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The Nowra Sailing Club was one of the most recognisable buildings in Nowra and one of the most important when it comes to documenting local flood events.
Wednesday night’s fire may have destroyed the historic building, driving the final nail into its long history, but already moves are being made to have a monument erected at the location to acknowledge its significance.
The Shoalhaven Historical Society has called on Shoalhaven City Council to erect a structure on the former club site, to tell, and mark its history.
Council will have to demolish what is left of the building after the fire but it is understood there were already plans to remove the structure.
Society secretary Tim Rigney hopes council can mark the site’s history with some sort of monument.
“This is a significant building in Nowra’s history,” he said.
“In the early days it played a major role in Nowra’s economic future and has always been the town’s unofficial flood record.”
He said the society would make representations to have something erected at the site to tell the building’s history, including showing the heights of floods which were often measured by locals by the height waters reached on the sailing club’s western facade.
“It would be great to see something on the top of the sign that maybe replicates the western profiles of the building in some way,” Mr Rigney said.
“It is such a recognisable building and was widely regarded as Nowra’s measuring stick when it comes to floods.
“The building has been a flood indicator for almost everyone in the town. Certainly people of my era and older judge the floods in town, not by the water height at the river as indicated in news reports, but where it is on the roofline of the sailing club.
“It’s the first thing everyone asks when there is a flood in Nowra, ‘where is it up to on the sailing club?’
“Unfortunately that’s gone - it’s something that is irreplaceable to the town.”