In September, 1975, the Walcha Council was told that the Housing Commission of NSW had exhausted its funds and there was no chance of it proceeding with the purchase of land for aged units at this time.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Despite the setback council decided to proceed with negotiations to purchase the old Commercial Tennis Club land on the corner of Fitzroy and Meridian streets and to use whatever means it could to get the government to change its position.
All four units were occupied when the facility was officially opened by the Minister for Housing in August 1979.
During September 1977 council announced that it was in the process of transferring title of the land to the Housing Commission and would continue to negotiate for the earliest possible construction of aged units. It was not long afterwards that the government announced it would build four aged units at Walcha and that tenders for the work would be sought in May 1978.
G.J. and C.J. Fisher of Armidale were awarded a $94,500 contract for the job and site works were well in hand by January 1979. All four units were occupied when the facility was officially opened by the Minister for Housing in August 1979, marking it the first time that such accommodation was available at Walcha.
The Minister expected that a further extension would be built during 1980-01 and in due course a contract worth $120,000 was awarded to Alex Finlayson Pty. Ltd. of Armidale to construct a second set of four units, which were also fully occupied when officially opened in September 1981.
The complex was named Belltrees in recognition of the district’s first settler, H.C. Sempill who owned a property of that name in the Hunter River district before establishing the Walcha grazing run in 1832.
During 1987 council decided to provide land in Commercial Lane to the Housing Commission for them to design eight one-bedroom apartments for aged persons of which four were for rental and four for sale. This was later changed to 10 units with an estimated cost of $500,000. Council would pay for six units and the government for four.
This development, a stone’s throw from Belltrees, was named Karinya and was opened by Noel Park, MP for Tamworth, in February 1991.