Warracknabeal Town Hall, Scott St, Warracknabeal (Spring 2006)

Digital Innovations Preservation, Victoria

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.

WarracknabealTownHall