IMAGINE growing up in a home where metres away criminals would be locked up.
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That was the reality for many a family in the past at Yanco, who were living at 37 Main Avenue.
This is where the town’s police station once was and it was here the officer-in-charge would work be based out of, as well as live in with his family.
Nowadays the station is a simple home in Yanco and it’s now up-for-grabs, with owner Colin Croft recently placing it on the market.
The property still has many features which resemble the old station, including a prisoner cell out the back.
While it has now been decommissioned, this piece of history could be anyone’s for the taking.
The outside of the building is heritage-listed, but the inside isn’t, which means it is open to renovations and makeovers of the new owner’s choosing.
Mr Croft said the building was opened in 1923. Since he purchased it in 2006, the home has mostly been leased out as a rental property.
A small room at the front of the building is where the police worked from, with the remainder of the property typically home to their families.
“There’s a lot of history there and it’s a good, sound building,” Mr Croft said.
“That’s what drew myself and my wife to it.”
If the walls could talk, there would be many an interesting tale to hear.
Leeton’s Ron Hutton recalled an anecdote relating to the station where two drunk men attempted to steal his vehicle in the 1970s in Yanco’s main street.
After getting involved in a slight raucous with the offenders, Mr Hutton was joined by the town’s police officer at the time, and then men were taken and put in the cell at the station.
The pair refused to give the officer their names and were told they wouldn’t be coming out of the cell until they did so.
“It was January, so it was very hot,” Mr Hutton said.
“I don’t think they said who they were for three days and, in the end, it turned out they were wanted in Queensland.”
Before the station was turned over to the general public for purchase, it is believed local officers used the building as a training facility.
Mr Croft recalled seeing boot prints up the walls of the home when he first went inside.
“You would not have believed it if you didn’t see it,” he said.
“I’ve been told it’s from when police used to train in there. They would get in there and throw each other around a bit.”
The station was decommissioned when the decision was made to remove a police presence from Yanco, with the town serviced by Leeton officers since then.
- DO YOU have a story to tell about the old station? Share it with us by emailing talia.pattison@fairfaxmedia.com.au or call 0475 803 356.
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