Jindera Pioneer Museum's original blacksmith building now open to public

From the age of 8, she'd pump the bellows to make the coals fiery hot so he could bend the steel to his will in the forge.

"I grew up with it," she reflects.

"If we ever wanted Dad, he'd be in the blacksmith's shop; we'd stand at the back door and sing out to him."

For a little man, her father had "huge hands", Margie recalls.

And he could turn those hands to fixing anything.

It was hot, hard work but the passion for this old trade runs in the family's blood.

Margie's father Ernst Wehner and her grandfather Fred were the town blacksmiths at Jindera for nearly a century (from 1899 to 1994).

It's why the historic blacksmith building, standing in the town's main street opposite the Jindera Pioneer Museum, holds such a special place in Margie's heart.

As museum committee president, she plays an integral role in helping to preserve the rich heritage of the district, overseeing the attraction's expansive display of farm tools, equipment, relics, furnishings and authentic goods of the 19th century.

Now the iconic blacksmith structure and surrounds have been officially opened to the public, adding a new dimension to the museum's offering.

The work area has remained largely untouched since it closed in 1994 with tools and equipment appearing as they would have more than 100 years ago.

The blacksmith building has only previously been opened by request and Margie believes throwing open the doors will provide a wonderful glimpse into the early years of European settlement in NSW.

Within its dark, dusty confines, visitors will be able to conjure up images of the hot, dirty work of a blacksmith and their pivotal role in daily life back then.

The blacksmith shop was often a fix-it-all station. Whatever could not be repaired on farm was taken to the blacksmith to fix, reconstruct, sharpen or invent.

Horse shoeing was another skill learnt by the blacksmith; horses a valued form of transport and labour before the advent of the slow combustion engine and motor vehicles.

Three things essential to the formation of a village were a pub (a place to socialise and seek sustenance), store (a place to purchase goods) and blacksmith (a place to ensure you could continue to work and travel), Margie points out.

"Often the blacksmith came before a shop even," she says.

"A blacksmith was an essential part of everyday life."

At Jindera, the hotel opened in 1870, the Molkentin blacksmith in 1872 and Wagner's Store in 1874.

Margie's grandfather Fred arrived from Germany in the 1890s, followed by his brother.

Fred, a ticketed blacksmith and wheelwright, first went to Walla to work.

At the time, Reinhardt Molkentin was the blacksmith and wheelwright at Jindera but was involved in a fatal workplace accident in 1885.

His two sons, Paul and Fred, took over from their father but they weren't wheelwrights, according to Margie.

Wheelwrights were valued at a time when a horse-drawn carriage or cart was an essential addition to a property or household, given the vast distances that needed to be travelled.

While blacksmiths worked with iron and steel, wheelwrights were craftsmen who built or repaired wooden wheels.

A good wheelwright would "know by feel, not by reasoning, the properties needed for the spoke and rim to come together accurately, and a well-honed intuition was essential".

So Fred moved to Jindera to work at the blacksmith in 1899; he later married Bertha Molkentin (the sister of Paul and Fred) and in 1915 purchased the business from the Molkentin family.

It was inevitable that his son Ernst would follow in his father's footsteps, training to be a blacksmith and wheelwright from the age of 14.

Fred died in 1957 (the year before Margie was born) and Ernie - or Frostie as he was known on the footy field due to his white legs - operated as a blacksmith and wheelwright until his death in 1994.

The blacksmith's forge was often a dark place; Margie likes to think its interior carries an air of mystery that has long captured the imaginations of photographers and history buffs.

"It's a big space - it's dark and moody," she says.

"The blacksmith building has a real presence about it."

The addition of a coin operated turnstile now allows the Jindera blacksmith to open regularly.

Visitors can pay to see it separately or the full museum entry fee means you can wander about the precinct and the two acres of grounds and exhibits in the main part of the attraction.

The old blacksmith shop really is a treasure trove for history lovers, according to Margie.

And while she didn't go into the trade herself - the need for a blacksmith's skills dwindled with the motorisation of vehicles and tools - the love of working with materials clearly runs in Margie's veins.

"I became a silversmith; it was my first training," she smiles.

"When I started that, it felt natural, almost instinctive, and I thought that was rather interesting."