A year on from a devastating fire at Kapunda High School, a huge rebuild and restoration project is underway.

The clean-up of ‘Eringa’, the 147-year-old building extensively damaged in the blaze that broke out on 29 March 2022, has been a delicate task to ensure it is safe and salvaged in accordance with Heritage SA requirements.

The debris in some locations in ‘Eringa’ was metres deep – all of which has been picked up piece-by-piece, and examined to determine if it can be reused in the restoration. The rebuild has been an extensive and exhaustive task as the restoration looks to restore it to what it was previously.

‘Eringa’ was originally constructed in 1876 and was donated by SA pastoralist Sir Sidney Kidman to the Department for Education in 1921. The rooms served as classrooms and a library until 2010 when the building was turned into the school’s administration building. During 2010 – 2011, the heritage-listed building underwent a major refurbishment funded by the SA Government.

“There has been a lot of work happening at the school over the past year, which has been fascinating for our community to watch,” said Principal David Morino.

“Particularly interesting has been the careful dismantling of the chimneys brick by brick so they can be reused for the reconstruction of ‘and the use of 3D drone imaging to study the building.”

“We have received a lot of support from the Department for Education including temporary classrooms to ensure minimal disruption to teaching and learning.”

The project team has salvaged and recorded all heritage evidence prior to and during the clean-up, with items such as floor and wall tiles, cornices and lattice work, put into storage, to be reused in the restoration.

Accessibility issues meant that contractors had to be lifted into the site by crane at times, and conveyor belts were used to move debris out of the building.

The next phase will see a temporary floor installed to allow for further scaffolding to be brought in before contractors work on removing render from the internal walls and construction of a permanent floor in the building

The transportable building that was also damaged in the fire, has been demolished and the site cleared, with temporary classrooms constructed behind the school’s main campus to provide additional classrooms.

Further construction of the site will begin by the end of the year and will likely finish by mid-2025. The total project is likely to cost $15 million once finished.