One of the region's few historic churches surviving as a place of congregational worship is seeking assistance following the collapse of one of its stained glass windows recently.
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St Paul's Anglican Church in Clunes was built 151 years ago when the small town was booming in the face of unprecedented income from the wealth of the goldfields.
Clunes has long laid claim to being the original place of discovery of the precious ore in the colony, and for a time it was thought it would become the major centre of the region - so much so that both the Roman Catholic and Church of England religions designed and started places of worship that could later be expanded into cathedrals.
But the gold ran out, and Ballarat grew where Clunes did not, leaving the tiny town with some impressive public buildings, including the town hall, banks, post office and churches.
The Catholic Church remained unfinished; the bluestone joints for a belltower are still visible, while the apse is still made of weatherboard.
St Paul's was completed, sitting at the top of Bailey Street overlooking the town. Like its Catholic neighbour, the church is made of bluestone with three tall, narrow windows at the nave entrance.
It's the main window of these three which has failed, the leadlight folded down and broken where the wire has come away from the supports.
Stained glass is held together in lead cames or channels which are soldered together. The entire glass piece is tied with copper or other wire to iron rods placed across the window hole at various points to support its weight.
We are looking at about $20,000 to repair them, so we are trying to get the word out about them... a repair of this magnitude is simply beyond what we can do
- Father Chris Keast, Springmount Parish.
Reverend Chris Keast is the parish priest for Springmount, which includes St Paul's at Clunes. He says the estimated cost for repairing the window is very expensive, much more than the congregation can afford.
"These are the original windows," Fr Keast said.
"We are looking at about $20,000 to repair them, so we are trying to get the word out about them. The parish is just getting by, so a repair of this magnitude is simply beyond what we can do. We're having to reach out and learn about the ways we can seek help, to protect the building and restore the window."
The parishioners are concerned for the security of the window as a whole, Fr Keast says, saying if one panel has failed it may be likely others will also collapse sooner.
"It's simply age that is a problem here," Fr Keast says.
"The age of the window, and trying to maintain a building like this, it stretches every penny we have."
Even the job of getting a plywood board placed over the window gap is proving difficult, Fr Keast says, with the interiors reaching to 15 or 20 metres high.
"We did get a quote but that fell through, so we're back to square one."
The parishioners have set up a GoFundMe account in the hope it will kickstart funding for the window's restoration.
"If we can get this window replaced it will go a long way to preserving the gradual decay of a building that many consider part of their heritage," the page's host says.
"The church hosts an old organ which is one of five made in the world. Any help that can be given would be greatly appreciated."
