Original subtitles

[Sibella] Historic houses across Australia are at risk of being lost forever.

They're links to our past and should be saved.

In this series, you'll meet families facing the challenge of a lifetime.

[man grunts]

-Here we are, dumb and dumber. -[both laugh]

Half a million dollars on this?

Are we mad ?

[Sibella] They'll quickly realize the sheer scale of the projects...

[man] Not quite what I meant.

...as they restore these ruins to family homes.

I'm Sibella Court.

I'm a designer, author, lover of old houses and restoration.

I'm passionate about old buildings

and the need to save our history.

[Sibella] To succeed, our families must learn dying heritage skills

and stick to budget.

He just likes to spend money.

Bastards, bastards, bastards.

Oh, Jo! No, don't!

It's a slow train wreck.

[Sibella] Can they rescue their slice of Australia's history

before it's too late?

This is Restoration Australia.

This story starts in 1852.

Scottish blacksmith William Warwick, his wife and six children

walked more than 500 kilometers from Adelaide

for a new life as farmers in remote South Australia.

He chose a site rich in water and natural resources.

Using these raw materials, this tough pioneering family

built all they needed to survive in a harsh land.

[birds squawking]

The pastoral lease they acquired 160 years ago

is still their family home even if, at times, it hangs by a thread.

William Warwick's great-great-granddaughter, Frances,

lives on the sheep station

with her husband, Luke, and her parents.

[horn honking]

They hold the record

for the longest occupation of a grazing lease by the same family,

but drought and low wool prices

mean the family often struggles to make a living.

Key to their future is restoring two of the original buildings

that are falling down.

[motorcycle revving]

[woman] These days, the sheep station life

doesn't give a good enough return for two families just to live,

let alone to put money back into restoring buildings.

[clippers buzzing]

So, we're looking at diversifying a little, sharing our history,

maybe opening up to tourists to get a little bit of extra income.

[Sibella] So, can this family restore two historic buildings

and secure its future?

Sibella, hi. Welcome to Holowiliena.

-Lovely to finally meet you. -I'm Frances. You, too.

-Yeah, how are you? -Hi, Luke.

[woman] And this is Todd and Stella.

So, tell me about the restoration work you wanna do here.

Well, there's a little pine-and-pug shack

and that's an important part of our history,

and we believe this is one of the original buildings.

It’s had several incarnations in its day.

At one stage, it was used as an accommodation block

for up to 14 people.

[Sibella] Because they could be built quickly

from local materials,

these pug-and-pine shacks were crucial

to early white settlement in Australia,

but very few have survived as intact as this one.

[Frances] We really want to keep that and protect it,

bring it back to original condition,

but having said that, we don't know how.

The next most important building is the cellar,

which is down in the bank of the creek.

This was built in 1855, and that's also at the point,

if we don't do something, that could well be lost.

[Sibella] Every remote station had a cellar,

which was essential for storing and preserving food.

It had red gum beams holding the roof up,

and they've rotted or been eaten out and collapsed,

so the roof's caved in and a wall's about to fall down.

[Sibella] Frances also wants to revive

her great-great-grandfather's blacksmith's forge.

[Frances] The blacksmith shop was walked out of 60 years ago,

and hasn't been touched.

So, that's a bit of a special one.

It would be really nice to get that up and going again.

-You want to spark it up? [laughs] -Yeah, right.

I'd like to, but who's gonna teach me to blacksmith out here?

So, do you have a budget,

-and do you guys have... -[Frances laughing]

...a skill-set that'll help it?

Uh, not much of either, but keen to learn

and got the heart and the willingness.

So, that's a good start, I suppose.

So, I'd love to have a look around and have a sticky beak.

-We're excited to show you. -Yeah, we'd love to show you.

[Sibella] There are clues to Holowiliena's history

all over this property.

Come and have a look in here, Sibella. You'll like this.

So, this is the station store, Sibella, so...

This is incredible!

Yeah, I've been excited about showing you this, actually.

-I thought you might like it. - [Sibella] This is my kind of collecting.

[Frances] We've got all the ledgers here of records of people coming in

and collecting things from the storeroom,

whether it was tea or sugar.

Lots of tobacco. Everybody smoked.

Actually, there's something I'd like to show you that is pretty special.

You can see it's got "R. Warwick" on there...

-Yeah. -...and "1907".

This is my great-grandfather's traveling sewing kit.

So, if this could tell stories...

Oh, isn't it lovely? Can I open one of these?

Absolutely. I think everything's still in there.

It's so sweetly made. Buttons.

[Frances] My great-grandfather traveled around the place

and worked at different stations.

If your button fell off, you couldn't wait

for someone else to sew it back on...

-No! -...if you were out at camp.

-You just had to get on with it. - [Sibella] That's so lovely to have.

-It's pretty special, isn't it? -Yeah.

[projector whirs]

[all exclaim]

[Frances] Horses.

[woman] He's going to check its teeth.

[Frances] What's happening now?

I've had a great day meeting the family,

but I just don't know

how they're going to get this project off the ground.

They don't have any budget and not many heritage skills to speak of,

and also they've gotta run this sheep station at the same time.

[Sibella] But Frances is very determined and she might just find a way.

[man] Oh, cut!

[Sibella] And two weeks later, Frances strikes it lucky.

In Adelaide, she's found English craftsman Keith McAllister.

He teaches tradesmen how to save old buildings

and is always looking for on-the-job training.

Could Holowiliena be a match made in restoration heaven?

-Hi. How's it going? -[Frances] G'day, Keith. How you going?

-[Luke] How you going? -You must be Luke.

-Yeah. Must be Keith. -Hello, Luke. Keith.

[Frances] So, this is the shack...

[Sibella] If Keith thinks Holowiliena has buildings suited to training,

he might be able to offer the family a lifeline.

[Keith] So, this is a pug-and-pine constructed building.

These buildings are really rare.

It's made of native pines,

and the pug is actually lime mortar and sand.

It's interesting to see the render.

[Sibella] My grandfather put that on in the 1940s,

so that's certainly not original.

Oh, wow! This is amazing.

[Keith] Straight away, I got this Hessian bag ceiling in here

which is pretty unique as well.

Very few properties in Australia have got this detail.

Oh, right.

[Sibella] It's a good start, but will Keith share the same enthusiasm

for the rest of the project?

So, this is the blacksmith shop, Keith. Co me in and have a look.

So, I've had a bit of an idea

about using the blacksmith shop here as well

and potentially maybe make a little gate or something for the shack.

That's my ideal dream.

[Sibella] Finding someone to reinvigorate this forge is important.

Luke is keen to learn the old blacksmith skills

to help save the buildings.

Well, it's a great opportunity to actually make something

which is gonna be useful to the property.

[indistinct chattering]

[Sibella] The other major part of this restoration

is the 1850s stone cellar,

but will this be too much of a challenge for Keith's students?

[Frances] So, this is the other part of th e project, Keith. This is the cellar.

[Sibella] As well as food, ammunition and explosives were stored in cellars.

We think this cellar was probably built

when the first homestead was built here.

So, that was before 1855

and used for food storage in those very early days.

[Frances] There's also actually still remaining bits of food

in the back-room of the cellar.

-Okay. Is that right? -It's still in its natural state.

We didn't know what was gonna be in here,

but have a look, and it's...

just full of rock salt,

which would have been used for salting down meat.

[Keith] That's a fantastic find.

It's probably one of the best cellars I've seen on stations

or in these remote areas.

[Sibella] The tour over, it's now decision time for Keith.

So, what do you reckon, Keith?

Do you think you're gonna be able to help us out with this?

Well, you know, with the history of the place

and you know, what I've seen to date, I'm really satisfied

and feel confident that we can do something for you.

-It's a goer for me. -Great!

But there is some preparation work. Are you going to be okay with that?

Oh, we'll do anything to make this happen. [laughs]

[Keith] Well done, mate. [Luke] Beauty!

-How good is that? -Brilliant! Whoo-hoo!

[both chuckle]

[Luke] The property boundary comes in...

[Sibella] This is great news.

Keith will bring 20 tradies,

saving Frances and Luke around $50,000 in wages

because it's part of an industry-funded training scheme.

But is four days really enough to get the job done?

[indistinct talking]

-[birds squawking] -[animals chittering]

[chainsaw buzzing]

[Sibella] Keith has given Frances and Luke a long list of work to do,

but with the help of family and friends,

timbers for the shack are cut...

That's pretty good, eh?

...the stone wall in the cellar rebuilt,

and new roof beams installed.

Then there's the preparation work on the shack,

but the biggest challenge is firing up the station's old lime kiln

to make the lime mortar for the restoration.

Right now, no-one's sure exactly how it works.

There's a good bit down here, Todd.

Do you think this is the right stone?

Yeah, it looks like it to me. It's probably the best I can find...

[Sibella] Most lime mortar is imported and is very expensive.

If Luke and Frances can make their own, it will be a huge cash saving.

But can they do it using the same method as their ancestors?

[Frances] There are diary entries here

that my grandfather wrote in the 1940s.

He wrote then about how it was done in the old days,

and I can't see why we can't do it now.

Is this load number...

-Four loads should cover it. -...four?

[Frances] That's about the last of the Mal lee.

[Luke] Yeah, that'll do.

[Luke] There's not much record of how they fired it

or what size timber or stone they used.

We asked a lot of people in the district what they know about it.

People knew of lime kilns and knew it had been done,

but never really knew the process.

So, it was pretty much just a guess.

Righto, this kiln's pretty full.

-[Frances] Yep. -I'm ready for those bones, Frances.

[Sibella] With the kiln loaded with stone and wood,

it's time to add a special ingredient.

Get set! Go!

[Luke] Oh, well done! [Frances] Oh!

Dad says when they burned lime years ago,

they put bones in the kiln then.

[Luke] It makes sense, that.

It's all made of calcium, so...

-Yeah, absolutely. -...they should burn down all right.

-Right. -[Frances] Here we go.

- [Luke] Let's burn it. -Okay, go.

[Frances] Lighting the kiln was quite a big event.

-It's in there. -Is it going?

Yeah, it's still light.

[Frances] Little bit of smoke out the top.

-[Luke] That's a good sign. -[Frances chuckles]

[motor whirs]

It looks like walking in clouds, doesn't it?

You think you could walk across that.

Look at that, Luke. Isn't it beautiful?

[Luke] Oh, wow!

-Now she's crackling away. -[Frances] Hear it? Yeah.

[Luke] Once the smoke started coming through

and you could hear the rumble underneath...

-[Frances] Crackle, crackle. -...it was almost, like,

stand back and watch.

That's gotta look pretty good tonight in the dark.

[fire crackling]

[birds chirping]

-[Luke] Oh, wow! -[both chuckle]

That's burned down a fair bit in 15 hours, hasn't it?

-Look how the level's dropped. -Still red-hot there.

[Luke] I might just fish a rock out, if I can get to it.

[Frances] I think Keith will be really pleased

that we gave it a go.

[Sibella] It's taken a long time, so hopefully they've pulled this off.

Oh, look at that! Check that out!

Well, let's see if it's all been worthwhile, eh?

[laughs] A lot of work, so this is the test.

This is the test.

[Sibella] If it works,

adding water will eventually turn the cooked stone into lime putty.

[Frances] That's what we were after. [Luke] Whoa. Check that out.

Look at that! It's just falling apart.

[Frances] Now we understand the process,

we've sort of taken that step back in time, felt what it was like

and done it ourselves, and that's quite special, quite unique.

Here we go. There's the lime.

[Sibella] This lime putty is the key ingredient

in the restoration of Holowiliena

and can be used in mortar, render, and whitewash.

After the successful lime burn,

Frances and Luke want to dig deeper into their history,

keen for the restoration to honor the past.

The station records are kept in the land titles office in Adelaide.

[Frances] Oh, wow! [chuckles] [Luke] Here you go. Look at that.

[Sibella] Here they find beautifully illustrated field books,

produced by the surveyor Alexander Woodroffe Goyder in 1888

to assess properties for land tax.

And then they've got lovely little diagrams of some of the buildings.

Oh, wow!

[Sibella] At that time, the pug-and-pine shack stored dingo skins

and was known as the "scalp hut".

[Luke] Oh, scalp hut. Here we go . [Frances] Yep.

That's what we're after. What's it say?

[Frances] "Roof, good. Iron, good. Floor, slate, go od.

Four small windows, one door..."

-Well, that matches the hut. -Yeah, that's it.

[Sibella] For a glimpse of the future, I'm meeting Frances and Luke

at a restored pug-and-pine shack in the Flinders Ranges National Park.

It's similar to Holowiliena

and could give Frances and Luke an idea

of what their cottage may eventually look like.

So, is this your inspiration?

[Luke] Sure is. Be good if ours could look like that.

-[Sibella] Was this a ruin? - It was, totally.

Yeah, they rebuilt it with volunteers.

[Sibella] So, this took three years, and you guys have got four days.

[Luke] Well, Keith's hoping, once the render comes off,

that we've just got to replace some of the rotted pines.

So, that'll create less work for us, instead of a total rebuild.

Let's go have a look, eh?

[door clicks open]

Oh, they've done a lovely job in here.

-Check this out. -Wow. It's nice, isn't it?

Got a nice feeling, hasn't it?

[Sibella] Are you hoping to do something like this?

[Frances] Yeah, I think so.

Like, the same sort of feel, but maybe a bit cosier

so that people could actually sleep in there.

[Sibella] Not so breezy? [Luke] Mmm.

[all chuckle]

Render the walls, perhaps, and a couple of beds and a usable space.

[Sibella] Back at Holowiliena,

the optimism doesn't last long.

Behind the render is a major problem.

Most of the old pine logs are rotten, and adding to the stress,

Keith has returned to check on their progress.

[Keith] So, I can see a lot of the timbers are exposed now

and there's been a lot of deterioration.

I guess we'd have to replace

the whole of these pines here, by the looks of it.

[Luke] Not all the pines in the building?

[Keith] Yeah, I think definitely 100%.

You know, we're talking about total replacement,

-aren't we now? -[Luke] Yeah.

-You okay with that? -Yeah, um...

have to do a fair bit of work in a matter of a couple of weeks, um...

-Yeah. -[Frances] On the other side of that,

you're effectively demolishing the building that we've got

and building a new building.

[Keith] And that's a fair point as well.

[Frances] That's not what we started out to do.

[Sibella] It's a blow.

It means Luke must cut dozens more pines.

It also raises some serious concerns

about how much of the shack's character will be lost.

[Luke] Well, this is what we've done since you were here last.

[Sibella] Luke has made some progress on the cellar,

but is it enough for Keith and his team to start work in just two weeks?

-How long did this take? -Oh, a couple of days.

Did the wall. Two men. Me and my mate.

So, looks like you've dismantled this wall from the footing

and rebuilt it, which is good.

[Keith] So, it's made it more stable.

And traditional lime mortar.

-Yeah, the stuff we burned. -Yeah.

So that worked out good. It was good to work with.

[Keith] Just when you touch it, it just feels... It feels good.

Done a really excellent job. Well done.

You put these bearers in. Quite substantial timbers as well.

So, how did you get 'em in?

If I told you I put them by hand, I'd be lying, wouldn't I?

-[both chuckle] -You would, too.

[Sibella] Fortunately, the cellar is in good shape,

but the same cannot be said for the shack.

So, Keith's been up for his last visit before the big week.

-Mmm. -How do you feel about it?

We were quite happy with where we were at prior to his arrival.

We've done everything we've been asked to do

and happy with the results, and it's looking pretty good,

but we were a bit taken aback

when he told us we'd need to rebuild this building.

[Luke] We weren't expecting that, were we?

-[Frances] No, we sure weren't. - We can do it,

but it was just a bit of a rude shock at the time.

[horn blares]

[Sibella] The big day has finally arrived.

Keith and a convoy of 20 tradesmen are on their way to Holowiliena

in South Australia's remote Flinders Ranges.

Can they restore a slice of Australia's pioneering history

in just four days?

[horn blares]

Here they come! Oh, wow, look at that little yellow one.

[laughs] Oh! What is it? A Morris?

[Sibella] Keith has a surprise for the Warwicks.

He's brought along Geoff Barnes, a master blacksmith from Adelaide,

to revive the old forge

and teach Luke some traditional smithing skills.

-[Luke] Geoff, how are you going? -Good, mate. Oof!

Go and say hello to Geoff.

-Welcome to Holowiliena. -It's been a long drive.

-[laughing] -Hello! You must be Todd.

[Sibella] Tradesmen are scarce when you live 500 km from a major city,

so this is a special moment for the family.

-William. -William?

Lovely to meet you, William. I'm Frances.

[Sibella] It's day one of the restoration project

and a defining moment for Holowiliena Station.

[thunder rumbles]

[Keith] Okay, guys, listen up.

You can see the extensive work we've gotta do on the scalp hut behind me,

and you passed the cellar down there.

We've got to try and complete this in four days, all right?

If it rains, you know, us Poms will obviously work through,

but you Australians will obviously take cover.

-[all laughing] -Right, so,

- have a good week, guys. -[man] Let's go.

[grunts]

[Sibella] Four teams of five builders will tackle the restoration.

Two on carpentry and timber, two on stone masonry and rendering.

[drilling]

Frances and Luke should be excited,

but they're still worried about how much of the past will be lost.

[Frances] We still don't know how it's going to look.

We've always known it as a building that's been completely rendered.

I guess we're all a little bit nervous

as to how that's going to fit with how we know Holowiliena.

We've made it a decision now, so we're happy to roll with it...

-[Frances] We are. -...and we trust you'll do a good job.

Listen, I think at the end of today

you're gonna be happy with what we've achieved,

and it'll give you an insight to what's gonna be achieved

by the end of the week as well.

[indistinct talking]

[Sibella] Just like the early settlers,

the workers are using key materials from the property,

but power tools will shave weeks off the time

it took William Warwick to get the job done.

[tools whirring]

Fair bit of action. The boys are straight into it.

[Frances] It's definitely a big, exciting day for us.

I mean, just to have this number of people here is one thing,

but to have all the action as well is super exciting.

[chainsaw revving]

[Luke] This is the Holowiliena forge.

[Sibella] Luke is very keen to carry on the tradition

of the first blacksmith of Holowiliena, William Warwick,

and to hand those skills on to the next generation.

Now, the question is will the bellows work?

Master blacksmith Geoff Barnes's task is to bring it back to life.

I'm a bit concerned about this hole.

Ah! Yes, yes. What are we going to do about that?

We might not be able to fire this up quite as easily as what we'd hoped.

[Sibella] But buried in a shed is something that could save the day.

This dusty vacuum cleaner might provide enough air

to replace the broken bellows.

[vacuum cleaner drones]

I think we've got it, Luke. After 50 years,

we've got fire in the hearth again.

[Geoff] Get some air on it, it'll give us 2,500 degrees centigrade.

More than enough to melt steel.

Keith, do you wanna come and have a look at this?

[Sibella] At the shack, there's a major setback for the workers.

An electric cement mixer has broken.

Mixing by hand will add days to the restoration. Time they don't have.

[man] There you go, Keith. Time for a real mixer.

Luckily, this station has another relic in a shed.

[Keith] Hopefully we might be able to speed things up

with the introduction of this dinosaur of a mixer

and get things moving again.

Go for it. Hit hard.

[metal clanging]

[Sibella] After gathering dust for decades,

the family once again has a working smithy

and an apprentice to go with it.

You started without me!

[Luke] Hey, how are you going? [Geoff] We weren't gonna hang about.

Have a look at the forge. Up and running.

-Beautiful. -Was it hard to get going?

No, not once we employed your vacuum cleaner.

-[laughing] -Bad luck about the vacuum cleaner.

I knew there was a good reason we were keeping it, Geoff.

[Sibella] With the forge fired up,

Geoff's main task is to make a gate for the shack.

[Geoff] Now, have a look at these gate designs.

These are all based on old designs

that I've seen around South Australia.

[Frances] Well, Geoff, this one straight away appeals to me,

because it's absolutely beautiful, and you could've guessed that,

-couldn't you? -[chuckles] Yeah.

Because it's a little bit girly.

-It's sort of more feminine. - Well, it's my own

-favorite as it happens. -[laughing]

It's looking pretty incredible.

Yeah, it's a lot further along than we expected in such a short time.

Like, these guys are just so motivated.

It looks completely different.

It looks completely different and it looks fantastic.

[Frances] Obviously, it's not what we're used to,

but I have a feeling we're gonna get used to this very, very quickly.

I think so, too. How's the cellar coming along?

You won't believe it. The walls are absolutely beautiful.

[Frances] They've started putting the timbers over the roof.

It just looks magical.

-There's a few flies around. -Oh, they're shocking.

They are terrible, but you'll get used to it.

-[both chuckling] -I hope so.

Everybody's talking about it. They're really bad this year.

All right, then, guys. Guys!

Can we wrap it up for today? Down tools.

Well done, lads, for today, and another big day tomorrow.

[Sibella] After a few early setbacks,

progress has been made today,

but looking at the site now, they've only scratched the surface.

With three days to go,

Keith and his team have a monumental job ahead of them.

[indistinct chattering]

[Sibella] Over the next two days, work progresses on all fronts.

At the shack, a garden wall is taking shape.

-How's that? -[man] That looks pretty good. Too good.

-[laughs] -She's sacked.

-It's a diamond. [laughs] -She's a threat to the industry.

[Sibella] Down in the cellar,

work has revealed another fascinating snippet of Holowiliena's history.

So, we had a lovely little moment last night, Keith.

Mom and Dad and the kids, Luke and I all came down

to have a look at the progress on the cellar

and we found this date on the door jamb here.

And we think it says, "February 27, 1876, Sunday".

We know the cellar was built in 1855,

so maybe if I look up the date in the diary,

I might find that they were up to something.

They might've done some work on the cellar on that day.

-That's an excellent find. -Yeah, it's nice, isn't it?

It's good that we're finding these dates round the station.

[Sibella] So, when was this built?

[Frances] Well, they first arrived here in 1852...

[Sibella] You don't have to look far to find this station's past.

Near the homestead are the remains of the first shelter

William Warwick built for his family after their epic journey.

[Sibella] And what are all these names in the rocks?

[Frances] Well, it's a bit of a tradition to etch your name in the stone.

So, if you look up here, for example,

here's my great-grandfather's name, R. Warwick.

So, that's Robert and he wrote on here in 1888.

So, what generation are you?

I'm the fifth generation

and that makes my children the sixth generation.

[Sibella] There's some lovely handwriting here.

[Frances] Yeah, this is my grandfather's name,

Francis Robert Warwick,

and he's written the names of my grandmother

and their four children at the time, who were five, three, two,

and my dad here, Richard, he was one.

-They were close in age. [chuckles] -Yeah, yeah!

-Yes, that's right. -Wow.

[Frances] So, that was in July, 1943.

-That's fantastic. -Yeah, it's special, isn't it?

[Sibella] With William Warwick's forge in full swing,

work has started on some candle sconces for the shack.

[Geoff] Over to our special tool,

and stretch the middle as much as you can,

but work out to the edges at the same time.

As my old Norwegian mate used to say,

"If you heat it the same and you hammer it the same,

-they all come out the same." -[laughing]

-That looks nice already. -Now, do you want to strike a blow?

Yeah, I think so.

That's the shot. Now hit quickly.

-Okay. Oh, but I... Hold that. -Oh, you're left-handed.

-Here. This way? -That's it.

-Hard -[man] Hard.

-Hit it like you mean it. - [Sibella] Oops.

[man] Right in the center.

-[Sibella exclaims] -In the center.

-I'm trying. -[laughing]

[man] There you go.

-The pressure! -Move gradually out to the edges.

Then you know what happens? It goes cold on you.

-Oh, my God. -Back in the fire again. Sorry.

-[laughing] -Shivers! You cheated.

You made it look really easy.

-[laughs] -Doesn't he just?

That's not cheating, that's efficiency.

That's unfair! You gave me a false sense of security.

[machinery whirring]

[whirring stops]

[Sibella] With time ticking away, there's yet another setback.

[man] Where's the power?

[Frances] Things are a little bit tense at the moment.

I was just trying to help and inadvertently put the power off.

[Luke] That could be the problem.

There's something hanging down up there, Richard.

[Frances] I turned on a grinder to try and help

and apparently that was the wrong thing to do.

One thing about it... You and I won't be fixing it.

These guys all need power to operate.

And the cook needs power to cater for 40 people,

the cool room's running, all those things.

See what's happened down here?

[Luke] Oh, yeah, righto. That's been pretty hot. Look, this is melted.

But hopefully within the next six hours,

we might have an electrician here.

And it's gonna be a long wait until then.

[Sibella] And another shortage puts further pressure on the team.

-There's another problem. -What's that?

We're running out of sand.

[man] It's gonna take me three hours to get another load.

[man 2] Three hours? I can give you two.

It's quite a major task, this,

and yeah, it doesn't seem to be coming together

as much as we thought it would.

I don't think we got a hope in hell of getting this finished

by the end of the week.

I'm not coping with the flies, to be honest with you.

No, no. Bit annoying when you're trying to do a bit of work.

The finishing is gonna take an awful lot of time.

So, the internal rendering.

The pointing is quite detailed and takes a long time.

I didn't anticipate that at all.

Just gonna set us back probably another day.

[Sibella] But they don't have another day up their sleeve,

so it's time for everyone to get stuck in.

I've done a bit of plastering in my day...

This mixture will test my skills.

So, this is the wall we're gonna attack this morning.

-Okay? You ready for it? -Yeah, go.

So, you wanna get all that onto your trowel,

and then squeeze it into the wall, okay?

-Okay. -And that's it.

[Sibella] Should I go in there?

Anywhere there, yeah, that'll be good. Just that spot there.

So, that's it, and quickly put it on the wall.

-That's it. -Oh, shivers!

[Sibella] I was right. The river sand that's used in this mix

makes the plaster much heavier to handle.

[man] All right, shall we do it a gain? [Sibella] Yep.

-Are you trying to even this wall out? -Yeah, we are.

Or does it matter if it has some movement?

We want it to be wavy because that was the nature of the original render.

I mean, it was never perfect.

These guys who built these buildings were never trades.

Yeah. And that's the beauty of it as well.

Adds a bit of character to the building, yeah.

-That's it. Oh! -[laughs] Oh. Oh, no!

It's all about applying pressure onto the wall, see?

But we can't build up in, um...

[laughs]

See? Even the professionals make mistakes.

If you left it to dry longer between layers,

would you not have that problem?

-You wouldn't have that problem. -Right.

But because we've got a short amount of time,

we've got to try layer it up as quick as we can.

-[Sibella] As quick as you can. -Yeah.

[Sibella] Down in the cellar, work appears to be progressing well.

So, what do you think of the... The roof?

[gasps] The detail's beautiful.

-It looks fantastic, doesn't it? -It looks so good!

So, does the earth roof go straight on top of those?

No, actually, we put the lime mortar on top, which is the pug,

and then we put the soil on top and then vegetation on top of that.

-There's lots of layers, isn't there? -Oh, there is, yeah.

Yeah, but the vegetation actually draws all the moisture out of the soil,

and we'll hopefully have a water-tight cellar.

[Sibella] So there's still a lot more to do.

[man] Oh, yeah, quite considerably.

We've got the rest of the ceiling to put through here,

and the re-pointing on the stonework as well.

[Sibella] That looks really time-consuming.

[man] It is, and you know, we're hoping to get there,

but it seems very doubtful at the moment.

You know, we've only got a couple of days left, so...

And to do it by hand, it would've took weeks and weeks.

[Sibella] Back at the shack,

the rush to complete the work has resulted in another problem.

-Now, they're like that. -So, what's the problem there, mate?

Well, the diameter of the posts here and here, that's our problem.

So, it looks like you used all the thinner ones for other areas.

Yeah, and we don't wanna go in the forest again.

-What did you do that for? -[laughs] We ran out!

We just kept using 'em and just ran out, a nd we're down to the... To these now.

We may be able to sort of, you know,

blend them in a little bit with the mortar in between.

-We'll see what it looks like. -Make sure they're flush on the inside.

We'll just have to deal with the outside

-being a bit proud, that's all. -Yeah.

I mean, in hindsight, we should've probably, you know,

had the smaller pines at the front and the larger ones at the back.

Yeah, well, hindsight has 20/20 vision, doesn't it?

[Luke] Plenty of old steel lying around here.

[Geoff] Oh, yes. Look, raw material everywhere.

One hundred and fifty years worth of accu mulation. Look at it, eh?

Oh, we're going to have some fun with this.

Now, we've got to find something for this gate.

Right. If something jumps out at you, let me know and I'll see if...

Hey, over here. This is what we want, more material like this.

-You want more of that? -Look, old wagon tires.

Plenty of that lying around.

See the rounded edges, the corrosion on the inside?

Stuff like that would be perfect.

That'll make a beautiful member for the gate.

[Geoff] This is what we're working to, this is our scale... Full-scale drawing.

Yep.

[Sibella] In the blacksmith shop, Geoff is forging ahead,

making good use of the station's scrap iron

to create a gate for the shack.

[Keith] This is the original top of the chimney.

So, we're just starting to cap it off. But what...

[Sibella] Despite the setbacks, there's at last some good news.

In three days, the chimney has risen from a pile of rocks

and is almost back to its former glory.

So, you need to load it up.

[Sibella] What about this one? [man] Yeah, just go for it.

-Okay. Whoops. -That's... That looks good.

No, that's good. So, we'll just squeeze it over there.

[Sibella] Okay.

[Keith] You've got all your course notes for tonight?

-[men] Yep. -Okay.

[Sibella] At the end of each day,

as part of the training course,

there's a good hour or two of theory to take in,

but looking at the tired faces, I'm not sure how much will sink in.

Right, carpentry, traditional carpentry.

The tools have not really changed a lot.

Axes and adzes, as you can see, we use them today.

The adze would do the larger beams, right?

Keep going. We've got the power saws, of course.

Now we do it with the power saws. We dress the timber...

You can even run a round log through that.

[birds chirping]

It's the final day of the course,

and Keith and his team are under a lot of pressure.

Will they finish on time?

But just as importantly, will it live up to the family's expectations?

[Keith] Okay, lads, right, it's the last day today,

and we've still got an awful lot to do.

I still feel optimistic we can, you know, we can do it.

-[laughing] -Let's get going.

-All right, guys? Come on, then. -[men murmur in agreement]

[Sibella] With the cellar roof frame complete,

it's time to seal the structure and shovel on the dirt.

This is the cheapest and most natural form of insulation,

and there's plenty of it.

With the work well under way, Frances has a surprise in store for me.

This is a little contraption that my grandfather made.

I don't know if he saw it somewhere or if he invented it,

but the story is he would put a chop bone on the table here

and he would lay this contraption over the top.

These little terminals here

would be attached to a six-volt battery here...

[Sibella laughs] Oh, fantastic!

[Frances] Yeah, you can see where this is going, can't you?

And turn it on, and there's your electric fly zapper, so...

Oh, my gosh!

Luke says that's when kids knew

if they were told not to touch something, they bloody well didn't.

-[both laugh] -That's fantastic.

[Luke] Hammer.

[hammering]

[Sibella] One of the trickiest jobs

is restoring the original Hessian ceiling in the shack,

a job Frances and Luke are tackling.

So, this piece is ready to drop. Have you got it, Luke?

-[Luke] Yeah, no worries. Send it down. -Yep.

Good.

So, will new sacks replace where you've taken out the old ones

and then be lime-washed?

Yeah, so, Luke's dad, Rob, has got some experience in bag-sewing

and he's going to help us replace the sections that need replacing,

and then we'll just patch where there's only small holes.

That's lucky that he's got experience in sack-sewing.

[Frances] Yeah, well, I think a lot of...farmers, years ago,

had to sew the wheat bags up by hand.

So, after you've done thousands and thousands of those,

you get experience.

Yeah, lucky Rob's here.

When I was up here tacking the Hessian on at the top,

I could see that there's a "WW"

stamped on the other side of the ceiling,

-on the underside. -Yeah?

And that's quite exciting because that is William Warwick.

So exciting to find, you know, the things that are revealed...

Exactly. Little treasures like that.

Little secrets that are offered up by the shack as we go.

Good. Ready to do the next one. So, it can be swung around.

Remember, this one's hot for the time being. Don't touch that.

[Sibella] A master blacksmith makes this look easy,

but hot riveting requires a great deal of skill.

It makes a movement-proof joint, perfect for the shack's iron gate.

[Luke] Perfect. Nice and flush there.

Fantastic.

[Sibella] Things are happening very quickly now.

The pace has noticeably picked up, and dare I say it,

this restoration project may just finish on time.

[Sibella chuckles] So, let's have a go at the pug.

It's not as easy as they make it look.

[Frances] I'm glad Luke's not here to see this,

'cause he'd be worried

about me wasting all this material that he's been working on.

-His very carefully selected sand. -Yes.

I thought this was a little darker than I first expected,

but it dries lighter.

[Frances] It dries, actually, a beautiful light color,

so it'll look nice with the dark pines.

[Sibella] So, what's the plan when you decorate the inside?

-14 bunks? [laughs] -No, definitely not.

But... Um, I might need a bit of advice from you on this one.

I sort of picture a couple of beds in there,

just for people to roll their swags out on...

Yes.

...put the billy on the fire and have a cup of tea, light the candles.

We might need to put a cot in for my new addition.

Oh, yeah, of course. Yep. Would you like a vintage one?

-A vintage one would be perfect, thanks. -Yeah.

-Sheepskin for the baby. -That would be lovely.

I'll see what we can do. [chuckles]

[Sibella] While my night in the shack may be some way off,

Keith and his team only have a couple of hours left to meet their deadline.

[man] Just applying the final coat of lime wash.

We've used Luke's slaked lime.

We used a ratio of 50% water, 50% slaked lime, mixed it up.

It's the traditional method.

Exactly how they would have done it when they built the place.

[Sibella] With the day and the course rapidly drawing to a close,

it's time to put the finishing touches to this restoration.

[Sibella] So, it's almost the end of the afternoon. Are tensions rising?

Yeah, absolutely,

and to try and keep the guys motivated at this time of day...

Do you think they're thinking about beers?

I think they are thinking about a good drink, absolutely.

Put it down. Yep, there we go. There we go.

-There you go! -[Luke] Okay!

-Shut! - [man] Fantastic.

[Sibella] As the Hessian ceiling is given its final coat of lime wash,

it's time to reveal the result of four days work in the forge.

Created from scrap iron, Geoff and Luke's gate is a work of art,

a fitting tribute to Holowiliena's founding father,

blacksmith William Warwick.

[Geoff] So it sits perfectly between those two posts.

We'll be able to stand back and admire it from afar now.

I've just gotta get my feet out of the way.

-[laughing] -Yes. Sorry!

[man] It's pretty sweet. Gonna be happy with that.

That's just perfect.

[metal clangs]

[Keith] Okay, guys, course is over. Tools down.

Come on, finish up. Gather round.

[Sibella] After four days and 1,000 man hours, time is finally up.

Todd, look here. Look at the shack, mate. Wow.

Okay, guys, I'd like to give you a round of applause myself

and for yourselves to give everybody else a round of applause.

-So, well done, guys. -Yeah, well done.

-Give them a clap, Todd. -Well said, Keith.

[applauding]

[Keith] Beautiful job.

[Sibella] Having almost lost the battle for survival,

this historic little pug-and-pine shack and the cellar on the riverbank

have been given a new lease of life.

-Oh, wow! -What do you think, eh?

-[laughs] Have a look at that! -Doesn't it look great?

-Oh! -Check that out.

-Unreal! -It does have a nice feeling.

[Sibella] With the building work over, it's now up to Frances and Luke

to breathe life into the interiors to finish this project.

-There we go. -Oh, wow!

-What do you think? -Fantastic!

-[Luke] Check that out. -That's brilliant, Keith.

That's great.

[Sibella] And given I've promised to spend

the first night in the shack,

I'm keen to see what they have in mind.

-Come in, Richard. -It is clean, isn't it?

-What do you think, Richard? -It's all an even color.

[band plays]

♪ Well, a boat, it leaves the harbor ♪

♪ Disappearing through the bay... ♪

[Sibella] After such a monumental effort by so many,

what better way to say thank you than by throwing a party?

And the Warwicks do that very well.

[people chattering indistinctly]

Hey! Cheers!

[cheering]

It's hard to believe that a year has passed

since the heritage course at Holowiliena,

and in that time my life's changed a lot.

I've even started my own family.

[baby cooing]

[Sibella] And I'm returning to catch up with Luke and Frances,

curious to see what progress they've made on the shack and the cellar.

[Frances] It's still a work in progress,

but we're happy with where we are now.

[Luke] It's just come up a treat.

-Here it is, the scalp hut. -Gate still looks beautiful.

-Yeah, wizard! -Great, isn't it?

[Luke] Getting better with age.

Here we go. Check this out.

Oh, this is gorgeous.

Oh, we're so happy with the way it's turned out.

We really wanted to keep it authentic.

People drop in.

They want somewhere warm and cozy, but not five-star,

well, this is the one.

Oh, this is a better experience than five-star, I'd say.

-[laughing] -Yeah.

[Sibella] And what a difference.

It's a far cry from the ruin I saw two years ago.

And I think we worked on one of these together perhaps.

Yeah, gave you a shot at making the cups for the candles.

I don't think I was very good at it.

Well, we've fixed it up and look at 'em now.

[Sibella] Did you smith these curtain rails?

Yeah, yeah, had to make something.

Frances wanted something to hang her curtains off,

so I said, "I know a guy who can do that."

[all laugh]

[Sibella] Has the course changed you dramatically?

[Frances] It has, actually, and in ways that we didn't expect.

It's really cemented our role on the station here now.

[Luke] It's given the whole family a lift,

and confidence to do things and maintain things.

Absolutely.

It's just what we needed. It's... Couldn't be happier with it.

So, could tourism potentially be another income stream for you?

[Frances] Well, we think now it could be, Sibella.

I might be able to offer people tours and show them around,

tell them about what we've done,

and, yeah, maybe Luke can even do some blacksmithing demonstrations.

-[Luke] Yeah. - [laughing]

Just having the course here and working on this project

has showed us that we can really make things shine

and share that with people.

We're all involved in bringing the past back to life.

It's been wonderful.

So, this is only half the restoration project.

I'm looking forward to seeing the cellar.

Oh, yeah, we're looking forward to showing you, too.

[Luke] Better go and have a look.

-[Frances] So, here we are. -Oh, wow.

-Yeah. -[chuckles]

That is exactly how you explained it! This is so beautiful! Guys!

[Frances] Oh, we're thrilled with the way it's come up. We are so happy.

[Sibella] After decades of neglect,

the 1850s stone cellar has been brought back to its former glory.

[Frances] I think it's turned out

-better than we thought, actually. -[Luke] Yeah.

[Sibella] It's beautiful!

Every time we come in here, we get the feeling of how magical it is.

Luke made the shelves out of red gum from Holowiliena.

[Sibella] That's a huge effort!

[Frances] It's been fun. We've learned a lot of things.

[Sibella] And you pickled all of this? [Frances] Yep, yep. Big team effort.

Lots of new recipes, lots of learning.

So, where's the wine?

-Oh, plenty of that stored down here. -Out the back.

-Oh, it looks good in here, too. -Yeah.

-Did a good job of the wine rack. -Did you make this?

Yeah, just real mesh, just stuck it in some red gum.

[Sibella] Oh, looks fantastic. [Luke] Kept it simple.

Summertime it's cool and wintertime it's warmer than outside,

so it's easy to stay down here and have a port,

if you need one during winter.

[Frances] That moment that you walk in,

you smell the fresh pine and you just don't want to leave.

As much as it's work, getting this ready and preparing it,

it's still been enjoyable,

because you know the end result is gonna be good

and it's been so much fun doing it.

-[Sibella] Well done, guys. -[laughing]

Absolutely gorgeous.

-It's like walking back in time. -[Frances laughs] Yeah, it is.

So, you're still keen for a night in the shack?

-Most definitely. -That's good. We'll go set you up.

[birds chirping]

[Sibella] It would've been easy to overdress these buildings,

but by keeping them simple and authentic,

Frances and Luke have preserved the essence

of their family's pioneer past ,

a salute to William Warwick and his intrepid family.

Whilst this may not be the grandest of restorations in a physical sense,

it's so much more for this family.

The restoration of this little pioneer cottage and the cellar

and the reinstatement of William Warwick's blacksmith shop,

has not only helped to preserve

the unique and treasured family history,

but it's given Frances and Luke the drive and confidence

to take this property and the Warwick family into the future

and maybe another 160 years of history.

[baby cooing]

[theme music playing]