Flagstaff Hill volunteers Graeme McIvor (left) and Peter Schultz sift through the remnants of The Warrnambool Examiner print shop which was destroyed by fire.
TWO of the original printing presses damaged in last week’s fire at Flagstaff Hill will be restored.
But the maritime village has put a call out for replacements of its typeset collection which was extensively damaged.
The Warrnambool Examiner newspaper print shop was destroyed and the adjoining fire station was damaged in the blaze which took hold about 1.15am on Thursday.
The Albion printing press and the Heidelberg printing press will be restored by a Melbourne company.
Helen Sheedy, the program co-ordinator at Flagstaff Hill, said it was fantastic that the presses would be restored after initial uncertainty about whether it would happen.
“We’re thrilled about it,” she said. “We weren’t sure how we would go about it. It’s a huge relief.”
Ms Sheedy said volunteers had spent recent days attempting to salvage all they could from the print shop.
“We had an extensive collection,” she said. “There were 20 different fonts in various sizes. Most of the collection was destroyed.
“We just want to put some feelers out to source replacements, especially if there is a local connection. We’ve had volunteers literally sifting through all that’s left. It’s mostly ash.”
Ms Sheedy said a lot of the raw emotion from the fire had given way and volunteers were knuckling down.
“We’ve had constant calls for help. We’re committed to having the print shop up and running again.”
cquirk@standard.fairfax.com.au