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WOODHOUSE-NAREEB SOLDIERS MEMORIAL HALL COMPLEX

Location Bundoran Lane WOODHOUSE, Southern Grampians Shire File Number 832 Level Stage 2 study complete

[1/4] 23428 Nurses Memorial [2/4] 23428 Nurses Memorial [3/4] 23428 Nurses Memorial [4/4] 23428 Nurses Memorial

Statement of Significance

What is significant?
The Woodhouse-Nareeb Memorial Complex is located on Bundoran Lane, Woodhouse. It comprises buildings and sporting facilities, sited together, which developed in response to the surge in population caused by Soldier Settlement after World War Two. Probably built by volunteer labour at a time of serious material shortages, the complex represents a strong sense of determination amongst the soldier settler families. It was opened by Sister Vivian Bullwinkle in 1955. Many of the descendents continue to live in the area. The site comprises a large timber hall, simply designed in the Modernist style, with a distinctive structural form and clad in corrugated iron, a cream brick toilet block, tennis courts, sports oval, Memorial Plantation and Nostalgia Plantation and a small cement sheeting building which was briefly a school sponsored by the Begg family of nearby Nareeb Nareeb. The complex is relatively intact and retains a good degree of integrity.

How is it significant?
The Woodhouse-Nareeb Memorial Complex is of historical, social and architectural significance to the community of Woodhouse-Nareeb, to the Southern Grampians Shire and to the State of Victoria.

Why is it significant?
The Woodhouse-Nareeb Memorial Complex is of historical significance for marking a major chapter in post World War 2 repatriation, commemoration and early posterity. It is of social significance as an example of cooperation for community self-improvement and as a continuing focus for that community. It is of architectural significance as an example of Modernism used to express a faith in the future, especially after a world war.