The Otago Goldfields Heritage Trust held a meeting in Cromwell this week to show the public a recently commissioned conservation plan for historic structures at Stewart Town in the Bannockburn Sluicings and gauge interest in a renovation project.
Trust president Martin Anderson said 21 people attended, many of them from Bannockburn.
"We asked who would want this work to go ahead and everyone put their hands up emphatically."
However, the trust wanted more public feedback before going ahead with any of the many renovation options available. It favoured the more extensive options, which would probably cost be well into six figures, he said.
The conservation plan noted Menzies Dam was in need of repair and recommended extensive rebuilding as well as soil management and silt removal.
The stone house, which was first lived in by Mr Stewart, needed repairing in the front wall, window sills and chimney, it said.
The heads of the walls had been rebuilt within the last 15 to 20 years, and similar work was required again.
The trust also had the option of putting a roof over the house to protect it and another over the remains of the north extension, but this would present new issues for the management and maintenance of the site. There was still an opportunity to save the last remnants of other buildings in the area, one of which Mr Menzies may have lived in. This could be helped by rerouting walking tracks and by better public education of where and where not to go.
Both Mr Stewart and Mr Menzies were Scottish immigrants.
Mr Stewart was probably one of the first miners in the district following the initial gold rush and Mr Menzies was a prominent member of the Bannockburn Community.
They began to construct a water race from in 1862 and the house and dam were probably built in the early 1870s.
The trust will meet in the new year to commit to a plan and begin writing funding proposals.
