categorisation ensured it is easy to put everything in its place, with an industrious team carrying out that task.

One member, Alan McGuinness, was busy placing items in the compactor which has been installed to minimise storage space requirements.

In the Historical Society’s Community Hub home, bound copies of local newspapers dating back as far as 1880 will now have the prominence they deserve, having been among the collection stored under the old library, as well as a prized ‘Korumburra Waterworks Trust’ chest containing a hand-written history of the organisation dating back to its approval and constitution in 1894.

While members and staff are well equipped to find appropriate spots for collection items, expertise was required to ensure everything gets to its new home without damage.

Mark Blackburn was delighted his business Wonthaggi Removals & Storage was entrusted to ensure the safe transport of items for the Historical Society and Library.

“It’s an honour,” he said, noting the irreplaceable nature of much of its collection.

Helen expressed her appreciation of the dedication and efficiency Mark and his team.

The removalists were looking forward to delivering another 180 book boxes, weighing three and a half tonnes to the library.

Library manager Bregje van Waterschoot spoke about her delight at seeing the library being established.

“We are in the process of moving everything in, putting all the shelves together, getting the furniture in place; we’ve been very excited about moving in and so happy to be in this space,” Bregje said.

She loves the warm and inviting nature, the curves of the building, and the views it provides of trees and rolling hills.

“We are excited to be in the same space as the Historical Society, Community House (Milpara), and council offices,” Bregje said.

“It will be easy for us to work together and for people to visit multiple organisations in one place.”

The library team is organising activities for their opening week, with the South Gippsland Shire Brass Band set to perform on the spacious library balcony at the official opening event. Tai Chi is also on the agenda. So is a Mario Kart Tournament that will take place in the teens’ section of the new library, which will house an Xbox and a new Nintendo Switch.