Heritage buildings on cusp of ruin as stonemasons retire - ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Duncan Moon is restoring the stonework on Albany's Scots Church. (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding)

Stonemasons in Western Australia say many experienced hands in the industry are on the cusp of retirement.

Honed over decades, their skills are vital to the restoration of colonial-era buildings, many of which were built from local stone.

Industry experts say a new generation must be trained in the craft if the country's heritage buildings are to be preserved.

On a historic street near the southern tip of Western Australia, work is underway to restore a church that is more than a century old.

Constructed in 1892 with locally sourced granite and lime mortar, the fine craftsmanship of the heritage-listed building is characteristic of Australia's colonial era.

But with many heritage stonemasons on the cusp of retirement, structures like these will crumble if a new generation is not trained in the dying craft.

Despite the advent of power tools, hand tools like chisels and mallets are still used for heritage restoration work. (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding)

Duncan Moon immigrated to Australia from Wales in 1983 and has worked as a heritage stonemason for almost 40 years.

"Within a short time of arriving, I was on my first heritage restoration project, which was the old jail in Mount Barker," he said.

Mr Moon is close to retirement, but hesitant to put down his tools.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to retire because my phone keeps ringing," he said.

"There's a bit of a dearth of heritage stonemasons.

"I'd like to see them with my level of skill, and know that when I do retire and I'm finally put out to pasture that this younger generation have the thirst and the hunger for the job."

Duncan Moon has worked as a stonemason for more than 40 years. (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding)

He said Albany's Scots Church was one of many heritage-listed buildings in Australia in need of restoration.

"The work on old buildings tends to be ongoing. Just about everywhere has done quite a lot of damage to their built heritage, either deliberately or inadvertently," Mr Moon said.

"Sometimes the work is undertaken incorrectly — a very sound knowledge of material and technique is required."

Heritage stonemasons need to be skilled in mouldings to repair ornamental building features, as well as tuck-pointing, a technique used to repair and replace crumbling mortar between stone.

Lime mortar, shipped from across the King George Sound, was used on early Albany buildings. (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding)

There are more than 100,000 heritage-listed buildings in Australia, which Albany historian Malcolm Traill says are a vital part of the nation's past.

"You can look at society, and how it's evolved and changed, through the eyes of buildings," he said.

"See how people lived, what size buildings they were, what scale, their changes of use."

Malcolm Trail says heritage buildings are a vital part of Australia's history. (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding)

He has warned without an urgent uptake in heritage trades, history will be left to crumble.

"These buildings, which are well over 100 years old, are only here because they are maintained," he said.

"If they're looked after they will survive, but if they're not they will decay and deteriorate.

"Once the building fails, it's going to be very expensive to actually bring it back to its original circumstance."

Traditional stonemasonry tools are handcrafted by Duncan Moon. (ABC Great Southern: Andrew Chounding)

About 5,000 people are employed as regular stonemasons in Australia, with even fewer having the skills to work on heritage buildings.

It is a gap the Heritage Skills Association is racing against an aging workforce to fill.

"Except for your Cert III in South Australia in heritage skills trades, there's no other certification," chief executive Yolanda Cool said.

"As a group, we're now pushing for a project-based intergenerational model.

Yolanda Cool says more formal training is needed to keep heritage trades alive. (ABC South West: Neve Brissenden)

She said more traditional trade courses were an essential step in preserving Australian history.

"If we're looking at heritage-listed buildings, including the National Trust Register at a state level, there's almost 20,000 buildings [in WA]," Ms Cool said.

"For many, it's cheaper to demolish and replace with modern materials than to repair, because they haven't got the skills."

Heritage stonemason Evan Zlnay started his career at TAFE before taking up a specialised restoration apprenticeship.

He works for Colgan Industries, which employs only a few people under 30 but is trying to train younger workers.

"It's just been having the old boys show me the little tips and tricks of heritage work," Mr Zlnay said.

"You've got to do what they did in the old days.

"To learn, it takes a bit of time."

Evan Zlnay says more awareness is needed to help get more young people into the heritage trade.  (Supplied: Evan Zlnay)

Mr Zlnay, who is in his 20s, says there needed to be more awareness about the trade.

"It's good because we go and fix up old things that you don't want to fall over, and make them look new again," he said.

"Not many people would know that it's an option.

"Everyone these days wants to be a plumber or a sparky."

Mr Zlnay said he had the opportunity to work on buildings across Western Australia, including at the world-class tourist attraction Rottnest Island.

"You get to work on the coolest places," he said.

"You get satisfaction out of your job because you fix an old building and make it look new, but also not new at the same time."