Susanna Freymark
Betty Berry was 16 when she first went to a dance at Dyraaba Hall.
She was born in Kyogle 95 years ago and lived at Doubtful Creek.
She went to primary school at Woolners Arms and never attended high school.
“No one went to high school,” Betty said.
“They worked on the farm.”
Betty met her husband at one of the regular dances at Dyraaba Hall. They were married for 63 years.
“We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary at the hall,” she said.
Betty’s husband died 12 years ago. Betty sits at a long table sipping tea and eating homemade cakes with the crowd of locals who have turned up to celebrate 100 years of Dyraaba Hall.
Daphne Saye, 89, sits next to her.
“I spent 40 years at Dobies Bight Road on a cattle farm,” Daphne said.
She lives in Ballina now, and drove herself to Dyraaba for the hall celebrations on Saturday, August 22.
“My husband and I danced here very month,” she said.
Daphne said she has had a busy life. She has two sons and two grandchildren.
The Dyraaba Hall committee organised a sit down lunch and a birthday cake on the day. There were tables with displays of old photos and stories from the past 100 years.
Kyogle councillor Kieran Somerville was at the celebrations.
“Over the past century, there have been dances, meetings, celebrations, probably a few arguments, countless cups of tea, and many memories made within the hall’s walls,” she said.
“And this is the remarkable thing about rural community halls. They are not really about the roof, the floor, or the walls. They are about the people. They are about the generations of volunteers who maintain them, the people who organise events, the children who grow up attending them, and the families who continue to turn up and support them.”