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Looking for the perfect central location for your meetings or functions? Then meet centrally in Beautiful Burra at the historic Burra Town Hall. |
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 Exterior of Burra Town Hall  View of stage, from the balcony  View of room and balcony, from the stage  Civic Room |
The Burra Town Hall is suitable for meetings, conferences and weddings and is available for hire at very reasonable rates. Click here to see the magnificent restoration prior to the Grand Re-opening on October 13-15, 2006. There are four different function rooms available 7 days a week, including the auditorium with a capacity to sear 250. Make sure you allow yourself some "free" time whilst you are here, as there is so much to do in Burra! Get the Burra Heritage Passport and embark on the 11 km trail which has been clearly marked out around the town. Take in a round of golf a the 18 hole course at The Burra Golf Club. Sample the local vintage at Thorogoods of Burra, Makers of Fine Apple Wine and Vintage Cider or simply visit the Art Gallery and many antique stores. For those of you who prefer pursuing gastronomic treats, we have something for you too. Homemade Cornish pasties for a quick bite, good old fashioned "pub" meals and Devonshire teas for those who want to relish the country town experience and of course much, much more. Burra has so much to offer visitors that if your partner is fortunate enough to be attending a conference here, you should insist on coming too! We recommend you visit the Burra Visitor Information Centre for useful information on topics such as accommodation and dining, to help you make the most of your stay in Burra.
In the following sections, you will find information on:-
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Location
Size
Capacity
Seating
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Conference Aids
Food Preparation
Miscellaneous Facilities
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| Stage Lighting equipment | |
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The following equipment is available for stage lighting at Burra Town Hall.
After countless hours of frustration and replacing of failed cables the computer controlled 24 way lantern dimmer has found a home along with audio amp and dvd-cd player. |
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Four different sized function rooms available 7 days a week. The rooms are as follows:-
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Auditorium Throughout its rich history, the Auditorium has been used in a multitude of ways; from being the venue for the social after the induction of G. Dane as Masonic Lodge Master in 1912 (Mr George Dane was a well loved music teacher and producer of many musical performances at the Town Hall from the early 1900s) and hosting the Philharmonic Society in the 1920s to being the choice location for any number of movie showings, dinner dances, weddings and other private and business functions. Please refer to the information below so you can determine if the Auditorium is the ideal venue for your next function.
Comments from previous hirers:-
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Supper Room The Supper Room is the optimum choice for mid size functions. The Supper Room contains all of the Historic Burra Collection and photographs hang on every wall. The display was officially opened on December 10, 2005. If you are interested in seeing a sample of the photos on display or finding out more about this exhibition, please click here. Note: The photos can be removed for special occasions if other wall decoration is needed. Please refer to the information below so you can determine if the Supper Room is the perfect spot for your next function.
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 Mary Warnes Room. "Burra Through the Eyes of the Quilters" is proudly displayed above the fireplace. |
Mary Warnes Room This room is named after Mary Warnes, the founder of the Burra Country Women's Association in South Australia in 1926, the first of 300 State branches of the C.W.A.. She was State President from 1929-1941. For more information on Mary and the SA C.W.A., please click here.
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 The Civic Room |
Civic Room The Civic Room has been restored to its former glory.
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 View of Kitchen's preparation space and fridge  :View of Kitchen facing the stove and sinks  Stove and mobile food warmer |
Kitchen
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Listed below are the current hiring fees (10% GST is to be added to all rates). |
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Hire Rates revised as at 21 May, 2009 |
Full Day ($) |
Part Day ($)1 |
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Mary Warnes Room |
60.00 |
30.00 |
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Civic Room |
60.00 |
30.00 |
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Supper Room |
75.00 |
40.00 |
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Main Hall - Meetings etc |
100.00 | 60.00 |
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Main Hall - Dances etc, includes use of facilities: Supper Room and Kitchen |
200.00 | n/a |
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Main Hall - Weddings, includes use of facilities: Supper Room and Kitchen. Available from 9am day before to 5pm day after the event. A deposit of $200 is required. |
400.00 |
n/a |
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Notes 1 Up to 4 hours Additional Information
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We welcome your booking which can be made by contacting: Burra Visitor Centre (08) 8892-2154
Alternatively, please download the Conditions of Hire and Application for Hire and e-mail the completed the forms to Burra Visitor Centre.
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If you wish to have your function at the Burra Town Hall catered, here are some local establishments which offer catering services:-
Commercial Hotel
Kooringa Hotel
The Burra Hospital Auxiliary
Burra & District Dog Obedience Club And just in case you would like to hire round tables, chair back covers and other useful items, contact the local party hire company:-
Mid North Party Hire |
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If you're planning on getting married in Burra, then here is a list of potential places to celebrate your nuptials. Of course whilst you are doing your planning, don't forget to check out the Marriages section of the SA Births, Deaths and Marriages website for information on anything from registering your marriage and to selecting a marriage celebrant. |
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| Religious Ceremony | |
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St Mary's Anglican Church Built in 1879 and includes stained glass windows made by Edwards Brooks, South Australia's first stained glass maker. For more historical information about this church, click here. |
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St Joseph's Catholic Church For more historical information about this church, click here. |
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Burra Uniting Church in Australia For more historical information about this church, click here. |
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St. John's Lutheran Church The church was established on this site in 1967. For more historical information about this church, click here. |
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| Civil Ceremony | |
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Weddings can be held in the gardens by the Burra Creek. Contact the Goyder Council on (08) 8892 0100 for a special events permit and for advice about public liability insurance. There are also a number of private gardens in Burra that are commonly used for weddings. If you are interested in using the Eudunda Gardens (about an hour from Burra), here is a link to the Guidelines for Use of Eudunda Gardens for Weddings / Photographs.
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Once you have decided where to hold your all important function, you need to get there - and of course, have flowers for the all important occasion. The following vendors will do all they can to help satisfy your requirements. |
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Daisy's Vintage & Classic
Cars Vintage and classic chauffeur drive cars for weddings, tours and special occasions. |
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Clare Valley Flowers Clare Valley Flowers is an innovative florist in the heart of the Clare Valley with a dynamic team of floral consultants ready to service the needs of the customer and help complement any day or occasion. |
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This historic building situated in Market Street, and listed in the National Heritage Register, began life as a much more modest building, serving as the Mechanics'' and Miners' Institute, which was opened in 1857. Over the nearly 20 years as the Institute, there were varied accounts as to the level of services offered and patronage from among those it was designed to assist in broadening the mind. Concerned to have a civic centre more worthy of the town, a committee was formed, funds were raised, government assistance secured and with great fanfare and many distinguished guests, the Burra Institute, built on the site of the original Institute, was opened in 1874 with aim of making it:
Indeed the Burra Institute, or Town Hall as it is now called, was the focal point of Burra's community life for the next century. The Civic Room (formerly known as the Chamber Room) was the home of the Corporation of the Town of Burra from the proclamation in 1876 until its amalgamation with the District Council of Burra Burra in 1969.
If you are interested in seeing photos of past and present selected town locations, then visit the Photograph display at the hall. The Town Hall is open for viewing between 11.00am and 3.00pm daily (unless booked for functions).
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History of the Old Kitchen Many banquets and balls were held in this hall before 1926 and there was a need for a kitchen of some sort to cater for these occasions. Almost no information has come to light about the kitchen facilities prior to 1926 other than a note in the local paper the Burra Record in January 1913 stating that gas was extended to the side entrance and to the copper.
Perhaps the largest function to be held in this building was the banquet and presentation of medals to returned men, sponsored by the Burra Cheer-up Society for the returned men of the town and district. This celebration was held on 29th October 1919. Nearly 400 attended. The hall was artistically decorated and all was a great success. More than one sitting was required and guests waited outside under the trees on seating which was supplied. Compared with today’s catering facilities the conditions were primitive indeed and we can but wonder how the organisers coped with such a crowd.
Big changes occurred to this hall in 1926 when the stage was enlarged by demolishing the two dressing rooms at the back of the stage and building dressing rooms at the rear. The fire place on the stage is all that is left of the original dressing rooms. The kitchen was enclosed and a useful passage created.
The Annual General Meeting of the Burra Institute of January 1927 reported the following There is now a side entrance to an enclosed kitchen on the south side and a stairway leading to dressing rooms. The kitchen was enclosed on the south side and extended by a long underground passage, fitted with a table and also a servery through the wall to the supper room. The stage can be screened to serve as a supper room and stage at the same time. The opera Les Cloches de Corneville on 15 & 16 December was the first performance after the alterations.
The report suggests that the previous kitchen was not enclosed and was indeed a very small working space. What a luxury the extension passage and servery would have been.
Oral history records that the local women would spend days at home baking before a big event and on the day would have to trudge up the rough path at the south side of the hall to this kitchen laden with baskets of cakes and savouries. Their home made delights would be arranged on plates and laid out for serving to guests on a long bench in the passage. The window as well as the servery was thrown open, the copper filled and stoked the fire in the stove lit so the oven would be hot enough to warm the savouries brought from home. After the event was over there would have been many able hands available to help with the washing up – no running water in this kitchen. At the conclusion of events the ladies were always thanked for providing a fine supper.
Until 1926 the lodge room may have been used as the supper room. Today this is the room to the left of the southern foyer. It seems quite an inconvenient location. In 1926 the stage was screened to serve as a supper room or stage, this location must have suited the organisers as this little kitchen served the hall for approximately 36 years until the present kitchen was built and the reading room of the library converted to the supper room as we see it today. How times have changed and what time consuming events needed to occur to provide a supper for many at the Burra Institute.
Funds for the 2007 restoration of this old kitchen have been provided by the Goyder Council Heritage Fund with many hours of volunteer labour by Roy. |
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Reference: The First Fifty Years Golden Jubilee History of the South Australian Country Women’s Association
In 1926, Mrs T. R. Bowman, then President of the National Council of Women in South Australia called a meeting of all country Mayoresses and wives of chairmen district councils. The CWA had been established in New South Wales since 1922, and in Queensland since 1923; Victoria had what were then called Women’s Institutes; all these were already demonstrating their value. Mrs Bowman had been asked by the National Council of Women in the eastern states to try to establish a similar movement in South Australia. She did not receive one reply to her invitation. Undaunted, Mrs Bowman invited a number of country women known to her personally, or by reputation to afternoon tea at the Queen Adelaide Club in Adelaide. To them she explained the aims and objects of the association already operating in the eastern state. Those present said they could see what they could do in their towns. The only person who did call a meeting was Mrs I.J. Warnes of Burra. “So we Grow”, the Silver Jubilee publication of the SA CWA, tells of her this way:
Mrs Warnes became the first president, a position that she held for 15 years. Mrs Warnes’ conviction was that the country would be a better place for living, a happier one for its women if they banded together to help one another to broaden their lives by bringing into them fresh interests. The Constitution of the Burra Country Women’s Service Association, adopted in December 1926, stated these aims:
Within days of the formation of the Service Association, a rest room was opened in rent free premise behind the stationery shop of Mr and Mrs. C D Wilkinson, open from 9am to 6 pm on week days, and to noon on Saturdays; available to any women of the district over the age of 18 years. Mary Jane Warnes lived from 1877 to 1959. Photo courtesy of SACWA |
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The Pascoe Collection (Merino Display) can be viewed by visitors to the Town Hall. For more information on the collection please read the following 1925 and 1914 articles taken from the local newspaper of the time. |
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Burra Record April 1, 1925
The fine collection of photos of stud sheep
hanging in Mr R D Pascoe’s hairdressing saloon, have scores of times been
viewed by visitors, both distinguished and otherwise, and highly commented
upon. Seldom has a more interested part visited the saloon than that
arranged by Messrs G.F. Jenkins and W.B. Page, the President and general
Secretary of the Liberal Federation, (On Thursday evening last. The party
comprised the Prime Minister (Hon. (S.M.) and Mrs Bruce, the Mayor and the
Mayoress (Mr and Mrs Maurice Collins), Senators G.W. Foster, R.V. Wilson
and Newland, M.H.R.’s, Messrs G.F. Jenkins, W.B. Page and W.G. Hawkes and
the visit was prior to the meeting. The Prime Minister after a close
inspection said that it was the best collection he had ever seen In fact
he had been told it was the finest in the work. It was also a great
advertisement for the district and an educating to the general public, Mr
Hawkes explained to the visitors the quality of the wool, frame etc.
Senator Wilson presented Mr. R. D. Pascoe with a set of four photos of
Stud rams, (three each from South Australia Victoria, N.S W. and
Tasmania), which have been sent to the Wembly Exhibition to represent the
above states. This magnificent collection representing some of the finest
merino sheep in Australia was started by Mr Pascoe in 1910, Mr L W
Gebhardt being the first contributor. Other well-known breeders of
high-class sheep have followed Mr Gebhard’s example and the collection of
photos is now as stated by the Prime Minister one of the finest to be seen
Burra Record 14 Oct. 1914, page 1 The Pascoe Collection. ... Too much praise cannot be given to the robust type of Merino sheep based on the high open land contiguous to the railway line from Manoora and extending northwards to near Terowie. Sheep from the Burra District are especially noteworthy. Bred as they are, under perfectly natural conditions, neither housed, rugged, nor fed on prepared fodders and sustained only by the indigenous grasses. Thus they are essentially adapted to arid pastoral country. The districts comprised in the area mentioned supply the bulk of the Merino stud rams for Queensland and Western Australia as well as many parts of New South Wales. The African stockowners are large buyers of both stud ewes and rams, and have expressed surprise that South Australia is so generous as to allow them to select from the State’s best Merinos for export to Africa, whilst Africa in return will not reciprocate in the ostrich trade by even an egg. At the present time the question is being debated whether the supremacy of the South Australian Merino can be maintained in the smaller areas (now devoted to pastoral pursuits) since the cutting up of Booborowie, North Booborowie, Gum Creek, Hill River and Bungaree, districts previously noted for ram breeding and now cut into smaller areas and devoted to wheat growing. These districts surrounding the historic town of Burra have for many years been known as ‘the home of the typical Merino’ and with the object of displaying to the many visitors, stockbreeders, and the general public the class of sheep bred on the various stations, Mr R.D. Pascoe, an enterprising and highly respected resident of Kooringa has during the past four years secured the framed photographs of no fewer than 129 different stud sheep. These he has tastefully arranged and hung in his spacious and splendidly lighted hairdressing saloon situated in Commercial St, therein securing a decoration of which he has every reason to feel proud. The collection of pictures has been inspected by many well-known dealers and breeders in the Commonwealth, and has been adjudged by all to be the finest and most valuable in the state. It has also been a source of great convenience to local, Interstate, New Zealand, and South African Buyers. ... The photos which are uniformly framed and mounted range from 7’ x 4’2” to 2’ x 2½’, and were taken by Messrs C.P. Scott, W.B. Page, Edwards & Roach. |
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Dressing up at the Town Hall is fun! You and your family can dress in period costumes at the Burra Town Hall. The Dressing Rooms hold a great range of clothes from fireman's boots and braces, to ladies aprons and shawls and children’s clothes too. Dress up and take your own photographs in front of the mural on the stage. Best of all, IT’S FREE.
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“Mrs Warnes, formerly Miss Mary
Fairbrother of Adelaide, had gone as a very young bride to Koomooloo
Station, east of Burra, outside Goyder’s line of rainfall; a very
isolated spot in the days of horse transport and no telephone. He
sister married her husband’s brother, who lived at Old Koomooloo Station
seven miles distant, and Mrs Warnes would often tell of the pre-arranged
weekly meetings of the sisters. Each would set out from her home on a
bicycle over the bush track, and at half-way point they would sit for a
couple of hours, chat over a cup of tea, and then bicycle home again
their various ways. Apart from infrequent trips into Burra, these
weekly meetings were the only contact Mrs Warnes had with another
woman. It is further recorded that on these infrequent trips to the
town, Mary Warnes would sometimes go into a shop to by a yard of ribbon
she did not need in order to speak to another woman. Years later, the
family moved to the “inside” property of Wahroonga. Now middle-aged,
Mrs Warnes thought a great deal about a means of making the life of the
outback woman less isolated. She felt the women of the town could make
them welcome, as she herself had never been welcomed. She felt country
women should band together for mutual help. Mrs Bowman’s meeting
opened her eyes to what could be done. She heard of the rest rooms
that had been established in other states. This immediately became
a goal: the setting in Burra of a room where country wives could rest
and relax, tend the baby, make a cup of tea, meet and chat with others
on that infrequent trip to town. What a contract it would be in
the common experience of wives and children waiting hours after hour in
a trap, or buggy, or even the spring cart, whilst the husband
completed his business.
