Warracknabeal Town Hall
Warracknabeal, Victoria
(Seabrook & Fildes, 1940)
In 2008, ADMS member Dr. Timothy Hubbard and his firm, Heritage Matters, were engaged by Heritage Victoria to survey cinemas in country Victoria. The resultant report , entitled Jaffas Down the Aisles, recommended adding 10 cinemas to the Victorian Heritage Register. As a result, cinemas at Lorne, Winchelsea, Horsham, Ararat, Koroit, Sorrento, Ballarat, Charlton and Yarram have been included on the Register, together with drive-ins at Coburg and Dromana. Most importantly, the list includes the outstanding modernist Town Hall at Warracknabeal, which operated as a cinema for many years. See www.heritage.vic.gov.au/Registration/Recommendations-to-the-register.aspx.
Spring
2006 - Preservation News
The rural city of Warracknabeal in north west Victoria boasts a wonderful Town Hall dating from 1940 and designed by Seabrook & Fildes, who
were amongst Victoria's leading modernist architects. However, after relocation of Council's business functions to a modern building, the Town Hall was allowed to deteriorate. The Council recently issued a questionaire seeking opinions about its future. Imagine our horror when a Warracknabeal resident informed us that one of the options proposed by the Council was demolition!
With the help of the National Trust and the Editor of the Warracknabeal Herald, the Council was convinced of the folly of that opinion and they are now trying to determine appropriate use that meets the needs of the community.
They shouldn't have to look too far - a number of rural towns have successfully converted interwar town halls into community centres, art galleries, etc.
