2014-06-17 Infrastructure and Services Committee Agenda

INFRASTRUCTURE & SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                               17 JUNE 2014


2                         NAMING REQUEST, ROOM AT COOROY LIBRARY
DOCUMENT IN FOR MATI ON




Author                              Business Support Officer – Beth Potter
                                    Planning & Infrastructure

Index                               ECM Subject / Cooroy Library

Attachments                         1.    Photos of heritage room, Cooroy Library


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Not applicable

RECOMMENDATION
That Council note the report by the Business Support Officer to the Infrastructure & Services
Committee Meeting dated 17 June 2014; and
A.                        Endorse the naming of the public room at Cooroy Library, commonly known as the
                          Heritage Room, as “The Fenwick Room”; and
B.                        Request Community Services staff develop options and seek funding for a series of
                          interpretive panels to be placed near the Fenwick Room depicting the Fenwick family’s
                          connection to the mill and the site’s early history.


REPORT
In May 2011 Sunshine Coast Regional Council received a letter from a descendent of the
Fenwick family, Linda Sivyer, requesting the renaming of Mill Place to recognise the historical
links of the Fenwick family to the site. During a meeting in October 2011, Cooroy Library staff
and Fenwick family representatives discussed the alternative possibility of naming one of the
public rooms at the Cooroy Library. The matter was not progressed by Sunshine Coast Council
staff however undertakings to this effect were given to family representatives.

In 1908 the Fenwick brothers and a Mr Morrish began mill operations in Cooroy and built a mill in
1911/12. The mill was sold in 1929 and eventually closed in 2000. The Fenwicks are noted to
be the first sawmillers in Cooroy and the Fenwick family continued to reside in Cooroy at least
until 1980. There does not appear to be anything currently named for the Fenwick family in the
district.

While the naming of rooms within buildings is not common, the Fenwicks have a long-standing
and significant connection to the Cooroy community and in particular, the land comprising Mill
Place. Other families, namely Blandford, Straker and Llewellyn, are also associated with mill
ownership on this site.

In 2011 Sunshine Coast Council staff discussed with Linda Sivyer the possibility that an
interpretive panel featuring the story of the Fenwick family and family images could be installed at
the library however no funding source was identified for this project.

Community Services staff believe that if the project is to go ahead the interpretative panels
should include reference to all families with links to the mill site’s early history as well as
indigenous links to the site.

The Fenwick family’s request has been assessed by Noosa Council’s Heritage Librarian, Jane
Harding, as having merit.
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