Cardinia Hall - the very early days

The Cardinia Hall was opened 100 years ago on December 17, 1924. You can read a report here. There was a function held at the hall on November 23, 2024 to celebrate the Centenary, which in spite of the very hot weather, was attended by over 120 people. Some of the locals spoke of their memories of events held at the Hall and the role it played in the local community. I also gave a short talk on the early history of the Hall which is the basis of this post. The original Trustees were Michael Conroy, Alexander Duff, George Benjamin Beazley, Ernest Gordon Mills and Joseph Gordon Lobb, and I have written about them, here.

The Cardinia Hall, taken November 23, 2024 at the Centenary Celebrations.

Image: Heather Arnold

I looked at the three Cardinia Hall files at the Public Records Office of Victoria (PROV) and I paid to have two of the files digitised, and you can look at them online - 

VPRS 242/P0000, C72699 Cardinia Hall Site Correspondence, view it here;  

VPRS 5714/P0000/14893, 496 Cardinia Hall Site Trustees, view it here; 

and VPRS 7882/P0001, 1142 Cardinia Public Hall Building files. 

My other source was Look to the Rising sun: Back to Cardinia 1984 - a history of Cardinia and District, including Rythdale and Pakenham South, by  Eileen Williams and Jewell Beard. (Published by the Back to Cardinia Committee, 1984)

As noted in Look to the Rising Sun the first hall in Cardinia was built about 1880 in Bould Road, the same road where the original Cardinia Primary school operated from 1874 until 1906. The current school opened 1911. The Bould Road Hall  building was used until 1914, when it was sold and this left the town without a hall, and thus in 1921 a public meeting was held with the view to establish a new hall. (1)

What I found from the files at the PROV was that on July 29,1921  Henry Whitmore (2) of Connewarre, Cardinia, Secretary of the Cardinia Hall wrote a letter  to the Public Works Department  - 

Sir, At a representative meeting of the residents of this district, a site on which to erect a hall, offered by C. E. Osborne, Esq. (3) was accepted. Five Trustee for the proposed hall were also appointed at the meeting their names being Mr Conroy, Mr Lobb, Mr A. Duff, Mr E.G. Mills, Mr G. Beazley....... (4)

The first page of Mr Whitmore's letter from July 29, 1921.

 Public Records Office of Victoria VPRS 242/P0000, C72699 Cardinia Hall Site Correspondence

The map that was sent to the Public Works Department  showing the proposed site of the Hall on Mr Osborne's land. 

Public Records Office of Victoria VPRS 242/P0000, C72699 Cardinia Hall Site Correspondence

However on July 6, 1921, a few weeks before Mr Whitmore's  letter, Cardinia farmer, Joseph Lobb had written a letter to the Closer Settlement Board (CSB) asking if they would raise any objection to -

me having a general store opened on a site facing Ballarto Road near the School Ground on Block 71C Homestead Moxon's Land.....or of a site being given for the purpose of erecting a Public Hall or Tennis Court. The position is one of the most suitable for the purpose that can be found in the district..... (5)

The CSB was happy for both a store and or a hall and on August 22, 1921 Joseph wrote again that -

I propose to give a site of 1/3rd or ½ an acre as may be required, adjourning the School Ground on the west and having a frontage of  66ft to Ballarto Road. He also wrote that there would be  a public meeting held on August 26 to discuss the adoption of the proposed site. (6) 

Consequently on August 31, 1921 Mr Whitmore wrote another letter to the Department of Lands and Survey telling them that it had been decided at a public meeting to build the hall on Mr Lobb’s land rather than Mr Osborne’s. Mr Whitmore had also written earlier saying that they wished to apply for moneys from the sale of the old hall. (7)

Joseph Lobb's correspondence with the Close Settlement Board.

Public Records Office of Victoria VPRS 5714/P0000/14893, 496 Cardinia Hall Site Trustees

The map sent to the Department of Lands and Survey showing the 'new' Hall site 

next to the Cardinia School.

Public Records Office of Victoria VPRS 7882/P0001, 1142 Cardinia Public Hall Building files.

The surveyed site of the Cardinia Hall drawn up by J.R. MacDonald April 26, 1924.

Public Records Office of Victoria VPRS 5714/P0000/14893, 496 Cardinia Hall Site Trustees

A year later on August 22, 1922, the hall site of 2 roods was excised from Mr Lobb’s 67 acres and sold to the Trustees for £9/16/6. (8)

Sale of the Hall site to the Trustees in August 1922

Public Records Office of Victoria VPRS 5714/P0000/14893, 496 Cardinia Hall Site Trustees

After the land was acquired the  real work started with fund raising for the new hall and as reported in Look to the Rising Sun, tenders were called in March 1924 for the erection of the hall and Mr Sykes’ tender of £496 was accepted, plus £17 for painting. (9)  The specifications of the Hall were sent to Public Health Department in June 1924 (10) and the Hall was then opened on December 17, 1924, as mentioned before.

The original plan of the Cardinia Hall, in the specifications sent to the Public Health Department, dated June 25, 1924.

Public Records Office of Victoria VPRS 7882/P0001, 1142 Cardinia Public Hall Building files.

The Supper Room was added to the Cardinia Hall in 1927.

Application to erect a supper room at the Cardinia Hall on January 15, 1927.

Public Records Office of Victoria VPRS 7882/P0001, 1142 Cardinia Public Hall Building files.

The Supper Room plan

Public Records Office of Victoria VPRS 7882/P0001, 1142 Cardinia Public Hall Building files.

1927 is where we will leave the Cardinia Hall and 100 years since it first opened in 1924 still plays a role in the  life of the Cardinia community.  To read an account of the opening ceremony from December 17, 1924, click here; to read about the five original Trustees, Michael Conroy, Alexander Duff, George Benjamin Beazley, Ernest Gordon Mills and Joseph Gordon Lobb, click here.

Footnotes

(1) Information in this paragraph from Look to the Rising sun: Back to Cardinia 1984 - a history of Cardinia and District, including Rythdale and Pakenham South, by  Eileen Williams and Jewell Beard. (Published by the Back to Cardinia Committee, 1984) and Vision and Realisation: a centenary history of State Education in Victoria, v. 3, edited by L.J. Blake.  Published by the Education Department of Victoria, 1973.

(2) Henry Francis Whitmore, Connewarre, Cardinia. His entry in the Electoral Rolls said he lived at Dalmore, with his wife Doris Margaret. Doris was the daughter of  Walter Duff (1855 - 1925) and his wife Eva Sharp. Walter was the son of the Reverend Alexander Duff - I have written about the Reverend Alexander Duff at the bottom of this post  https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2021/12/cardinia-tree-plantation-in-honor-of.html and thus Doris was the niece of original Trustee, Alexander Duff.  In 1927, the Electoral Rolls show they were living at Natya, which is east of Ouyen and southwest of Mildura. Henry died in 1959 aged 58 and Doris in 1973, aged 85.

(3) C. E. Osborne - the Shire of Cranbourne Rate Books list Harry and Ernest Osborne owning 423 acres, Allotments 21 to 32, Parish of Koo Wee Rup at Cardinia in 1921. Ernest Charles Osborne, the son of  James and Esther (nee Houston) Osborne died March 25, 1926 and his death notice, see below, notes that he was from Kergunyah, Cardinia, aged 52 and that his death was the result of wounds received during the War. A notice about his estate notes his occupation as a Solicitor. 

Ernest's death notice.

The Argus, March 27, 1926 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3742355 

 Ernest Osborne's bequest

The Argus, October 21, 1926 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3816415

The other owner of the property, would be his brother Harry Houston Osborne, listed in Ernest's will. So the only other mystery is Ernest's War service. Harry served in the Fifth Victorian Mounted Rifles in the Boer War (see here) but I can't see Ernest listed, nor is he listed at the National Archives or the Australian War Memorial. I suspect he may have enlisted in England - there is a Corporal Ernest Charles Osborne listed on Ancestry.com in the UK, World War I Service Medal and Award Rolls, 1914-1920 database, but there is no other information about him. However, in 1917 twenty-five trees were planted at the Cardinia State School, in honor of the boys of this district who have responded nobly to the country's call and one was for Ernest and he is also on the Honor Board. You can read about this here  https://kooweerupswamphistory.blogspot.com/2021/12/cardinia-tree-plantation-in-honor-of.html

(4) Public Records Office of Victoria VPRS 242/P0000, C72699 Cardinia Hall Site Correspondence

(5) Public Records Office of Victoria VPRS 5714/P0000/14893, 496 Cardinia Hall Site Trustees

(6) Ibid

(7) Public Records Office of Victoria VPRS 242/P0000, C72699 Cardinia Hall Site Correspondence

(8) Public Records Office of Victoria VPRS 5714/P0000/14893, 496 Cardinia Hall Site Trustees

(9) Look to the Rising Sun - see footnote 1.

(10) Public Records Office of Victoria VPRS 7882/P0001, 1142 Cardinia Public Hall Building files.