Saw the show, liked
some bits and not others. Overly and artificially dramatic, but that seems to
be the way of these shows, and unfortunately the host does not have the
intelligent philosophical outlook of Kevin McLeod. A couple of things grated
though. The depiction of advisors as some sort of bogey women, doesn't
gel when the site is not on the Heritage Overlay or any other heritage list,
and the fearful $50,000 bond and time limits would seem red herrings since such
they are regularly placed on building projects to protect the council and
ratepayers from shonky practice. I would be confident that the council would be
sympathetic to extending both as needed, even with only minimal progress shown.
While
the before and after transitions were interesting, the camera work doesn't have
the sophistication of Grand Designs, and really fails to capture the
architectural spaces and qualities of the building effectively. The narration
and analysis was also unsophisticated, lacking explanation of technical issues.
The dramatic music and repetitive narrative distracts from the real qualities
clay, the builder has for his project. His pragmatic response to the dormer
windows chapter shows how the show's timbre could have been more comfortably
directed away from the 'reality TV' fake drama.
Timing
of the visits could have been better. We get a sense of how slow the stonework
is to begin with, then suddenly the walls are done, the floors and cleanings
are in and the roof timbers are up. I felt like we missed all the exiting parts
of the build and were just left with the crooked barge-board event.
Some
of the historical background may have been confused. William and John Morrison
selected several blocks in the 1880s and 1900s, William Morrison was also a
soldier – a Sergeant in 1915 and Lieutenant in 1918 and submitted
evidence to the Soldier Settlement Commission – see the Argus 10/8/1925, (or is
this William the son?) Brother John also served, while the family retained the
farm into the late 1920s at least. How soldier settlement brought the
abandonment of the farm is not clear. The Eldorado attractions website calls
the place Kelvin Hall.
Even
though there were no heritage controls and the appearance of Deb Kemp may have
been for effect (someone can put me right here) there were some real heritage
issues. Is the surrounding decking appropriate? Does the big shed overwhelm the
house? Was the big tree dead and did it have to go? Was there an underfloor
archaeological deposit being dug out, and is that where Morrison's chisel came
from?
But
good on Clay and Narelle for recovering a building that would otherwise have
slowly disappeared.
And
it won its timeslot and beat the Spelling Bee in the ratings
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