Wealth Dynamics Office nominated for NSW Heritage Awards
In March 2004 we bought the derelict Westpac Bank building in Portland after it had been vacant for 10 years (be careful when you buy commercial real estate because even though the returns may be good, there is also a risk of prolonged vacancy if you can’t find a tenant).
If you want to know more about the deal and how I negotiated it, click here to find out the details.
The rear of the building was overgrown with blackberries, the roof leaked and the building was an eyesore in the centre of town.
One of our objectives in buying the building and renovating it, was not just to provide a modern office for our business, but also to give the town of Portland back a sense of its own history.
The area was first settled in 1828 and the town of Portland was officially gazetted as a village on 3rd March 1894, so it has a reasonably long history from an Australian perspective.
The town of Portland originally flourished around the Commonwealth Portland Cement Company Limited which produced highly quality white cement that was used in Sydney and to build the new Parliament House in Canberra.
After the closure of the cement works in 1991, the town’s economic fortunes declined and the Westpac Bank was closed in 1994.
One of our first initiatives after painting the building, was to engage local artist Hans 
Liebhart to sketch eight historic scenes from the town’s early history from photos and photocopies kindly lent to us by local residents. These sketches were transferred onto aluminium plaques and mounted on the outside of the building as a permanent record of Portland’s history.
We arranged to have 100 prints of each of these historic scenes printed and donated them to the Portland Development Association so they could raise funds to promote the town through their website. The complete details of the prints are there on the Association’s website (look under “Prints” in the navigation bar) and I encourage you to go there and have a look. If you would also like to buy a set, the town would be very grateful for your support.
Following approval from the Westpac Museum in 2006, three large murals were painted onto the side of the building together with the words: “Bank Of New South Wales - First Bank In Australia.”
The murals depict the original Bank Of New South Wales building in Williwa Street, 
Portland, a bank teller scene from the turn of the 20th Century and a gold assayer.
While the building itself has no particular heritage or historical sugnificance itself, what we have done to the building has and therefore we worked frantically tonight to prepare a submission for the 2007 Energy Australia National Trust Heritage Awards.
Our motivation for doing that was basically to support the town of Portland and to help attract more tourism to the area. Therefore, if you are scratching around for something to do on the weekend and you’re not too far away, why not pay Portland a visit one day?
It’s about half way between Lithgow and Bathurst, about 16kms off the Great Western Highway.
Warm Regards,
Hans Jakobi - Australia's Wealth Coach