LES Carroll is campaigning for the restoration of the Buckingham homestead while it languishes in neglect.
Mr Carroll told the Collie Mail that as a previous long-time resident of Buckingham he was disappointed with what he claimed was a lack of respect shown to the home that was built in 1923.
"The house means a lot to the people of Buckingham for the history it represents, as does the little church opposite," he said.
"I would have thought the owners of the property would have been a little more selective of the people they put in such a historical property, as they spent a lot of money doing it up, to their credit."
Mr Carroll said he understood the property's owners had the legal right to choose who lived there.
Mr Carroll was employed by the builder of the house and original owner of the Buckingham Mill, "Old Man" Buckingham.
Born in 1926, Mr Carroll began working in the mill and rose to the rank of number one benchman. Then he eventually became the manager.
Old Man Buckingham built the homestead after he opened the mill in 1910 and built a little church alongside in memory of his mother.
"They were very Christian people," Mr Carroll said.
"Quite good to work for, but inclined to be a little bit mean.
"I'll never forget when I was getting married around 1945.
"I knew that Old Buckingham had a house empty, a mill house over on the river there.
"So I went and asked him about it and he said 'No, you can't have that house'.
"Well, he must've been thinking for about two months and I was working the benches at the time in the mill.
"A fellow tapped me on the shoulder and said 'Old man Buckingham wants to see you over at that house' and I said 'oh, I've had enough of him' but he said 'no, go over and see him, he's waiting for you on the verandah over there.'
"I went and the old man said 'Les, I've decided you can have this house, you're not a bad benchman and number one benchmen are hard to get.'
"Anyway, the old weatherboards were falling off the house so I asked if in my spare time I could cut a few new weatherboards and take them home.
"He said "no, you can't do that, you'd be wasting too much time.'"
Mr Carroll said Old Man Buckingham had no children and was the last of his family.
Mr Carroll said the home should be treated with dignity because of its history, irrespective of who owned it.
"My idea was to furnish it with period furniture gradually and do something about the water supply and look after it in general," he said.
