Rebuilding committee begins planning for new Tallarook hall

Media Release | 18 May 2018

With demolition of the iconic Tallarook Mechanics Institute complete this week, the Tallarook community is coming together to prepare plans for a new hall.

Established in 1891, the hall was destroyed by fire earlier this month. The rebuild will be funded largely through insurance.

Thanks to Jaclyn Symes MP, the Victorian Government has also committed up to $200,000 to assist with the rebuild and with replacement of contents. There have also been many offers of assistance and fundraising opportunities made to the Committee of Management.

Following two community meetings, a rebuilding committee is now being established in partnership with Council and the Committee of Management to work on plans for the rebuild.

Mitchell Shire Mayor Rhonda Sanderson said there were many great ideas in the community about the rebuild and the extra funding meant it was possible to consider a range of possibilities.

“Through the recovery committee we’re asking people to think about things such as whether they would like to move the hall slightly to avoid the creek which has caused some flooding problems in the past or whether they’d like to move the location within the site even more,” Cr Sanderson said.

“The hall has a great history of all sorts of community uses over the years and we’d like to know what type of uses people would like to see for the future.

“We’re also looking for ideas and suggestions about the best ways to involve people in developing these plans to ensure as many voices and ideas as possible are considered in the early planning stages.”