End for Kurri’s historic hall

It was during the demolition that the old building saw its centennial anniversary, but no one seemed to notice. 

Once it was gone, questions were asked. How old was the building? And when and why was it built? 

On the morning of Tuesday, March 18, 1913, a Maitland surveyor by the name of Foster, began surveying a portion of the Kurri Kurri Post Office Reserve, which military authorities had bought to build a drill hall for the local senior cadets. 

At the time, similar halls were being built all over the state to cater for the military training of cadets. 

About half of the reserve, 12.5 acres on the eastern, or Maitland side,  had been set aside for the purpose. 

The building would have a frontage to the then Cessnock Street, later renamed Lang Street, with an enclosure behind it extending back as far as Barton Street. 

There was some disappointment as the Post Office Reserve was now being used by the authorities, because many local ­residents had hoped to induce the then state government to mark it for building allotments. 

On the other hand, a drill hall was badly needed for the local senior cadets, who at the time were forced to undertake their drill in a public hall of inadequate size.

And there was no better site in the town for a drill hall than the one chosen. 

Except for that portion of the reserve occupied by the post office buildings, the reserve had become seriously overgrown with shrubs – a town eyesore.

O’Malley, the federal minister of state for home affairs, on May 16 placed advertisements in local papers seeking “Tenders for the Erection of a Drill Hall at Kurri Kurri.”  Tenders were to close by June 2.

A couple of months went by and those Kurri Kurri residents interested in defence matters were wondering what had become of the proposed new drill hall. 

It had been several months since the site had been surveyed, and although it was understood that tenders were invited for the work, nothing further had been done on the site. 

A few days later at the beginning of August 1913, the contractor, CH Hutcherson of Newcastle, finally made a start with the preliminary work. 

It was expected that the hall building and ground enclosure would be completed by the end of 1913. 

The building, which was 100 feet by 39 feet, with 17 foot walls, had a frontage to the main Maitland-to-Kurri Kurri road. 

The walls and roofing were built of ­galvanised iron and steel, with a wooden framework, and a steel principal roof, the latter being a new development for this class of building. 

Another feature of the building was the ample ventilation provided by numerous windows and the lantern roof of a new design. 

On the western side of the building were seven officer’s rooms provided, fitted with clothes hooks and other conveniences. 

The floor of the main building was built of thick asphalt to withstand the rough use of marching feet. 

Although the building was of ­galvanised iron, it had substantial concrete foundations, which led to the belief that, at some future time, bricks might replace the original galvanised iron walls. 

The hall, which was to be principally used by the cadets for night drill, was soon lit by electricity supplied by the Stanford Merthyr colliery power house. 

The enclosure, consisting of almost an acre and surrounded by a substantial fence, was to be cleared of bush and would probably be used for cadet parade ­purposes during the day. 

The Kurri Kurri Horticultural Association announced in April 1914 that a failed attempt had been made to secure the use of the King’s Hall on suitable dates to hold their Second Annual Exhibition Show, so they decided to apply to the ­military authorities with a view to ­obtaining the use of the Drill Hall. 

The Drill Hall and grounds were well suited to hold the agricultural show. 

However, in May 1914, the military authorities were hesitant to grant the use of the Drill Hall for the purpose, because they feared that an undesirable precedent would be created thereby, the inference being that other bodies would also want the use of the building. 

Over the next 100 years the Drill Hall served Kurri Kurri in many ways.

In 1919 it was used as an isolation ­hospital during the influenza pandemic; following World War II it was used by the David Jones company as a dress-making factory; and in its final days it was used as a Fish and Tackle Store. 

Now it’s gone and hopefully a medical centre will be built on the old site.