HISTORY was literally being slowly eaten away at the Cohuna Museum, in what pest controllers described as the biggest termite invasion they had ever seen.
Cohuna and District Historical Society members stumbled across the termite assault in February when they investigated a stench inside the former Scots Presbyterian Church, which the society purchased in 1982 to display exhibits, special displays and memorabilia of the district.
“Almost the entire flooring had to be ripped up and laid back down, with the identical timber, but what surprised us was the discovery of two long-neck glass beer bottles, found beneath the flooring,” member, Yvonne Church said.
A large mass of the termites, also known as white ants, nest and the bottles will likely form part of a new display.
“We are very pleased as the builder was careful in removing the floor and is now replacing most of the same boards,” Ms Church said.
“We were also lucky to source extra flooring from a restorer in Geelong. The timber on the floor is called Rimu, which was imported from New Zealand in the early 1920s and is now no longer available. It was one of country’s best known native species.”
A small band of volunteers removed all the items from inside the church into boxes and then into an on-site shipping container.
“We usually get bursts of visitors and the occasional bus load, but we have had to close the museum to visitors due to safety concerns before the works began,” Ms Church said.
The last of the flooring repairs were completed last week, with the inside to be repainted before the items are moved back into their new home.
“The white ants totally ate one of the display cases … all that was left of the case was the metal frame on the door,” Ms Church said.
The Cohuna Men’s Shed joined forces and rebuilt one of the display cabinets.
Termites are eusocial insects and mostly feed on dead plant material and cellulose, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter, soil, or animal dung.
The Scots Presbyterian Church in Cohuna was opened in December 1922, and held its last service in 1973 before merging with the Methodist Church of Australasia and Congregational Union of Australia to from the Uniting Church in Australia.
Ms Church doesn’t expect the Sampson Street museum to re-open before the end of the year.
