HILLGROVEThe town of Hillgrove is located some 35 kilometres east of Armidale in the New England ranges. The town developed solely to service the deep underground gold mining industry there from the early 1880s and reached a peak population of about 3,000 in 1895. A gradual decline in gold mining activity after about 1898 adversely affected the fortunes of the settlement and Hillgrove had become a mere shadow of its former self by the 1920s. Like so many country towns of its day, a group of leading citizens became active in a movement to establish a School of Arts in Hillgrove. A preliminary meeting was held in November 1888 and a committee of ten was elected with Mr McLean in the Chair. Applications were made to Mr Henry Copeland MLA (Member for New England) and the Hon. J. H. Carruthers (Minister for Public Instruction) in February 1890 to avail themselves of a grant from the Colonial Government for the money raised by subscription. A well patronised meeting was held on 10 July 1891, at the Miner 's Arms Hotel at Hillgrove. Mr George Westcott was elected President; Mr Clapin, Treasurer; and Mr Henry Tonkin was Secretary. The first two of these gentlemen were businessmen; the third, a school headmaster. Several committeemen and trustees were elected and 34 members enrolled. By this time, the committee had collected £175 toward the cost of a School of Arts and applied to the government for a matching subsidy. Just the next month, a building "was purchased and converted into a Mechanics Institute" and was "stocked with a fine selection of books". The Department of Lands dedicated a site on Allotment 4, Section II in Hillgrove, facing Brackin Street, for use as a Mechanics Institute on 25 October 1892. Michael McNamara, George Quinnell, Edwin Brown, John Keller and Thomas Keys were nominated as trustees. By 1895, £765 had been expended on construction with a government subsidy of £371.11.1. The lecture hall measured 9 metres by 18 metres, had a 13.6 metre by 9 metre skillion attached, and seated 395. The tall weatherboard edifice boasted a stage, upstairs gallery, escape doors, steps and a porch. Additional rooms included a reading room, accommodating 24 readers, and measuring 3.6 metres by 7.2 metres; a similar sized room was termed "the debating room" and catered for 36 persons. Mr J. D. Bradley, District Inspector of Schools, cast a critical eye over the facilities in October 1896 and reported: "The Reading Room is exceptionally well provided with papers and periodicals and is very popular but the library is in not so satisfactory a condition. It is intended, however, to add materially to the stock of books as soon as possible and to attend to the renovation of such as have become dilapidated by use."
Its StoryBy 1901, the subscribers to the School of Arts totalled 80. Dr Cooper Hardcastle, the town's general practitioner, undertook to hold chemistry classes, commencing in September 1902. They proved highly successful with several students finding employment as assayers in the Hillgrove mines. During the same year, Dr Hardcastle also conducted ambulance and first aid classes at the School of Arts. In 1905, the School of Arts Committee saw the need for courses in assaying, chemistry, engineering, theoretical and practical mining, shorthand and dressmaking. The Hillgrove Borough Council strongly supported this move toward technical education, as did the Hillgrove Guardian. The Treasurer wrote to the local State Member, the Hon. S. J. Kearney MLA, reporting on the classes and pressing him for prompt payment of the subsidy. Such was the success of these technical classes, that a new building was added to the School of Arts for this purpose. The opportunity was taken to remove the laboratory "from under the School of Arts building", presumably in rooms set up beneath the stage. In July 1906, the 16th Annual Report of the Committee noted that the Technical School was well established. Equipment was supplied by the Department of Public Instruction, the premises "built and furnished at a cost of £61.18.6, of which £27.5.6 was subscribed by the public". Harold J. Wright was the teacher in charge and 46 students were enrolled. Engine running and mechanical drawing was taught by Mr N. Mason; applied drawing by Mr H. Wright; and theoretical and practical assaying by Mr V. Newberry. Not all progress by the School of Arts Committee was directed at technical education. In 1904, a special room was constructed with timber lined walls and corrugated iron roof, measuring 7.2 metres by 6 metres, to house a new acquisition - a billiard table. Rules were formulated for the conduct and management of the billiard room, stating: "That a list of financial members ... be posted ...; that no boys under the age of 18 be allowed to play without permission ... that notice be placed over money box appealing to the honour of members to pay ...; that the tariff be - billiard 5-up 6d; time limit 50 half-hour, 100 per hour, providing any members are waiting to play; that no practice be allowed nor smoking over the table." By 1906, the billiard room was raising an annual revenue of £54.15.8 at which time a new piano, costing £71.15.0 had been added. The Technical Classes at Hillgrove continued to grow, under the enthusiastic guidance of Head Teacher, Harold J. Wright. Tuition was planned in carpentry, blacksmithing, mining, mine surveying, metallurgy, geology, metallurgy, cooking and dressmaking. In 1907, the Technical College passed out of the hands of the School of Arts Committee to be conducted by the Department of Public Instruction. Hillgrove was the first town on mainland Australia to have access to hydro-electricity in 1895. Nine years later, the new light source was introduced to the School of Arts in time for the annual concert of the Public School in December 1904, including lighting for the stage. But the privately-owned electricity supply proved unreliable and a new acetylene gas lighting plant was eventually installed in February 1910 at a cost of £44. Another alteration was the dismantling of the gallery seating in the hall in 1912, presumably due to structural failure, and elevated seats were erected in their stead. Moving pictures were introduced to Armidale in 1910 by the travelling Smythe Brothers and they were screened in the Hillgrove School of Arts Hall on a regular basis over the ensuing years. Messrs Smythe and Spicer also booked the Hall on other occasions for skating, which found "some of the skaters misconducting themselves in one of the Ante Rooms" and leaving the Hall "in a disgraceful state" as noted in the Hall Committee Minutes. The fickle nature of the mining industry began to be felt by the end of the first decade of the twentieth century in Hillgrove. The depressed nature of the local economy brought a marked slump in business for the School of Arts. The Technical School closed in December 1908, and the School of Arts Committee cut its charges for the Hall in order to attract bookings. Billiard hall receipts had plummeted and kerosene lamps were re-introduced to cut the cost of electricity. Few realised it at the time, but the inexorable decline of Hillgrove's importance would continue. A disastrous fire broke out at the School of Arts in May 1916. The fire brigade managed to save the detached billiard room, but the reading room and library were totally destroyed. "There were 3,000 books in the library …. (however) the buildings were insured with the City Insurance Office for £170". After some deliberations, the Committee allowed Robert Sharp (a former Hillgrove mayor) to rebuild the disused technical rooms and relocate them as a new library and reading room on the original site. Replacement books were purchased with the insurance funds and the library was re- stocked. In July 1917, it is recorded that the billiard room was re-opened by Mr W Boundy. Apparently, the depressed nature of the town had previously brought about its closure. "At the same time, Messrs Wood and Champion opened a skating rink in the School of Arts Hall last Monday night. The proceeds went towards Frances Day Fund". By 1920, Saturday night skating was being conducted by Messrs Faint and Brindell at the Hall. Its Later UseThe Armidale School Inspector, Mr F. W. Mannell, visited the Hillgrove School of Arts on 18 October 1921 and his report "recommended that (the) subsidy be paid at the usual rate for the past financial year". He stated that the building was debt-free and that the Committee controlled a combined library and reading room, billiard room and hall.
By this time, the long decline at Hillgrove had taken its toll on business activity and the population. The Institute's membership numbered only 27. The town had contracted so much by 1925, that '"a motion to sell the School of Arts and purchase the Masonic Hall was defeated at the meeting of the Committee". It would appear that, to some, the School of Arts hall was considered too large for the functions which it had of late fulfilled. It was a concept which would re-surface in later years. The School of Arts Committee continued to function in the now small community, through the Great Depression and during the brief revival of mining in Hillgrove in the late 1930s. The library and billiard services were continued on a spasmodic basis until the Second World War when they were both finally closed, presumably due to the number of young men who were away, and the sundry wartime shortages. The question of the appropriateness of such a large public hall catering for a small population was again raised in the early 1950s. By this time, the deterioration of the building's condition was also a determining factor. The decision was made, in 1954, to construct a new hall, next door on the northern side of the existing one. The old hall was sold by tender for demolition, after a life of 59 years. It can be said that this date marked the end of the Hillgrove School of Arts. The Committee which administered the new hall was simply entitled the "Hillgrove Hall Committee" and was not concerned with the more traditional School of Arts functions. However, the spirit of the old hall continued insofar as it provided the venue for most of the village's social functions, and does so down to the time of writing. Its Significance to the CommunityThe Hillgrove School of Arts was something of a "late starter" in the district, given that the town's origins were in the late 19th century. However, the marked emphasis and conspicuous success of its technical training brought it closer to the stated ethos of the School of Arts movement than many other Northern Tablelands centres. This was party due to the energy and industry of important individuals like Dr Hardcastle, Dr Costello, head teacher Mr Harold Wright and his staff. It was also a result of the need for trained and qualified technical staff in Hillgrove's goldmines. The size of the settlement created the demand for recreational services at the Institute, with the library, billiards and hall bookings for cinema shows, lectures, roller skating and a whole host of social functions in response. In this way, the Hillgrove School of Arts became an integral part of the community of this town which grew, flourished and died in the New England ranges.
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