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The Village Hall was built in 1950 - 51.
The idea for a Village Hall in Mt Wilson for community functions started with Mariamne Wynne of “Wynstay” in the 1930s, who initiated the formation of the Mt Wilson Village Hall Committee consisting of Helen Gregson of “Windyridge”, Fred Mann of “Stone Lodge (now “Yengo”), I Sloan and Marjorie Sloan of “Bebeah”, George and Isa Valder of “Nooroo” and Suzanne White of “Withycombe. In 1936 Helen Sloan of “Bebeah purchased the land from Peter Kirk and donated it as the site for the Hall. As early as September 1936, specifications for a ‘hall’ had been drawn up by Robert J. Cranna of Wollstonecraft at an estimated cost of £650, a considerable sum in the 1930s. Money was raised from garden openings and sports gatherings but it became evident that there was little chance of raising the required sum in a short time. It was not until 1947, 18 months after World War 11 had ended that the Trustees felt ready to undertake the Hall project. Now building materials were in very short supply and all were government controlled. Finally consent was granted on 3rd September 1948 by the Department of Building Materials to construct a Village Hall, comprising the main hall, pantry and terrace. The cost was to be £1,850, which contrasted greatly from the 1936 estimate. Lack of funds was to be the cause of prolonged delay. After much fundraising, a bequest from Nellie Gregson of £500 and substantial donations the funds available were well over £1,000.
Tom Kirk, being a man of timber, provided an absorbing record of where the trees came from for the actual construction of the Hall: “with the exception of the flooring, all timber was cut by himself and his employee, Harry Twaddle. Bearers and floor joists came from a white gum from the post office block…the frame came from stringy bark cut from “Lambs Hill” weatherboards from Mountain Ash, also from “Lambs Hill”. Timber was cut in Tom Kirk’s mill (near the Cathedral of Ferns). There the Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus Oreades) was cut into planks, carted to Syd and Albert Kirk’s mill on Owen Wynne’s property, dressed with the planer, and then returned to Tom’s mill to be splayed into weatherboards.
On 8th August 1952 the Hall was registered as a Public Hall and was granted a license to show 16mm films.
In November 1952 Owen Wynne, secretary of the Hall Committee, wrote to the BMCC stating that the Hall had been recently completed and that the committee was to consider the future ownership and control of the Hall. So began a long period of protracted debate with the BMCC over transferring the ownership of the land and the Hall from the Trustees to the Council. Eventually Owen Wynne wrote “Our committee has decided to ask Council to take over the Hall under Section 527 of the Local Government Act and to delegate the power of control and management to a local committee approved by Council. The Memorandum of Transfer was forwarded on 29th April 1957 for signing by the Hall trustees and on 19th August 1957 the first Committee was appointed under Section 530A of the Local Government Act. The members of that first Committee were Richard Owen Wynne, Duncan M McCallum, Eric (Peter) Kirk, R. H. Thorpe, K. Thomas and Ruth Scrivener.
Taken from the Mt Wilson Historical Society, pdf Historical Papers 1.1 : A History of the Mt Wilson Village Hall (287 KB) by Mary Reynolds
Early Photos
Celebrating the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II 1953
Celebrating the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II 1953
A later addition to the hall
