Water Mark (Micky Knight Mysteries)

It’s just one more body in one more destroyed house. In New Orleans, a few months after Katrina, there are thousands of destroyed houses and hundreds of body yet to be found. Can one more matter? It does to Micky Knight as she takes on the quixotic search to find out who the woman was and why she might have died there. But is Micky searching for justice or just doing anything to avoid confronting the ways Katrina destroyed everything that had tied her to New Orleans? In a city that doesn’t even have working stoplights, there seems little need for a private investigator. Her friends are all struggling with their own disrupted lives, lost jobs, destroyed homes. And the woman Micky thought she’d be with forever, Cordelia James, hasn’t returned.

Micky’s investigation leads to a tangle of greed and deceit that stretches back generations. Someone is using the destruction wrought by the flooding to finish what was started a hundred years ago. To stop them Micky will have to risk not just life and limb, but any chance to reconnect with Cordelia and rebuild the life she had before Katina. But if she doesn’t stop them, a young Midwestern teenager whose only crime was wanting to help the destroyed city, will be the next body left in an abandoned house.

The sixth Micky Knight mystery.

From City of Ballarat media release
Friday, March 12, 2010, 3:01 PM The Ballarat Town Hall restoration project continues with works underway on the Sturt Street facade.

Residents and visitors are sure to notice scaffolding installed to the full facade of the historic Town Hall building, extending to the top of the clocktower.

The restoration of the Sturt Street facade will be completed mid-2010. Public access to the Sturt Street Town Hall entrance was interrupted while the scaffolding was erected, as it will be for a short time during the dismantling of the scaffolding, however the entry is now open and will remain so throughout the works.

Ballarat City Lead Councillor on Heritage Samantha McIntosh said the Town Hall is among Ballarat's finest historical locations and residents are sure to admire the important restoration works.

"Town Hall has the highest possible heritage listings at both state and national levels. The building is an icon of the city and as part of this project, the Town Hall will be restored to its rightful glory. While the scaffolding and works may not look glamorous right now, this essential restoration will protect and preserve the Town Hall well into the future."

Local Ballarat company, Nicholson Construction are completing the restoration project.

The conservation work includes the restoration of all stone, renders, timbers, metal materials and architectural features on the exterior of the building including the wrought iron balustrade on top of the clock tower. The clock faces will be restored, windows repainted and all gutterings replaced.

The Sturt Street facade works involve restoration of all rendered surfaces and the removal of all eroding sandstone pediments in the area near the building's Sturt Street entrance and replacement with new stone. The sandstone will be sourced from Germany to match the existing stone.

The Town Hall restoration project will cost approximately $1.85M. Council has provided $0.5M in its 2008/09 capital budget for the works; and allocated a further $1M of its five year capital program. The Federal Government Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts has contributed $350,000 to the project.

The first phase of the building's restoration - the Armstrong Street and Town Hall Lane facades - was completed in December 2009. The works, which began in August 2009, featured the restoration and replacement of decayed ledges, cornices, mouldings and cement wash over the whole facade.

The most recent conservation report, 'Ballarat Town Hall External Conditions Survey Report' (Allom Lovell 2004) identified the need for major conservation works on the external fabric. Specialised heritage and conservation architects were appointed by Council to develop method statements and specifications to enable the project to proceed.

The foundation stone of the existing Town Hall building - the third on the site - was laid on January 14, 1870, the 14th anniversary of the first election of Councillors. The first meeting of the City Council took place in the building in March 1872.

From Victorian heritage register
Location
225 STURT STREET BALLARAT CENTRAL, Ballarat City

Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number
H0978

Heritage Overlay Number
HO104

Level of Significance
Registered

Extent of Registration 1. All the building known as the Ballarat Town Hall, marked B1 on Plan No. 600222G(A), endorsed by the Chairperson of the HBC and held by the Director, Historic Buildings Council, but excluding the addition made to the building after 1912.

2. All the land on Plan No. 600222G(A), endorsed by the Chairperson of the Historic Buildings Council and held by the Director, Historic Buildings Council and described in Certificates of Title Vol. 179 Folio 35775, Vol. 2881 Folio 576061, Vol. 4962 Folio 992223 and Vol. 2926 Folio 585107.



Statement of Significance
The distinctive two storey classical revival building, with central mansarded clock tower of two levels, and unusual pedimented end pavilions featuring fan-shaped glazing is one of the few grand-scale symmetrical town hall design in Victoria, and reflects the civic pride of the Ballarat citizens of the 1860s, and their vision for the future.

* The design, which resulted from an architectural competition in 1868, is interesting and unusual work of three architects - the exterior by JJ Lorenz, the interior by local architect HR Caselli, and the final overall composition by Ballarat borough architect Percy Oakden, who merged the incompatible design designs of Lorenz and Caselli into a whole. Oakden later moved to Melbourne, entered partnership with architect Leonard Terry, and became one of Victoria's influential 19th century architects. The building was erected by William Cowland.

The Town Hall is believed to be one of the only three such buildings in the world equipped with bells. The eight "Alfred Bells" in the clock tower, weighing four and a half tons were purchased to

From City of Ballarat media release
Friday, March 12, 2010, 3:01 PM The Ballarat Town Hall restoration project continues with works underway on the Sturt Street facade.

Residents and visitors are sure to notice scaffolding installed to the full facade of the historic Town Hall building, extending to the top of the clocktower.

The restoration of the Sturt Street facade will be completed mid-2010. Public access to the Sturt Street Town Hall entrance was interrupted while the scaffolding was erected, as it will be for a short time during the dismantling of the scaffolding, however the entry is now open and will remain so throughout the works.

Ballarat City Lead Councillor on Heritage Samantha McIntosh said the Town Hall is among Ballarat's finest historical locations and residents are sure to admire the important restoration works.

"Town Hall has the highest possible heritage listings at both state and national levels. The building is an icon of the city and as part of this project, the Town Hall will be restored to its rightful glory. While the scaffolding and works may not look glamorous right now, this essential restoration will protect and preserve the Town Hall well into the future."

Local Ballarat company, Nicholson Construction are completing the restoration project.

The conservation work includes the restoration of all stone, renders, timbers, metal materials and architectural features on the exterior of the building including the wrought iron balustrade on top of the clock tower. The clock faces will be restored, windows repainted and all gutterings replaced.

The Sturt Street facade works involve restoration of all rendered surfaces and the removal of all eroding sandstone pediments in the area near the building's Sturt Street entrance and replacement with new stone. The sandstone will be sourced from Germany to match the existing stone.

The Town Hall restoration project will cost approximately $1.85M. Council has provided $0.5M in its 2008/09 capital budget for the works; and allocated a further $1M of its five year capital program. The Federal Government Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts has contributed $350,000 to the project.

The first phase of the building's restoration - the Armstrong Street and Town Hall Lane facades - was completed in December 2009. The works, which began in August 2009, featured the restoration and replacement of decayed ledges, cornices, mouldings and cement wash over the whole facade.

The most recent conservation report, 'Ballarat Town Hall External Conditions Survey Report' (Allom Lovell 2004) identified the need for major conservation works on the external fabric. Specialised heritage and conservation architects were appointed by Council to develop method statements and specifications to enable the project to proceed.

The foundation stone of the existing Town Hall building - the third on the site - was laid on January 14, 1870, the 14th anniversary of the first election of Councillors. The first meeting of the City Council took place in the building in March 1872.

From Victorian heritage register
Location
225 STURT STREET BALLARAT CENTRAL, Ballarat City

Victorian Heritage Register (VHR) Number
H0978

Heritage Overlay Number
HO104

Level of Significance
Registered

Extent of Registration 1. All the building known as the Ballarat Town Hall, marked B1 on Plan No. 600222G(A), endorsed by the Chairperson of the HBC and held by the Director, Historic Buildings Council, but excluding the addition made to the building after 1912.

2. All the land on Plan No. 600222G(A), endorsed by the Chairperson of the Historic Buildings Council and held by the Director, Historic Buildings Council and described in Certificates of Title Vol. 179 Folio 35775, Vol. 2881 Folio 576061, Vol. 4962 Folio 992223 and Vol. 2926 Folio 585107.



Statement of Significance
The distinctive two storey classical revival building, with central mansarded clock tower of two levels, and unusual pedimented end pavilions featuring fan-shaped glazing is one of the few grand-scale symmetrical town hall design in Victoria, and reflects the civic pride of the Ballarat citizens of the 1860s, and their vision for the future.

* The design, which resulted from an architectural competition in 1868, is interesting and unusual work of three architects - the exterior by JJ Lorenz, the interior by local architect HR Caselli, and the final overall composition by Ballarat borough architect Percy Oakden, who merged the incompatible design designs of Lorenz and Caselli into a whole. Oakden later moved to Melbourne, entered partnership with architect Leonard Terry, and became one of Victoria's influential 19th century architects. The building was erected by William Cowland.

The Town Hall is believed to be one of the only three such buildings in the world equipped with bells. The eight "Alfred Bells" in the clock tower, weighing four and a half tons were purchased to