Council Will Destroy Our Heritage

Some historical facts from the Mid Mountains Historical Society website.


In June 1896, a meeting was held at the residence of Mr. W. Newton that resulted in the formation of a Literary and Debating Society for the Village of Lawson with a membership of eight interested residents and no funds. The first meetings of the new society were held in the old Blue Mountain Inn which had been made available by Mr AW. Wilson. A small library was established and the society began to grow. When Mr. Wilson died a move was made to the 'Coffee Palace' in San Jose Avenue and a 3/4 size billiard table was purchased with assistance from Mr. J.H. Humbly, to attract young men to the society. It proved an instantaneous success and a permanent site was procured for the town through the efforts of the local Progress Committee.

A Mechanics Institution was first established in the Colony of NSW in 1823 under the patronage of the Governor, Sir Richard Bourke and under the direction of a Scottish Minister, Rev. Henry Carmichael. The objects of the institution were similar to those that had been established at the beginning of the 19th century in Scotland and England to provide for the diffusion of useful knowledge, and the awakening of a love of study by means of a library, news and reading rooms, lectures and classes for instruction accessible for the working classes.

From the 1850s, Mechanic's Institutes spread quickly throughout the towns and cities of Australia through Government support in the provision of sites and some financial support. Sir Henry Parkes had had his early education in such an institution in Birmingham and supported the movement in NSW during his time as Premier of the State. By 1880 there were 76 Schools of Arts, Mechanics or Literary Institutes throughout the state offering a wide range of adult education. The Board of Technical education was established in 1883 to oversee adult and technical education and by 1914 was overseen by the Department of Education. Formalisation of technical education in NSW left local Mechanics Institutes free to pursue a wide variety of cultural and social activities within their communities.

In February 1899, Lot 17 of Section 1 of the Village of Lawson was set aside and dedicated as the site for a Mechanics Institute and a small timber building was erected on the site by the fledgling Lawson Literary Society. The move to this building provided additional impetus for the institution, which was a focus for social activity in the village and within a short period a public meeting was held to support the formation of a Mechanic's Institute and the erection of a more imposing structure to house its functions. Fund raising activities proceeded with community functions and entertainments being held in the 'Coffee Palace Hall' in San Jose Avenue.

Why Does This Man Want To Demolish Our Hall

Councillor Van Der Kley is the only ward Two Councillor elected to represent the wishes of the people in this ward who isn't interested in saving OUR hall.
He isn't interested in hearing from the people in this ward about this issue.
He isn't interested in this historical landmark building.
He has voted for demolition.
ASK HIM WHY HE WON'T HELP TO SAVE OUT HALL?

Councillor Van Der Kley
6 Murray Avenue
WENTWORTH FALLS NSW 2782
02 4758 6254 (fax/ph) (w)
02 4757 2376 (fax/ph) (h)
0427 805 810 (mobile)
email: cvanderkley@bmcc.nsw.gov.au

Save Our Hall Vigil

press release for gazette

Just over 100 years ago some residents of Lawson raised the funds and engaged a builder to construct a community hall to be known as The Mechanics Institute. The bricks were re-cycled from the original Blue Mountain Railway Station building and used for the hall, which was opened in 1903.

Many residents of Lawson feel that the hard work and commitment by those people should be honoured by moving the hall, not demolishing it as is apparently the option preferred by The Blue Mountains City Council. It is quite possible to safely re-locate the building back from the highway.

Lawson and the Mid Mountains residents sorely need a hall for performance, meeting and exhibition space. The hall at Mid Mountains Community Centre is quite inadequate as it is shared with the Lawson Public School. It doesn't have decent facilities for performance or exhibitions. As the volunteers at Mid Mountains Neighbourhood Centre will tell you it is so heavily booked most of the time that it is hard get a booking owing to a lack of other facilities.

As many of us remember, the old Mechanics Institute Hall has an excellent stage and backstage space for many purposes. With a little tender loving care it could be brought up to scratch and used by the community again. A building report showed a few years ago that the hall was in good condition. Why then are our councillors not even prepared to consider a feasibility report into having it moved?

The Save Our Hall group of residents are holding a vigil every Sunday from 10.30am to remind Mountains residents and tourists of the value of this excellent facility and also to remind our Councillors of their duty to respond to the wishes of the people.

This hall was built by the people, for the people of Lawson.

Hall Inspection

ACMMR has secured a date to open the Mechanics' Institute for a site inspection for Councillors and the general public. Please consider attending so that you can see inside this wonderful building that Council is recommending for demolition and to show your support for saving it to the Councillors who attend. The fact is the hall can be safely and quickly moved back on the block by specialist stone building movers. Council however is flatly resisting even looking into this practical option.

The Hall will be open on Saturday, 2nd June from 10am to 1pm. For reasons best known to itself Council will ask all who attend to sign a personal indemnity form before entering (we believe that the Hall is not appropriately insured), but it's really worth seeing inside. The Mechanics' Institute is located at 284 GWH at the entrance to Lawson travelling west. Parking is available in Orient Street or the empty block next door.

The Hall was built in 1903 by the Lawson community for the Lawson community. It has served as the place of the first shire Council meeting, a library for those who did not have other means of access to books, a cinema, roller-skating rink, community meeting place, congregation spot for historic marches and events and was the home of the Mid Mountains Youth Centre until two years ago.

The present building has a wonderful stage and curtains, a beautiful ceiling and restored wooden floor. It wouldn't take much to bring it up to scratch again as an arts venue unparalleled in the Mountains.

Please help us to SAVE THE HALL by attending on Saturday June 2nd.

Impassioned Plea of Councillor Pippa McInnes

The impassioned plea of Councillor Pippa McInnes to defer the proposed public exhibition of the newest plan of management for the 1903 Mechanics Institute fell on deaf ears at the last Council meeting. Instead Council voted to place on public exhibition a flawed and biased amended plan of management recommending demolition of the historic hall. Cllr McInnes requested the deferral due to detailed 9 page legal advice being provided to the meeting setting out issues which should be addressed prior to the plan’s exhibition.

Not one of the councillors who voted for the plan to proceed to exhibition gave the public the courtesy of their opinions at the meeting. As Council is the custodian of public assets this is a shameful indictment on the lack of accountability of our elected councillors to state publicly their reasoning for their apparent quest to demolish one of Lawson’s most historic, grand buildings, held in high esteem by previous councils. It does appear that the long term agenda is to demolish the hall and in its place build medium density buildings which, no doubt, would be built on the adjoining large vacant lots of land. Again we can expect another “Leura Spires” development to be built here in Lawson at the expense of irreplaceable history.

It was also revealed that it has been left to a community group to commission and fund the provision of an initial feasibility statement as to whether the hall could be relocated on the land back from the highway widening. The Council, despite previous majority public submissions requesting that the hall be saved, has failed to make any enquiries or issue any tenders to determine the cost and feasibility of moving the hall despite public submissions for Council to consider this option. The general manager said that Council can do this but it has not done so. ACMMR provided Councillors with written statements from reputable structural engineers, Mammoth Movers, stating it is possible to move the `whole' building back on the block without causing structural damage. ACMMR asked Mammoth Movers to inspect the building in April this year following frustration that Council had never bothered to do this despite having had nearly 20 years since the 1988 RTA resumption of the land on which the front portion of the Hall stands. The South Australian company specialises in moving whole masonry buildings and is currently being used by the State Government to move a massive brick signal box in Hornsby.

A spokesperson for ACMMR, Erst Carmichael, commented: "It would only cost Council $3,800 to receive a Mammoth Movers report into the cost of removing the building yet Council won't even go that far. This attitude is appalling to say the least. Why is it so hell bent on demolishing a perfectly sound heritage building when there is a need for more community meeting and recreational space, and a Youth Centre in need of accommodation?"

Residents Have Their Say

Long Time Resident Saddened by Council Decision.
Mrs. Patti Louden now aged 87 has had a very long connection with Lawson going back over seventy years. She has spent most of those years in her home in Sayers Street .


Mrs. Louden was asked how she felt about the prospect of the Mechanics Institute / Community Hall being demolished for the widening of the highway and to share some memories about it.



"Before I married I would often come to dances on Friday nights at the hall during the war years to raise funds for the war effort, we had such a wonderful time. I would leave work at 5.30 pm and travel by steam train on Friday evenings, it usually took about 3 hours to get here then from Sydney.The entrance to the dances cost 1 shilling, and I remember it was always packed out.

The Hall was really the focal point of the community in Lawson and I have many happy memories of various functions, dances, special occasions and so on. The hall was used by many community groups, it was used by the C.W.A. for many years and other groups. I remember it being used for Christmas Carols for some years, it was wonderful.

Of my many happy times at the hall I particularly remember it being used on the weekends as a movie theatre. I remember seeing the film 'Going My Way', there were many others, but i can't recall them now.

I feel very strongly that the hall should somehow be moved and be used again for the whole community as it was intended, after all it belongs to the people of the township. Although it looks small from the highway it is really quite large inside. I remember the enormous kitchen / supper area and attending functions such as the C.W.A. and my daughters attending many school and other functions there as they were growing up.

I feel that we should be keeping the old hall as it has such important historical connections with many people in Lawson. Of course I realise that the highway is in desperate need of being widened but I would like to see the hall retained regardless.

I have no memory of much community consultation over the years regarding what would be done with the hall when the highway eventually is re- built. Maybe there was something in 'The Gazette' over the years but I don't recall much being said about it.

I would feel very sad to see this important building demolished considering the connections it has with so many people over the years."

From the website of the Mid Mountains Historical Society

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Appalled By Council . Raoul O'Brien Lawson.

Like many of us, I am appalled by this Council's attitude in its attempt to destroy a beautiful and historical building that can be readily be saved at a fraction of the cost in building a new community hall.






My points I wish to add are:
Our local youth group could have a permanent home in this building with pride.

Personally, I know several groups including painters, drama players and musicians that would regularly use this building for their exhibits and performances.

In a recent cultural strategy workshop organised by the Blue Mountains Council ( co-ordinated by Janne Yardie ) over several months at considerable cost and attended by various artistic / historical cultures including landscape painters / drama schools / dancers/ musicians / writers / youth bands / jazz groups etc., the main recurring complaint from these groups was that there were not enough halls in the Blue Mountains for their activities.

On this basis, why is the Mechanics Institute not in use at the present time and in the future?

Save this Building.

Raoul O'Brien Lawson

If you would like to share your memories or make a comment about saving our hall please contact Kevin : email here