Restoration Australia Season 2 Ep 2 Hunting Ground Tas

"Dale and Michael embark on a project to restore two 19th Century timber cottages on their Tasmanian rural property. Will they accomplish their dream?"

Depends on what their dream is really.

Episode 2 of the second season of Restoration Australia takes the rental car (at least 4 of them) out to Hunting Ground, located at Dysart near the Jordan River in southern Tasmania. Despite the repeated establishment shots proving we have arrived at each stage of the restoration, it is still hard to get a sense of where we are. My own hunting shows the nearest town is Dysart, the Post Code area is Kempton (which contains Dysart house - an attractive wayside inn), the general locality is Clifton Vale, historically it was Green Ponds. Hunting Ground appears to be appropriation of an historical name for another vaguely defined place a bit to the east. It is hard to find much history of the area, Real Estate listings are the main online record. The pioneer settler in 1816 was:

"Anthony Fenn Kemp, a thoroughly unpleasant and despotic soldier-merchant, who seems to have spent most of his life fighting with governors and trying to manipulate the political scene in both New South Wales and Van Diemen's Land"

"Dysart was formerly known as Shepton Montacute, just south of Green Ponds, now known as Kempton. Its current name is taken from estate Dysart Park in Kempton, which in turn takes its name from Dysart near Edinburgh"

"Circa 1826, "Clifton Vale" is a significant property steeped in history. Both the main house and the convict brick gaol that is reputed to have once housed bush ranger Martin Cash are heritage listed. Ancient Oak trees surround the house and garden and the front road boundary is lined with a Hawthorn hedge recreating the ambience of old England."

Turns out The Gents, (Brady Michaels and Dale Campisi), make their living from heritage (of sorts) running tours, publishing books (including one in the now ubiquitous ghost signs genre), and creating exhibitions, pop-up shops, art installations, pocket history books and telling stories. The Hunting Ground adventure is for personal and business benefit. (I'm confused: is it Brady and Dale or Dale and Michael doing the resto?)

The  site contains several buildings, a timber and corrugated iron barn, a red brick 1850s chapel, and two timber buildings which are subject of the restoration. These appear to be late nineteenth, early twentieth century house and detached kitchen, with evidence of a former connection between them. They are in a bad way. Windows gone, a section of wall missing where the connecting room was demolished, and the usual decay resulting from abandonment.

They also plan to be off- grid. Looks to me like they have  no choice. Desert has no articulated sewer, gas, water, or NBN, and the nearest power pole is a couple of hundred metres away. Connection costs would be huge.

The restoration focusses on windows and and a new bathroom. The house didn't have one before. There is also the new build to join the two structures back together.

"Architect Christy Bryar designing a simple yet striking glass and steel addition that connects the two existing cottages [with an] 'invisible link'"

Then there is also a sub-plot about the slightly feral relative who can put in sun-tracking solar panels, the part of off-grid we get to see (we so no plumbing, septic or sand filter work)

These shows are of course about drama and conflict. But everything seems to be going smoothly. The tradies all know what they are doing. The lean to on the chapel comes town with little more than a whimper. The weather is warm then cold but doest hold things up. So we are left with the problem of what to do about the rusty roofing iron. Seems the plumber reckons their tank water won't be ok if they collect water off a rusty roof. The gents plan was to:

"retain their rustic feel, with original features, materials and weathered surfaces. Our vision was to keep it much the way we found it: well worn, with all the character and age that a 160+ year old property contains."


I haven't heard that a bit of rust was a problem for tank water. The first flush digester that lets the dust and leaves flush off before any water goes in the tank would take care of a bit of rust. But they go with the Zincalum - one bit of character gone.

Windows needed remaking and one of the gents thinks he can do it but he can't. Commercial windows are brought in. Not 12-pane double hung sashes but single sheet special double glazed casements - another bit of character gone.

Southern Midlands Shire promotes the  Centre of Heritage, which incorporates Heritage Building Solutions Services and Heritage Education and Skills Centre Services. It offers services for "the restoration and conservation of heritage buildings and sites for valued re-use". Wonder if they took advantage of this service?

The cottage interior is all timber lined. This faded shabby chic aesthetic looks like it can be retained. We don't see how the modern services, plumbing, lighting, insulation and the like are fitted in, but two small elements are featured to make the point that the new and the old are melded. The joint between the steel framed glass wall of the new link and the weathered weatherboards of the old building is given its closeup and we marvel at how the straight line of the former sits against the zig zag of the latter. Except we don't get to see how it was done. Are the gaps filled with silicon or has someone cut neat triangular fillets to fill the gap?

The other fill is needed in the gap between the chimney and the new glazing. About as much drama as we are likely to see. Then some bits of salvaged door frame serve the purpose and add some more rustic.

Hunting Ground includes an 1850s brick Congregational Church, a left over from some early religious zeal and later subdivision and consolidation. This is given a much lighter conservation treatment - repair to the eroded bricks, replacing floorboards, like for like, and some reasonably innocuous new lighting.

Some other lost buildings from the area hint that this was once a lively settlement. The cottage in the picture on the left was just south of The Gents place, but is now gone. Clifton Vale, the pioneer establishment, along with its convict built gaol that purportedly held Martin Cash, was recently sold for 3/4 of a million. The pioneers are presumably in the Clifton Vale Private Cemetery.

Today Dysart/Hunting Ground is a quiet and sparsely populated rural area with only hints that 150 years ago it was a vibrant part of the Colonial experiment. The Gents are perhaps bringing some life back to the area as well as to the little timber cottage.