Community & Business
2 July, 2022
Save Herberton hall petition delivered
A PETITION calling for the Herberton Town Hall to be retained has been presented to Tablelands Regional Council which has listed the old building for potential disposal.
The town hall is one of 17 community facilities the council has put forward for officers to investigate, with a view to assessing them for potential disposal.
The petition, signed by more than 300 people, expresses “heartfelt concern for the ongoing preservation of the historic aspects of the town of Herberton, in particular of its architecture”.
“This town is, we believe, of great historical significance, with a history going back to the 19th century.
It is in many ways quite unique and of interest to the wider community, including tourists,” the petition reads.
“In a time of the pressures for modernisation, the loss of any of this town’s significant and historic structures would indeed be extremely regrettable.
“With this in mind, we wish to bring to the Council’s particular attention the great importance and fine structure of the old town hall in the main street of Herberton.
“This is a truly wonderful building, fine looking, well built with great timber work and an icon in the centre of the town.
“We insist on its preservation in any event. We will strongly oppose any attempt to get rid of it or damage it in any way.”
Last week, resident Graham Nicholson and Stefanie Braun presented the petition to Mayor Rod Marti and Cr Annette Haydon.
“We received a very good hearing from the council and a promise of further community consultation before any decisions were made,” Mr Nicholson said.
“Council made the point that if such important facilities were to be preserved that must be shown to be actively used by the community.
We outlined the wide range of uses already existing and this was noted.”
Other buildings on the list include Malanda’s Majestic Theatre, the Mt Garnet Town Hall, Millaa Millaa RSL Hall, Atherton Performing Arts Theatre building, and the Ravenshoe RSL building.
Council has assured residents that community consultation will take place before any final decision on what to do with the buildings is made.
