Descendants of the Stolen Generation are leading a push to restore one of New South Wales' most significant sites, the Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls.
The home operated between 1912 and 1969, training hundreds of young Aboriginal girls forcibly removed from their families to be domestic servants.
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After the home ceased to operate it was used by the Aboriginal Evangelical Fellowship.
Last year, the Young Local Aboriginal Land Council became custodians of the site and are now working with the Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation on improving it.
Meagan Gerrard's grandmother was taken from her family, at age four, and lived at the home for 15 years.
She works with the Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation, which was established in 2013 to support survivors and descendants of the home.
"There hasn't been a maintenance program for many years so the building itself and the dwellings on the site are deteriorating rapidly," she said.
"It's really distressing. For such a significant site, although it's tied to such trauma and such a dark history, it was also their home and to see it in this condition and identifying the amount of work involved to restore it, it's quite upsetting."
State funding 'good first step'
The Cootamundra Girls Home received a NSW Heritage Listing in 2012 and Ms Gerrard said the Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation was working with the state's Department of Aboriginal Affairs on a long-term project to turn the site into a place of education and healing.
State Member for Cootamundra Steph Cooke said the Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation received a one-off $10,000 grant from the NSW Government last financial year to employ an interim caretaker and start restoration work.
"It's an important first step and I realise there's more to be done," Ms Cooke said.
"This site is very significant to survivors of the Stolen Generation and to the community more broadly.
Ms Gerrard said planning was underway to start repairs soon, which would include removal of asbestos from the site.
"We're looking at hosting a volunteer initiative, a working bee, calling on community and trades to come together for a day of learning, connecting, yarning and also supporting the corporation to carry out the restoration works."
Ms Gerrard said due to the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19 in NSW, a date for the working bee was yet to be set, but it was hoped it would occur over the coming months ahead of a planned healing event at the home next year.
