State Planning Minister Dr Susan Close has given her conditional approval this month to an upgrade of the heritage-listed railway station at Tantanoola.

The Tantanoola Progress Association has secured grants from Wattle Range Council and the Federal Government for repairs to the 143-year-old timber build-ing.

It has had little maintenance since a major upgrade by a work-for-the-dole pro-gram in the mid-1990s.

Along with the nearby goods shed, the Tantanoola railway station was placed on the State Heritage List in 1994 as they demonstrate important aspects of the evolution and pattern of the state’s history.

Due to its heritage status, the planning approval process required a referral to Dr Close.

Among the conditions imposed by Dr Close, the new external doors must be four panel and wooden and similar to those in early photographs of the station.

Dr Close requires the re-painting to be in the current colours, woodwork re-pairs to be like-for-like and the flyscreens to be timber-framed.

Other approvals for the repair work at Tantanoola are pending.

Back in its earlier days in the 1980s, the Tantanoola Progress Association planted dozens of trees in the vicinity of the station buildings and rail yards.

Nowadays, the area is a popular stop-over for self-contained motor-homes.

There has been no freight traffic on the Mount Gambier/Millicent rail line for over three decades while the former Red Hen tourist rail car last passed through Tantanoola almost 20 years ago.

The Tantanoola railway station, built in 1880, together with the corrugated iron barrel-vaulted goods shed, is one of the oldest remaining railway buildings in the South East.

The station was built as part of the rail link from Mount Gambier to Beachport, which was opened on May 19, 1879 and therefore represents the earliest period in the region’s railway history.

The line was built to permit agricultural produce to be exported through Beachport.