YARRAWONGA SHIRE HALL

The Yarrawonga Shire Hall, a substantial town hall with a rendered brick two-storey administrative building with a clock tower and adjoining red brick auditorium with a fly tower, designed by Harrison & Glaskin and constructed in 1930. It also includes early interior features and objects integral to the council chamber.  

The Yarrawonga Shire Hall is of historical and architectural significance to the State of Victoria. It satisfies the following criterion for inclusion in the VHR: 

Importance to the course, or pattern, of Victoria’s cultural history.

Importance in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural places and objects

The Yarrawonga Shire Hall is historically significant as a reflection of continued growth and prosperity in towns across Victoria during the interwar years, despite the social and economic repercussions of the First World War and the Great Depression. It also demonstrates changing values in civic planning during the interwar years, which focused on consolidating municipal and community services under the one roof. [Criterion A]

The Yarrawonga Shire Hall is architecturally significant as a fine and highly intact example of an interwar town hall, built to an impressive scale on Belmore Street with highly decorated interior spaces. It exhibits a comparatively diverse combination of municipal and community services in its extant fabric which includes the council chamber with early painted signage and objects integral on the first floor, bio box and winding room, and expansive auditorium with opera pit, raised stage and a fly tower. It also retains many 1930s interior features including painted door signage to rooms on the first floor, elaborate plasterwork, and timber joinery in the public auditorium and first floor spaces, and war related honour boards. [Criterion D]