'Etched in Boorowa’s history': Former police station on the market

Any sort of conversion proves to be popular for property hunters, whether that’s a church or an ex-government house transformation, but when you set your eyes on 60 Queen Street, Boorowa, you wouldn’t guess the now four-bedroom house was once a police station.

Built in 1864, the former Boorowa Police Station was used as the local corrections centre for many years until it became the police residence. 

By 2010, the home was sitting vacant and then eventually put on the market by NSW Police via auction. It was snapped up by Deborah Cotter and her husband for $190,000.

But the reason Ms Cotter bought the 2000-square-metre property wasn’t that she loved the house – she wanted to save it.

“At the time, many of Boorowa’s older buildings – buildings we considered an important part of the community – were being demolished to make way for new apartments, and that was the plan for this home,” Ms Cotter said.

“We thought it was an important part of the community; it’s etched in Boorowa’s history and in NSW as well. We didn’t want it to go like that.”

Over the next 10 years, she made sympathetic changes to the home, retaining many of its original features – including the sash windows and the original combustion oven – and found light fittings similar to the original fixtures.

“In the kitchen, we put a modern twist on it while keeping much of the design the same. We added in a new stove, timber benchtops and country-style doors,” Ms Cotter said.

“As for the rest of the house, we just replaced the rotten floorboards, repaired the damaged walls … it’s virtually the same floor plan.”

A breezeway connects the front of the home to the rear, which was formerly used as the troopers’ rooms.

“When the troopers came through, there was a stable and a block of land next door and the horses would be put in the stables and the troopers would be put in at the back part of the house and cells were attached to that,” Ms Cotter said.

“The bedrooms are still there now but we made one of them into the master bedroom with a fireplace and an en suite.”

During the two decades she lived in her home, she’s heard many stories of the police station – including the time bushranger Ben Hall spent a night in a cell.

Ms Cotter wasn’t raised in Boorowa but is passionate about maintaining structures that played a part in shaping the community into what it is today.

“This home has been around for almost 160 years and is still standing,” she said.

“I’ve spent the best part of the last 20 years tending to every nook and cranny of it. I’ll miss how the northern sun touches the verandah every morning the most, but my husband and I aren’t the youngest people in the world.

“It’s getting too big for us but we hope someone would love it as much as we have.”