Restoration begins at Fairbridge Park: 'It'll be better than the original'

About $250,000 is earmarked to replace all installations and improve the devastated site. The first concrete pours began this week.

Existing gravel roads are set to be sealed to reduce the impact of future flooding, while the central floorplan will be concreted over and fencing will be reinstalled at right angles to Molong Creek.

"The park will be restored to its former glory, and then some," renowned bureaucrat, businessman, author and former Fairbridge student David Hill told the Central Western Daily from the site on Monday.

"We were all devastated by the flood ... but we rolled our sleeves up and we've now been working on it over a year to get it back. At last, we're gonna have it restored.

"It's enormously gratifying that we can get it back. Not only to where it was, but even better."

Restoration is due to be completed in early 2024, with a reopening ceremony planned for March.

Fairbridge Park between Orange and Molong was built in 2020. It pays tribute to students of the infamous Fairbridge Farm School that previously operated nearby.

The memorial comprises pillars with the names of all students, a dormitory floor plan, original bed frames, and the school's makeshift railway-line bell.

Successive floods in October and November, 2022 tore the centrepiece school bell from its base, washed large concrete plaques downstream, and destroyed almost every footpath.

Significant quantities of soil were also washed away, leaving gaping holes in the earth and undermining footpaths.

The Fairbridge Farm School operated between 1938 and 1973. The vast majority of students were orphans or born out of wedlock in Britain and shipped to Australia from as young as four.

About 60 per cent of students - who were predominantly born out of wedlock in Britain - are believed to have been sexually abused during their residency. As many as 90 per cent were physically abused.

A 2018 inquiry by the British government heard astonishing accounts of widespread and systematic abuse. It recommended compensation be paid to all former students. About 150 of the more-than-1000 former students are still alive.