TAMWORTHFollowing some months of negotiations, the Tamworth Mechanics' Institute was inaugurated on the evening of 17 November 1866, at a function held in the classroom of the National School. The President of the new organisation, Philip Gidley King of Goonoo Goonoo Station, delivered an after dinner address entitled General advantages to be achieved from the establishment of a Mechanics' Institute. The need for the Institute to have its own building was soon obvious. In 1859, the local Member of Parliament, Dr R. L. Jenkins, announced that a Government grant of £150 was available provided the local community could match it. Within four or five years, this had been achieved and an amount of £230 had been raised. The list of donors included Members of Parliament, Company staff from Goonoo Goonoo Station, and prominent landholders such as Robert Pringle of "Bective" and Dr John Gill of "Moonbi". A block of land fronting Brisbane Street, between Peel Street and Marius Street, was bought from Joanna Dwyer, the wife of former Chief Constable James Dwyer, and by 1864, Tamworth surveyor Arthur Dewhurst had begun "making designs for the Mechanics' Institute". The builder was William S. Dowel and the building, erected over the next two years at a cost of £380, was officially opened on 24 May 1866. It still stands at what is now 93 Brisbane Street.
Originally, it was a rectangular structure approximately 8 metres wide and 20 metres deep, facing Brisbane Street but set back from the footpath. Steps led up to a tall, central front door and there was a large window on each side of the front wall. Inside was one big room, often rented for church services and other public gatherings, and behind it were one or two smaller rooms. On 7 August 1897, it was announced that work was about to begin on the addition of a Reading Room. Opening from the south- western side of the original building, it was designed by the architect E. S. Henderson and constructed by Moran Bros. The addition measured 7.3 metres by 6.1 metres and was made possible by legacies from two of the town's prominent businessmen - £50 from Louis Levy and £150 from Abraham Cohen.
The Reading Room had its own door direct from the outside. The tall central front door of the main building, while still retained, was later converted to a large window and a door on the northern side of the building later became its main entrance. A further extension was made to the back of the building in 1900 to provide a "new committee room". Its StoryThere were thirty-one foundation members of the Tamworth Mechanics' Institute in 1866, each of whom paid an annual membership fee of ten shillings. In addition, there were twenty-eight honorary members. The difference between the two types of membership is not clear but honorary cost twice as much as ordinary! The Rev. E. Williams was the foundation Secretary. As well as organising reading and library activities, the Institute, in its earliest days, arranged lectures and evening entertainments. Two songs on the top of the hit parade at these "soirees" of the late 1850s seem to have been "Bonny Black Bess" and "The Ratcatcher 's Daughter"! The Mechanics' Institute soon became the meeting place for many different groups. Some of the early ones included the Chess and Draughts Club (1897); the Tamworth Literary Club (1892); the Chess, Draughts and Whist Club (1901); and the Tamworth Literary and Debating Society (1901). For several years, a shorthand teacher called George Howlett served as a part time Librarian and Custodian. During this time, although still officially the Mechanics' Institute, the building was often referred to as the "School of Arts". In 1878, the Tamworth Grammar School at 160 Marius Street was taken over by Frank Hole and in the following year, he became the temporary Secretary of the Mechanics' Institute. When he later became permanent in the position, he was allowed some use of the Institute building and in April 1879, he announced that "dancing classes would be held under the supervision of Mrs Lancaster". What personal connection he had with the dancing classes, if any, is not clear but it appears that he also held some of his school classes in the building. The Mechanics' Institute became officially known as the "School of Arts" in August 1936. It had experienced financial difficulties for some time and these difficulties were to continue. Apart from the Great Depression, there had been expenses associated with the laying of sewerage mains. During October 1936, Walter Lindrum visited the School of Arts and gave an exhibition of billiards, recording a "break" of 271. He gave this performance on a billiard table which had been provided for the Institute by the R.S.L. in 1924. The normal functions of the School of Arts were suspended during the Second World War and it was used by the local Canteen Committee to provide entertainment, tea and sandwiches for troops.
Its Later UseThe Tamworth School of Arts did not resume its activities after the Second World War. The Tamworth City Council, under the provisions of the Library Act, took the building over in 1947 to establish a Library, with an Art Gallery in the Reading Room. In 1961, following the transfer of the Namoi Regional Library from the Mechanics' Institute building to the new V. Guy Kable Building in Marius Street, arrangements were made for the Extension (Adult Education) services of the University of New England to be housed in the offices which the library had vacated. The Tamworth City Council accordingly created the Adult Education Centre Trust to safeguard the interests of the Mechanics' Institute building and the ground on which it stood. The University spent £11,000 on renovations, equipment and furnishings for the Centre and occupied it for the next thirty years, at one stage renaming it the "Campbell Howard Centre for Continuing Education", after Campbell Howard, a well-known Tamworth educator and one time Assistant Director of the University's Department of Adult Education. On 28 January 1994, the Mayor of Tamworth, Councillor David John, handed the keys of the former Mechanics' Institute building to "Smoky" Dawson the Patron of the recently formed Australian Country Music Foundation (ACMF). The Foundation announced its plans to use the building as its headquarters and as a venue for public Country Music exhibitions, as well as for research and for the storage of significant Country Music memorabilia. Restoration work on the building, costing $350,000, had been completed by the Tamworth City Council before it was occupied by the ACMF. Its Significance to the CommunityThe Tamworth Mechanic's Institute, or "School of Arts", is one of the few in the State to have maintained a community based educational function for the whole of its existence. Even after it ceased to run its own library and reading room facilities in, these functions were taken over by the City Council. When the premises were no longer needed for this purpose, they became the headquarters of a significant adult education program, offered by the University of new England. Even today, the building still retains its educational function, serving as a most informative and attractive museum of Country Music. The beautiful old building has been faithfully restored and is carefully maintained. It is, without doubt, one of the most significant and appealing historical buildings in the city.
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