The News was lucky enough to see beyond the gates and inside Dhurringile Mansion during Greater Shepparton’s Heritage Open Days event last week.
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The event, which spanned two days on Friday, November 29 and Saturday, November 30, saw more than 40 places of heritage and historic significance across the region opened to bus and walking tour ticket holders, and independent visitors.
Twenty-five guests quickly snatched up tickets to the Dhurringile Mansion tour before any of the others in the program were filled.
The former prison is currently being decommissioned and the site’s future remains unknown, so it’s unsurprising that a tour of the grounds was popular.
While the land and building’s current owner, the Victorian Government, earlier this month said it hoped to have a public open day in the first half of next year “subject to the progress of Dhurringile’s decommissioning”, the task might not be progressing as quickly as those in their city offices predict.
A team of around 50 staff remained on site for the decommissioning when the prison closed at the end of August this year.
Those on-site on Friday said their task at hand was huge and not likely to be complete by the end of the year as initially hinted.
“We understand locals are keen to know what the future use of the Dhurringile site will be — we’ll make sure they’re kept informed of any major developments,” a Victorian Government spokesperson said.
“We’re continuing to work with community and other stakeholders to determine what this important site will become.”
In the meantime, take a pictorial journey through the immaculate mansion with images snapped by News staff at the site on Friday.
Senior journalist