Goodness what a development, life at FLOCKHILL changes every day, and what’s more, the days go by so fast, we are always busy. Yesterday was an exciting day… we had our original old miner’s cottage moved to its new location on the edge of the restaurant to look out over newly landscaped gardens. It will be transformed into an intimate space full of history. The Avoca Coalmine on FLOCKHILL in 1918 had employees, (some married with children) living in tents at 46 metres. It was bleak and cold. To keep the miners there in winter housing was required. The architect Hurst Seagar in 1919 drew up plans. Bathrooms with hot and cold running water, built-in furniture, glassed verandas, porches, washhouses, and coal bins all under one roof. The plans included a bowling green and tennis courts. The plans were rejected as too costly adding that coal miners “had been found not to appreciate the more elegant features suggested.”
The miner’s cottage had 4 rooms, a bathroom, a scullery, an outhouse, and hot and cold running water costing no less than 500 pounds.