THE 109-year-old Corryong recreation reserve grandstand came tumbling down on Friday in a move predicted to leave deep divisions in the Upper Murray community for many years.
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Demolition contractors, who had not been on site for almost a fortnight as a last-minute rescue bid was launched, have returned to complete the job.
The grandstand preservation committee was blindsided by the latest move after awaiting confirmation on whether the demolition permit issued by Towong Shire had been rectified.
Preservation committee member Lisa Greenhill and her husband David were reduced to tears after seeing the grandstand torn down.
Mr Greenhill's great grandfather Tom built the grandstand and another at Towong racecourse which is still standing.
“It's devastating,” Mrs Greenhill said.
“We're gutted because there was no notification to us, no notification to the community, it just went down.
“It is a tight-knit community, but these things have the potential to rip that apart and be felt for years.”
Mrs Greenhill said the community had been let down by the people elected to represent them including councillors and Benambra MLA Bill Tilley.
“We've had no leadership and there is going to be a lot of votes lost over this,” she said.
“Whether it has come down or not, the leadership has been appalling.”
Demolition work was called off until the historical context of the grandstand and its significance to the Corryong community was properly recorded by a heritage architect.
More than 100 people gathered at the recreation reserve for a public show of support to retain the grandstand 12 days ago.
Towong mayor David Wortmann confirmed the permit conditions were satisfied late on Thursday.
“It's a sad day and we would have loved the permit to expire, but we had no chance to revoke it,” he said.
“It's created divisions and it's going to create headaches on council.”
Mr Tilley stood by his support for the grandstand's demolition.
“It was built from stringybark and went past its life expectancy,” he said.
“A large majority of people can see where the future is heading.”