BARRABAAs far as is known, there was only ever one School of Arts building in Barraba. It still exists and stands at what is now 19 Maude Street, next to the Fire Station and just to the west of the main street. While no specific date for its construction has been found, it is mentioned in the Statistical Register of New South Wales for 1885, suggesting that it probably came into being a year or so before that date. The building was a wooden one which, it would seem from an early faded wedding photograph, had a landing on its eastern side. A reference in the Manilla Express of 8 April 1899 comments that "Mr Myers is to add and alter the School of Arts". These additions consisted of a new wing to house a library and a reading room. If it was typical of other such institutions in the area at the time, it is highly likely that the alterations and additions also included some sort of provision for a games room.
A brick façade was added to the building in about 1960 and its appearance has remained essentially unchanged since that time. Its StoryThe Barraba School or Arts, known in its earliest days as the Barraba Mechanics' Institute, served as a general meeting place and provided a reading service to the community. It is known that a library was in operation in 1897 and that it was enlarged during the building extensions of 1899. By 1904, the library contained a thousand volumes and it was still operational during the Second World War. There is mention in 1940 of the "regular addition of new volumes" and it is known that a Mr Rowland held the position of Librarian in 1941. In 1897, the operation of the Barraba Mechanics' Institute was in the hands of a sizeable committee of significant townspeople, suggesting that it was serving a useful community function. This committee was made up of:
An effective committee was still in operation in 1910 with Mr Hadley, a Bank Manager, as its President and Mr W. D. Harris as its Secretary. For much of its existence, the Mechanics Institute served as a popular venue for dances, socials, concerts and meetings. Eighty-nine-year-old Mrs Jesser Crowley recalls that it had a very good dancing floor and that during the 1930s, it was common for Saturday night dances to be held there. She relates that the dancing would go on, uninterrupted, until midnight at which point, supper would be served. It would have been a waste of good dancing time to have stopped for supper before midnight!
Prior to 1922, quite large balls and dances were held in the Mechanics' Institute but after the construction of the Clifton Hall in that year, the Institute building was used more for smaller dances and functions. Its restricted size was highlighted in a Barraba Chronicle advertisement for a soldiers' farewell on 6 March 1941: "Children under sixteen who are not relatives of the soldiers, will not be admitted owing to limited dancing space available". The Mechanics' Institute building was also used as a venue for church services from 14 December 1905 to 25 July 1906 while a nearby St Laurence's Church was being rebuilt. Later, in November 1941, there is also mention of classes being held in the School of Arts "by the University of Sydney" but there are no details of what these classes may have involved. Its Later UseThe building was taken over as a Scout Hall during the early 1950s and was used for this purpose for about twenty years. It was during this time that the present brick façade was added. After the Scouts ceased to use the building, it was used as a storage facility by a dealer in second-hand goods. It is currently the headquarters of the Barraba Sia Baba religions group. Its Significance to the CommunityAs with many other similar institutions in the region, the Barraba Mechanics' Institute, or School of Arts, began as a community centre, offering a convenient venue for public meetings and functions and providing library and reading room services. While there is no specific mention of a games room in the early record, it would be surprising if this function had not also been provided during the early years. The building continued to provide its library services and to act as a community centre, particularly for dances and other social functions, right through until the Second World War. Presumably, it ceased to be a "School of Arts" soon afterwards and has since been used, in a number of different ways by various groups and individuals. For most of its existence, however, it has filled an important need as a community meeting place, a function it still fills for the Sia Baba religious group.
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