The grand Dandenong Town Hall has stood 135 years as the town’s elegant epicentre for civic life, deb balls and the arts.
To capture the hall’s role in community life, residents are invited to submit their photo memories for an upcoming exhibition The Place To Be – Dandenong Town Hall.
Exhibition curator Rhonda Diffey says the decades of debutante, mayoral, hospital and celebratory balls, grand dances and other milestone events are a key part.
“We want to put a call out to the public. If they have memories or photos that they have to share, we’ d love to show their stories.”
This will complement already a rich oral history and photo collection from City of Greater Dandenong’s archives that show how the hall remains a “place to be” since its construction in 1890 and its “magnificent transformation” to The Drum theatre in 2006.
“It was always a building for the community,” Diffey says.
Diffey marvels at how the hall was utilized as a social hub last century, with a revolving schedule of functions bumped in and out on the weekends.
After Friday night balls, seats were moved in for movie matinees on Saturday afternoons. And then moved out for the Saturday night dances.
Debutante balls peaked in the 1940s-60s, with an annual Belle of Belles ball dance selecting the best of the “belles of the balls”.
Cabaret balls evolved, filling the expansive dance floor with tables and chairs. This in turn led to a cut in deb balls.
It was also where Dandenong gathered while “under stress” such as a refuge during floods and bushfires, or a vaccine station during a polio epidemic, Diffey says.
Soldiers in world wars were farewelled and welcomed home at the landmark.
In the 1880s, the birth of the town hall was “contentious”, replacing the Mechanics Institute – a cramped single-storey building for the town’s library and council offices.
At the then-princely sum of £12,000 – including £4,500 from the State Government – many said it would be a “white elephant”, Diffey said.
Further, the institute refused to give up the site until a compromise was reached. The institute handed over the site in exchange for accommodating its public library inside the hall.
“Fortunately for Dandenong, (politician) John Keys had the foresight and great character to see the future.”
Designed by renowned architect John Beswicke, the hall was built in just eight months. “They were laying 10,000 bricks a day,” Diffey says.
It became known as “the old grand lady of Dandenong”, which was reoriented from north-south to east-west in the 1930s.The Place To Be exhibition includes a site in Benga House at Heritage Hill, which will look deep into the hall’s 19th and 20th century history.
A complementary exhibition will also grace The Drum – which is set to celebrate 20 years. A short film is in train on the award-winning Drum’s design process.
“There is a lot of respect for the Town Hall in the Drum design and it has also become a landmark in itself.
“People often say let’s meet outside The Drum.
“The word Drum is a lovely name chosen from a community survey because it looks like a drum. Drum is so simple to remember. It resonates with people.”
The Drum theatre upgrade kept the site relevant and beautiful for decades, Diffey says.
Photo and story submissions close on 13 September. Send them to Greater Dandenong Council’s heritage team at culturalheritage@cgd.vic.gov.au
