MOREERecords indicate that a School of Arts, of timber construction, was erected in Balo Street Moree in 1883. It is known that the foundation stone was set by Mrs S. L. Cohen, wife of the Crown Land Agent, and that the financing of the building was substantially supported by a raffle. A picture painted by Mrs John Nugent Doyle of Whalan Station raised £750 towards the cost of the building which, according to one estimate, totalled £800. Town Hall, also of timber construction, was built on the southern side the School of Arts in 1891- 92. Additions were subsequently made to the original School of Arts building until it became part of a single complex that contained not only the School of Arts but also the Town Hall. In 1917, a disastrous fire destroyed both buildings as well as the records of the School of Arts. The fire was so severe that not even the foundation stone survived. No trace remains f of the buildings but fortunately, a good photograph of them, believed to have been taken in the late 1890s, has survived.
Following the end of the First World War, a need was expressed in the community for a memorial of some kind to remember those who had died in the war. Funds held by the School of Arts Committee, together with additional fundraising, led to the building of a Memorial Hall. It was opened on 17 April 1923 by the NSW Governor, Sir Walter Davidson. This new community facility remained as a community managed facility until it was taken over on 1 June 1938 by the Moree Municipal Council. A decline in revenue and increasing operating expenses had resulted in the change of ownership. Its StoryWhile the overall program of the Moree School of Arts before 1917 is not known, some information on the work of the Library established as part of the School of Arts has been documented. Tessa Raath has noted, from the Statistical Register of New South Wales, some details of the library and its holdings for a two year period. In 1897, the institution had 151 members. In the four years following its establishment, an amount of £181.1.8 had been spent on the Library and in 1897 itself, an additional amount of £31.19.1 was expended. The holdings of the library in April 1898, totalling 1156 books, were classified as follows:
Parallel information for 1912 is not available but by then, the number of members had increased to 253 and the number of books to 2570. The approximate value of the library at the time was given as £500 and the value of the building remained at £800. The above figures take on particular interest when considered against the population of the community at the time. Moree's population in 1888 was around 500 and by 1891 it had grown to 1143. By the time of the First World War, it was approaching 2000. Moree also serves as a good example of the types of people who provided the sort of community leadership that was responsible for the establishment and maintenance of Schools of Arts and Institutes in small communities around the region. One of the leading supporters of the Moree School of Arts was Arthur Thompson, J.P., who was born in Manchester on 24 April 1847 and who arrived in Sydney on Christmas Day 1852. He engaged in many mining, droving and wool-related activities before he married in 1880 and came to Moree in 1885. There he expanded his wool scouring business, set up a soap factory and mill and also became involved in wool drying. He was also involved in the development of the bore baths and supported the hospital and Lands Board. At that time, he was the oldest J.P. in north-western New South Wales. In addition to all these activities, he was heavily involved in the work of the School of Arts which recognised his services by making him a life member. Its Later Use
The Moree School of Arts, as an organisation, lived on beyond the destruction of its hall. The Committee contributed to the building of the War Memorial and was the guiding force in the community library that continued in the Hall. The School of Arts Committee's involvement with the "local" library was later reduced when the local government authority became the owner of the Memorial Hall. Its Significance to the CommunityThe Moree School of Arts, as an organisation, lived beyond the life of its original buildingand helped to maintain a library that provides a link with the modern facility that is now part of the Moree and district's learning resources. Those who today look at or enter the Civic Centre in Balo Street, Moree, may not realise that this newer, impressive community facility stands on the site of Moree's original School of Arts. Only a few photographs remain to tell the story of the original institution.
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