Tallong Memorial HallPrint Page

The Memorial Hall commemorates those who served in World War One. The foundation stone of the hall was laid on the 13th December 1919 and the hall was opened in May 1920. 

The old building which has for so long been used in Tallong for public meetings and other gatherings has been pulled down, and in its place a reinforced concrete structure is to be erected, which will be a memorial to the soldiers of the district, also a permanent reminder of the patriotic work of the residents of the district during the war period. The new hall will be 30 feet by 60 feet, with a banquet room underneath. It is being built by local men, and all the material used will be local. The foundation stone was laid on Saturday by Mr. J. J. Hoare, sen., who is 81 years of age and the oldest resident of the district. Mr. Hoare gave an appropriate address. He returned thanks for the honour conferred upon him, and said he hoped to see the hall completed. He spoke of the bravery of the men who had gone from the district to fight for freedom and civilisatlon, and expressed his sympathy with those parents whose loved ones had paid the supreme sacrifice.
Goulburn Evening Penny Post (NSW), 18 December 1919.

Friday was the biggest day in the history of Tallong—a day to be marked in red letters in every future calendar. Friday saw the coping, as it were placed on the remarkable edifice of practical patriotism that was erected during the war. With due ceremony, and in the presence of more people fine memorial hall and tablet to the soldiers of the little town were unveiled, and the celebration of this "biggest event" went far into the night. Tallong was proud! Why not? It has a population of about 200. Every man in the place was either a soldier or rejected volunteer; over £2000 was subscribed to patriotic funds; and now there is a standing memorial to the valor of the soldiers of the township valued at £1000. It is a well-built edifice of concrete, with an iron roof and an excellent floor sixty feet long and thirty feet wide. Beneath the stage is a meeting-room thirty feet by twelve. Practically every part of the building was the result of voluntary labour. A building committee consisting of Messrs J. W. Hatter (president), J. G. Hoare, A. Morris (joint treasurers), F. Gardiner (secretary). R. Tickner, R. Ketttle, R. Clount, P. Godfrey, and A. Casburn, took up the project some considerable time ago, working tirelessly towards the magnificent end that was attained on Friday. Mr. A. E. Waters supervised the erection, all his workmen drawing exactly nothing per hour in wages. The value of the voluntary labour was certainly worth £300. Two hundred pounds was obtained by donations, and the sale of the old hall towards the cost of the materials; and there is still £500 owing. On the front of the hall, above the door, is a white marble tablet faced with Bundanoon stone, bearing the Tallong enlistments. The same names are inscribed in letters of gold on an honour board of polished maple, presented to the town  in the early part of the war by Mr. and Mrs. H. P. Davenport, hung in inside the hall.  

The hall was opened at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Mr. J. W. Hatter, chairman of the hall, introducing Sir George Fuller mentioned that when "our boys" enlisted from Tallong, as far back as 1914, and sailed across the seas ready and willing to sacrifice their lives if need be, bear cruel wounds, or come back shattered in health, "we, of Tallong, promised them that a memorial to their memory would be erected by those who could not go."  Various ideas were forthcoming, and eventually it was decided to erect a memorial hall in honour of our heroes so that the generations yet to come would see what had been done by their forefathers in honour and memory of the men who had sacrificed so much to keep our country free from a tyrannical enemy. Someone had said that the hall would last 600 years. He believed it would. Mr. Hatter then asked Sir George Fuller, on behalf of the residents of the district, to unveil the memorial tablet and open the memorial hall. 
Scrutineer and Berrima District Press (NSW), 19 May 1920.  

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