Dry stone wall campaign to change Wellington's name to Wallington

From knowing little about dry stone walls, she has come to live and breathe the ancient craft, and she thinks the townspeople can, too.

Ms Knowles is on her way to host the southern hemisphere's only dry stone wall centre of excellence where people can learn the trade and become accredited - something you can currently only do in the northern hemisphere.

READ ALSO: Are Aboriginal fish traps the oldest examples of dry stone walls?

An important part of her plan is to launch the country's first dry stone wall festival, for which Ms Knowles and her working group are now in the throes of applying for funding.

A few years back, there was a news article that Wellington was the ice capital of NSW.

To this, Ms Knowles says: "We're moving from the ice age to the stone age."

Lisa Thomas, arts curator of Wellington Arts, has submitted a funding application to the Regional Arts Fund for $30,000 to get the dry stone wall festival up and running.

She is keen to have the town's name changed to Wallington for the duration of the festival only - which would be for around eight days every two years.

Ms Thomas says a festival of this kind would open-up tourism opportunities for the town and provide an economic boost. She said the festival would attract "international dry stone wall masters" and "make a spectacle of [Wellington] in a very positive way".

"A lot of stone masons work in the southern hemisphere so it's an opportunity for them to get their accreditation in a different location. The timing of their skills and training, knowing you can do it every two years is a great attraction to work here," Ms Thomas told the Daily Liberal.

The festival doesn't have a name yet but there is a working group of around eight people, backed by Wellington Arts.

READ ALSO: DREAM Festival lantern workshops a big hit for families on Father's Day

"We decided let's go big - don't be afraid. We want to call it an international event. The Great Australian Stone Festival - that could be its name," Ms Thomas said.

They hope to hold the first festival from March 16 to 24, 2024 and there has even been talk of trying to get The Rolling Stones - or at least a cover act - to perform a "rock" concert.

"We want to play on the words as much as we possibly can and the focus will be on stone works, stone crafts, rock cakes, anything we can tie into it," Ms Thomas said.

"There will be opportunities to undertake stone carving workshops, either in a decorative or formal way, stone restoration for old buildings, and maybe a bus trip to the Brewarrina fish traps. We could also have a stone appreciation day to buildings and bridges made of old stone."

Ms Thomas wants the community to "see the opportunities this represents" and she is seeking philanthropists to back the event.

"We have the potential for an international event. We seek community support in moving forward with this," she said.

Dry stone waller Ms Knowles doesn't know why everyone isn't interested in the craft. It has fascinated her since she moved to Wellington to work on a farm after leaving her job in the mental health industry.

These days, she owns and runs Stone of Arc, making dry stone walls - both functional for farms and decorative for homes - and training others in the craft.

Ms Knowles is one of only six female Dry Stone Walling Association UK Advanced Dry Stone Wallers in the world, and the only advanced waller operating in the southern hemisphere.

Putting Wellington on the map is important to her and she believes dry stone walling and old trades promote mindfulness.

"I think it's the fact that we live in such a fast kind of throwaway lifestyle, to be involved in something that is using natural materials, that tends to be a slow, careful methodical process, to produce something that will be incredibly durable and long lasting," Ms Knowles told the Daily Liberal.

She hopes the name Wallington will stick, beyond the dry stone wall festival.

She even hopes to make an app-assisted dry stone wall trail around Wellington which will attract people from around the world.

Ms Knowles already a training centre up-and-running in Wellington, which she says has all the makings of a master waller's accreditation centre. She just needs to become a master waller herself - which she hopes to do in 2024 during the festival, when two master examiners will be coming to Wellington to assess her to become a master examiner herself.

There are only two other dry stone wall endorsed training centres in the world - in Cumbria, in the UK; and Vermont, in the USA. Can Wellington make the third?

Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app here. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens.