Kenmare Hall School
Completing a task set in 1922 at the old Kenmare Hall
Built in 1921, KENMARE HALL was used as a school, church, meeting place, tennis club and function centre into the 1950’s. This picture was taken in 1925. (ABC Great Southern)
After decades of disrepair, a community group in the WA town of Woodanilling has breathed new life into the historic structure and undertaken work originally recommended by the founding committee.
The dirt floor of the Kenmare Hall supper room had seen better days. Having long been neglected by humans, rabbits had dug a warren into the grounds, living in a strange menagerie alongside white ants and the occasional bird. It was a far cry from the heady days of the stone hall, which hosted weddings, dances, school lessons and tennis club meetings until the late 1950s.
Now life has returned to the space with the reformation of the Kenmare Hall Committee.
A small but meaningful space
Built in 1921, the Kenmare Hall is of special significance to Woodanilling local, Lola Carter. Her husband’s grandfather built the hall with a team of volunteers in 1921. “My earliest memories are driving past it and seeing the windows and doors boarded up with corrugated iron,” Ms Carter says. “The war decimated the Tennis Club (based at the hall) then eventually it just got used less and less.”
In the late 2000s, it looked like the property would be sold off. “When the Shire of Woodanilling was thinking of selling, it was like a stab in the heart for my husband and I.” “So we reformed the Kenmare Hall Committee, there were quite a few people who helped us and we put forward a plan to the Shire and said we’d look after the hall.”
A solid structure survives
Six years and 52 committee members later, the stone hall has been restored to its former glory.
“We built a ramp, replaced the guttering, we’ve built a new rainwater tank stand. We cemented the floor in the supper room – this was proposed and discussed in the original minutes of the Kenmare Hall Committee back in 1922 and we completed the job for them,” said Ms Carter speaking to ABC Great Southern Mornings. Built to last, the iron roof and stone walls did not require replacement. “The volunteers have done a massive amount of work to repair and preserve the hall. We’ve tried to do it as it was originally built, both internally and externally, to retain its historic value.”
The Kenmare Hall now hosts functions, concerts and weddings. In a nod to a bygone era, it remains without electricity. “What happens if we have a function, we first have to assess whether it’s going to be a one or two generator function,” said Ms Carter. “On the day of the function, a military operation happens. Generators are placed in a cleared section of the block away from the building.”
On the importance of maintaining historic sites, Ms Carter says the decision should be easy. “It’s a window into your past. It shows how people lived in the old days. There’s just this attachment, especially if your family has a connection to it.”
Kenmare Hall
From the Heritage Council of WA website
Situated west of Woodanilling off the Robinson Road, Kenmare Hall was an important hub for social interaction, education and religious activities. The building was a community project organised by Frank Carter and Oscar Lines, two settlers in the vicinity, both farming properties bordering Robinson Road. The Minister for Education, H. D. Colebatch, officially opened the Kenmare Hall in late September 1921.
Kenmare Hall & School building
The name ‘Kenmare’ was given to the hall and district after a ballot involving four other suggested names. The stone hall (30′ x 20′) with a gable roof was built by volunteer labour under the direction of a builder, Bennett-Cunningham, on a portion of 10 acres of land donated by M. H. Douglas. One of the first official functions at the Kenmare hall was to celebrate the marriage of Miss Evelyn Carter and Sam Meharry in December 1923. The Kenmare hall was managed by the Kenmare Hall committee with Henry Douglas as chairman from 1922-32.
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