Premier Peter Malinauskas and Member for MacKillop Nick McBride have been directly lobbied by the local community about the future of the closed Tantanoola Primary School.


Community advocate and old scholar Peter Altschwager has told the two politicians that Tantanoola residents are keen to see the property being used to the advantage of the local community.


He said the possibility of dismantling and moving the 12-year-old gymnasium to the town’s oval has been canvassed.


Mr Altschwager recently arranged for key stakeholders to meet with the real estate agent handling the sale of the property.


“Representatives of the Tantanoola Football Club, Tantanoola Progress Association and Tantanoola Netball Club were present along with some of the town’s major employers,” Mr Altschwager said.


“The agent took us on a tour of the former school.


“There is other Crown land at Tantanoola and there are Native Title matters to be resolved.”


The former school has been marketed by a Mount Gambier firm since February for an undisclosed price.


Tantanoola lost its school and child parent centre at the end of 2019 due to a lack of enrolments.


The extensive grounds and buildings have been well maintained ever since including the modern gymnasium which is almost the size of a basketball court.


Its $930,000 price tag was funded by the Rudd Federal Labor Government as part of the nation-wide economic stimulus package called Building the Education Revolution.


Tantanoola Primary School was founded in 1881 with some of the original buildings still in use at the time of its closure.


At its peak, the student enrolment exceeded 100.