WARIALDAThe Warialda School of Arts was established as a Mechanics' Institute in 1887 and its first building was erected soon afterwards at the north-western corner of Hope and Hall streets. It was a weatherboard hall with a gallery and double front doors opening on to Hope Street. It is known that by 1905, an additional separate building containing a reading room and a supper room had been added on the western side of the hall. A billiard room was also added, possibly at the same time, towards the back of the hall. The exact location of the billiard room is not known but it was thought to have been either an extension to the northern end of the hall or another building on the western side, behind the reading and supper rooms. In addition to the land on which these buildings stood, the School of Arts also had land immediately opposite, on the north-eastern corner of Hope and Hall streets, as well as another block further away at the corner of Plunkett and Geddes streets, where the present Fire Station stands. This particular block was subsequently relinquished in 1898 when it was needed "for purposes of a public watering place". In 1905, the original buildings underwent significant modification, financed in part by the sale of the block of land opposite. The hall remained but the separate building containing the reading and supper rooms was sold and removed from the site. In its place was erected an attractive two- storeyed addition to the western side of the hall. This new building had an upstairs verandah, facing Hope Street, and was designed to provide a reading room and verandah on the ground floor, and a billiard room and committee room on the top floor. The previous billiard room at the back was converted into a supper room with direct access to the hall.
The additions, which cost £900, were designed by Inverell architect J. F. O'Connor and were built by W. H. Campbell. An appealing watercolour painting by an unknown artist has captured the School of Arts buildings as they appeared after the 1905 alterations. In 1911, the School of Arts acquired some additional land at the back of the hall, facing Hall Street but did not proceed to erect anything on it. A devastating fire, which began at 5.30 am on 10 August 1927, destroyed almost every building on the northern side of Hope Street, the main street, between Hall and Stephen streets. All of the buildings of the School of Arts were lost although prompt action by the citizens of the town saved most of its collection of library books. This was especially fortunate as only weeks before, many old books had been thrown out of the collection and 350 new ones had been added. The premises were insured for £2,500. By October 1927, a committee had been established to combine the rebuilding of the School of Arts with the construction of a public hall to serve as the town's memorial to the men of the district who had served during the First World War. The extra land which the School of Arts had acquired in 1911 meant that the site was big enough to construct a fairly large building. Plans were drawn up for a complex costing £8000 and a call for donations produced all but £1000 of this amount. The foundation stone for the new "Soldiers Memorial Hall and School of Arts" was laid by Captain C. L. A. Abbott, M.H.R., on 10 November 1928. The building, designed by J. F. O'Connor and constructed by Nott Brothers of Armidale, was completed during 1929. It consisted of a large hall with a gallery, a stage and a supper room. Two rooms, one on either side of the front entrance to the building, served as a library and a reading room while above them, fronting the main street on the first floor, was a large billiard room. The walls of the downstairs foyer were lined with marble panels listing the names of the district's servicemen while wide stairs linked the foyer to the hall and the upstairs rooms. It would seem, however, that not all went as planned with the building construction. An interesting story is recounted by long-term Warialda resident, Reg Moore: "I was told that the back wall of the hall nearly fell out after it was completed. The committee at the time held the architect to account but due to the Depression, the bid failed. The wall was stabilised and I know that my uncle, Roger Moore, got the contract to put piers under the brick external walls. I remember him digging the first hole and when I asked him years later, he said it was 18 feet to sandstone and that there had been 18 piers put around the outside brick walls." The exterior wall of the building, facing Hall Street, contains an interesting memorial to an "affair of the heart". One of the bricklayers, who had an inclination towards a lady named Gladys Marshall, drilled her name in small holes into a brick and set it in the wall for all to see! Immediately beneath it are two other inititialled bricks, presumably a legacy from the bricklayers themselves. The attractive building, with minor modifications and improvements over the years, has remained intact and in constant community use since its construction and is one of the town's most significant assets. Its StoryThe original trustees of the Warialda Mechanics' Institute, when it was established in 1887, were John Crane, Alfred Hoy and William B. Geddes. The Foundation President was T. G. Rusden, the Police Magistrate at the time. Within a very short time, it was being referred to as the "School of Arts". The Minute Book of the School of Arts Committee for the period from 1 March 1895 to 5 December 1908 has survived and has been painstakingly transcribed by Mrs Jeanette Wilson. This wonderful source provides a detailed account of the activities of the School of Arts during these early years. It shows that by 1895, the School of Arts had a reading room with a subscription to ten different journals and newspapers, a piano, 120 chairs, 17 long seats and "scenery valued at $25". Its library books were obviously well used because in the same year, a hundred of them were sent to Maitland Gaol for rebinding! The charges for the use of the main hall in 1897 were 40 shillings for a ball and 12 shillings and sixpence for a smaller dance, provided that it required only "five lights" and did not go on beyond midnight. In the same year, the membership of the School of Arts stood at 82 and it lent a total of 1257 books to its members.
The minutes show that the School of Arts facilities were regularly used for a variety of social gatherings including balls, football socials, lodge meetings, church functions, billiard tournaments and competitions, gymnasium activities, cooking classes, and even "pupil teacher examinations". In July 1904, the president reported a membership of 156 and "a very satisfactory state of things as affecting every department of the institution". The size and facilities of the new building erected in 1905 show that the School of Arts was booming at the time. Two years later, the record shows that 90 new books were added to the library and the total number of volumes lent to members had reached almost 2300. The ongoing importance of billiards was noted in one minute which read: "The billiard room, on which there has been a fair sum of money expended, is a source of much enjoyment, and is also an important factor in the production of revenue. The constant use of the billiard tables during the winter nights seems to clearly justify the purchase of a new one." The first "picture show" in the new Warialda School of Arts building took place in 1905 when Mr J. Check "displayed his cinematograph". There are recurring references to such shows as the years go on and even mention of "a blaze when films caught fire" in 1914. Billiards continued to be a popular pastime during the years of the First World War and competitions between Warialda and Delungra were commonplace after the foundation of the Delungra School of Arts in 1915. The popularity of the new Soldiers Memorial Hall and School of Arts was soon demonstrated. Mr R. J. Stewart began showing movies there in June 1929 and the first "talkies" appeared in 1932. A Popular Queen Competition was held in 1935, while another one in the following year provided the finale for a big Sports Day and Ball which yielded £487 for local charities. Annual reports all the way through the 1930s revealed that the School of Arts was a viable and efficient community organisation, managed by a succession of capable and dedicated people. It was only during the war years of the 1940s that it began to go into decline. The annual reports speak of "recurring debt" and declining membership. There were 56 members in 1946 but only 46 in the following year. In 1950, the bland statement was made that "both the library and the billiard room" are liabilities. Its Later UseGradually, from the 1950s onwards, the functions of the School of Arts faded out or were taken over by other organisations. The library became too large for its restricted premises and was moved elsewhere, under local Council control. Billiards had more or less "died out" by the late 1950s. Reg Moore explains why: "Up till 6 o'clock closing at hotels and before television, billiard saloons were fairly lucrative businesses. There was a fair bit of gambling going on between the players and spectators. All of this finished when television came in and the 6 o'clock pub closing time was extended to 10 pm." The original School of Arts Committee continued to operate until the early 1960s when a letter from the Chief Secretary's Office warned its members that that they could be held legally responsible for any debts it incurred. Mr Reg Moore, who had spent many years on the committee, recalls that after much discussion, the local Council agreed to take over responsibility for the hall and he "handed over the books and three or four thousand pounds" to the Council. A Soldiers' Memorial Hall and School of Arts Committee continued to operate after this although its responsibilities lay primarily in monitoring the use of the hall for public functions and seeing to its maintenance. For some time now, the premises have been managed and maintained by the Shire Council. The building still provides a large and functional meeting facility for the Warialda community and from time to time, the original library and reading rooms at the front of the building are rented out to local business and professional people as office spaces. Its Significance to the CommunityThe Warialda School of Arts was a vibrant and popular organisation in the town from its inception in 1887 until the late 1940s. It provided a well organised library and reading room service until well into the 1960s and its billiard rooms were continuously patronised for a period of about sixty years. Its buildings provided an important venue for social gatherings of many different kinds and, as such, were a focal point in the community. This was particularly so in the case of movie entertainment which was an extremely popular pastime through until the 1960s when its place was largely usurped by television. Strange to say, many of the early annual reports contain the expression "no lecture activity this year". While a number of lectures and debates were held over the years, the prime contribution of the School of Arts in Warialda appears to have been in the activities mentioned above rather than in what might loosely be called "adult education". The Warialda community is justifiably proud of its beautiful "Soldiers Memorial Hall and School of Arts" building which continues to be a landmark feature of the town.
|
To Alpha List |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|||
