A campaign has begun to restore the Canowindra Railway Station and reactivate the precinct to a encourage tourism and promote local heritage. This campaign has been started by Phillip Buckley, who has spent the last 15 years working and volunteering on a number of rail projects across the country and wants to see more rail precincts reactivated. "I know how these projects can go from a run down, decaying [and] damaged rail precinct into a restored, preserved and reactivated precinct," he said. Mr Buckley said when the government allows and supports this to happen, they transform a site and retain its local heritage. "When we lose our local heritage buildings and status we don't know where we come from," he said. Coming from northern Sydney, Mr Buckley said he has seen massive change within his suburb which will wipe out a lot of heritage buildings, and it is the loss of these types heritage buildings which has helped drive him to support restoration projects at heritage sites such as the Canowindra Railway precinct. As part of the push to restore the station, Mr Buckley has started a Facebook page "Reactivate Canowindra railway station precinct" and has detailed some of the ways people can get involved and some of the steps the restoration process would take. Among the processes detailed on the Facebook page include needing a group of community inspired local people working together to transform the location into a loved, cared for and reused site. Mr Buckley said this will then hopefully lead to a committee of locals forming which will help guide the project long term. Following this, Mr Buckley said they will also have to start looking at getting a lease over the site - either community group leases or getting a sub lease through a local organisation or Council. Mr Buckley said if existing community organisations jump on board with the campaign, the government would likely take more notice of the project. "Once at some point you can get the government's attention and you enter discussions for a lease, that will then open up the site," he said. Mr Buckley said restored heritage sites and restored railway precincts that are historically interesting can encourage visitors to stop in town and spend money locally. Over the last 10 years, Mr Buckley has visited Canowindra multiple times and said each time he's noticed how much potential the Canowindra Railway Precinct has. With the precinct being reasonably intact, Mr Buckley said this isn't too common, and it has the potential of having multiple exhibits or items that tourists can visit and interact with. One of the biggest challenges the restoration might face, he said, is the restoration and potential rebuild of the platform. While this may be a challenge, Mr Buckley is hopeful they would be able to get some support in rebuilding the platform from Transport for NSW which had recently announced funding to restore and rebuild the railway platform at Woodstock. "Looking at Canowindra it's, I think, more of an ideal opportunity there to try and do something," he said. This campaign will be a long term process, but Mr Buckley's short-term goals are keeping the site mowed, repainting the buildings and looking at creating exhibits and tours within the train station. For more information or to help out, visit the Reactivate Canowindra railway station precinct Facebook page.
