The Dorothea Mackellar Memorial Society will be actively involved in restoring Kurrumbede's gardens to their former glory.
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Former home of the late poet Dorothea Mackellar, Kurrumbede is now owned by Whitehaven Coal, which committed $500,000 to the restoration of the property's garden last week.
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A Whitehaven spokesperson said the company and the society would now "look to confirm terms of reference" of the financial commitment.
"This agreement will form the basis of our cooperation into the future and provide a mechanism for the society to give its input into the restoration process," they said.
Society president Juliana McArthur is hopeful the gardens will be ready in time for the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards this year and has a "positive feeling" about the property's future.
"I think [Whitehaven] are committed to what they have promised with the funding," Mrs McArthur said.
"We were given free access to all of the buildings and now we need to get down to the business of working out a plan moving forward.
"There are a lot of details to work out and we are to meet shortly to determine the terms of reference and a working committee. We are really at the very beginning."
The setting is magic. You just see the Nandewar Range and you can clearly see how Dorothea was inspired to write Core of my Heart, My Country.
- Juliana McArthur, Dorothea Mackellar Memorial Society
It was the first time Mrs McArthur had visited Kurrumbede and she said it was "really quite special".
"At one point it would have been that genuine iconic working farm with the homestead and shearing quarters, garden cottage, shearing shed, underground meat cellar, stables ... [and the] many outbuildings," she said.
"I think the homestead itself appears to be in good condition. It does need some attention, but certainly some focus needs to be on the outbuildings and the grounds to preserve them.
"It is definitely a property that needs to be preserved and people given access to. It's part of Australia's agriculture heritage and culture heritage as well.
"The setting is magic. You just see the Nandewar Range and you can clearly see how Dorothea was inspired to write Core of my Heart, My Country."
Susan Duncan, the owner of Mackellar's Pittwater residence Tarrangaua, visited Kurrumbede with the society and said there were "ghostly echoes of the past wherever you go".
"I have to say it is the most achingly nostalgic property and you can just feel the past wherever you go, and you can also see what the Mackellars loved," Ms Duncan said.
"The footprint is indelibly Mackellar in the whole place and those outbuildings are just something else. We were out there at 6am the following morning waiting for the sun to come up, and you can feel it - the past rise up.
"They were revered by people in the city because it was a way of life ... The men on the land were heroes in those days. They were mighty men who did incredible work and I think that's what gets to me ... when ownership passes out of people who know where all the blood is in every paddock."
Ms Duncan said Whitehaven's financial commitment was "the first step" to preservation and restoration, and she would like to see Kurrumbede open to the community.
"I'd like to see it used by school children who need to understand the past; I'd love to see TAFE students come in and work on the building and learn some of the old skills; I'd like to see the poetry awards held there; [and] it'd be great to see events held there," she said.
"I've seen it at Tarrangaua, the way people flock... It's a tangible moment with history. They touch history and that's terribly important.
"If you don't know where you come from, you don't know who you are."
