Lynchs Creek Community Hall will be celebrating Christmas in July again this year.
The event brings everyone together and raises money for the maintenance of the hall and for donations to local charities.
The community has been doing this for more than 100 years.
The history of the community hall shows why it is a special part of the community.
The first Lynchs Creek Hall was built on the hillside near where Collins Valley Way crosses Lynchs Creek on land gifted to the community.
It was a 9.15m (30ft) by 6.1m (20ft) building and included a cloakroom, stage, and a paddock for visitors’ horses and trappings.
The official opening was on July 4,1906 with a picnic and football match between the Lynchs Creek men and the Gradys Creek men. After the footy match, there was a ball with about 50 couples dancing and only stopping when some had to leave to get the cows in for milking.
Dances, balls, concerts, and religious services were held regularly at the original Lynchs Creek Hall.
During World War I, farewell functions were held for the men of the area before they left. On their return ‘welcome homes’ were also hosted.
The same thing happened later during World War II. If the walls of the hall could speak, they would tell of the many tears and cheers at those farewells and welcome back home events.
The arrival of the motor car in the early 1920s made it difficult to access and park at the initial site and a decision was made to move the hall less than a kilometre away to the junction of Lynchs Creek Road and Collins Valley Way.
Tenders were called for the removal and re-erection (with additions) of the hall. The successful applicant, with a bid of £131, was responsible for taking cartloads of materials through Lynchs Creek as there was no bridge at the time.
The hall was given new foundations and a new teak floor was laid.
The re-opening was celebrated with a gala day on September 12, 1924.
The hall served the community well for many decades. As the community grew so too did the need for a larger, more modern hall.
In 1961, a plan was made to raise money and seek donations of goods for a new building beside the original hall. The money to build the new hall was raised by the hall committee – the ladies’ auxiliary raised $1200 and there were donations of funds, goods, and time. No other income, such as grants was received.
All timber for the hall was donated and sourced from local farms, felled, hauled and sawn by the Ferris family.
The teak flooring of the hall’s dance floor was cut two years before building began so the teak would be well seasoned before planning and laying to become the immaculate dance floor it still is today.
Workers to build the hall were mostly volunteers from the local community, overseen by qualified tradesmen.
On the first day of building, there were so many volunteers that it was necessary to draw up a roster to allow them to participate and give them time off to look after the demands of their own farms and businesses – cows still needed to be milked.
The volunteers are too many to mention although it included members of the Ferris, McQueen, Green, Moss, Smith, Campbell, McCauliffe, Whittleton, Watkins, Weaver, Buckman, Laarhoven, Scott and Hyde families.
The dimensions of the new hall almost doubled that of the old measuring 18.29 m (60ft) by 12.2 m (40ft) including a stage, supper room, kitchen and indoor men and ladies’ lavatories.
At the completion of the New Hall the Old Hall was sold to a local farmer and the old hall was lifted onto skid logs and dragged by bulldozer ¾ km up Lynchs Creek Road to its destination. It was used as a hayshed for many years until the mid-2000s when it was found to be infested with termites and, after years of service, the Old Hall met its demise when it was burned.
The Grand Opening of the new hall was on February 7, 1969.
Country dances were held almost every month, timed to work in with several other local halls. The dance floor of teak was deemed one of the best in the region.
Several weddings have been held at the hall.
A cyclonic storm hit the Lynchs Creek area in early 1970 and the hall was used to aid soldiers who were training in jungle warfare in the Wiangaree State Forest, now the Border Ranges National Park.
The order to evacuate the troops from the impending cyclone proved to be too late and many of the soldiers found themselves caught between the creek crossings by the rising flood waters. A decision was made by the hall executives to open the hall to allow about 100 personnel to ride out the storm.
Some months later, a delegation from the Australian Army addressed a hall meeting, asking what they could do as a thank you to the community for looking after their troops. A suggestion was made for low-level crossings to be replaced with higher bridges. This was accepted and a new concrete structure, known now as McQueen’s Bridge, was built and opened on December 6, 1971.
Over the last five or more decades, the community has made great use of the hall and further extensions were built to extend the kitchen facilities and add an outside entertaining area in 2002.
The hall has held the community in good stead but now requires a little TLC to carry it forward and keep it operational well into the future.
The hall committee has plans to replace the roof, ceiling linings, insulate the roof space and install ceiling fans, sand and restore the teak flooring, upgrade the existing toilets and add a unisex disabled toilet, provide acoustic panelling to the ceiling and walls, and provide communications and audio-visual equipment. While an application will be made for a grant to receive money to carry out the improvements, there is still a need to raise funds for general outgoings such as insurances, cleaning, repairs, and upgrades through functions such as the Christmas in July celebration, hire of the hall, trivia nights and other events.
The hall committee is currently preparing for the Christmas in July function on Saturday, July 26.
The evening will include food, raffles, an auction, and entertainment. Anyone interested in attending can find out more at the Lynchs Creek Hall Facebook page.
Proceeds from the evening will go towards maintenance and upkeep of the hall and a donation will be made to the Westpac Rescue Helicopter Service.
This history of Lynchs Creek Hall was provided by the hall committee.
