Narrandera Showground Industrial Hall

About

Narrandera Showground Industrial Hall is a heritage-listed showground building at Elizabeth Street, Narrandera, Narrandera Shire, New South Wales, Australia. The design of the building was variously attributed to Ernest Rees Laver or Charles Bundock. It was built in 1902 by Englebert Albert Schuller and Charles Bundock. It is also known as The Dome. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 10 August 2015.

The early development of Narrandera township on the Murrumbidgee River began in the 1860s with the opening of land to selection. The township's early dependence on the unreliable steamboat trade (that was subject to drought and flood) gave way to a new era of development and prosperity with the extension of the railway line from Junee through Narrandera to Hay in 1882 and in 1884 from Narrandera to Jerilderie. The Borough of Narrandera was proclaimed in 1885. By 1901 its population had doubled to reach 2,255.

Narrandera was one of the most progressive towns in the colony. Its wealth derived from its strong pastoral and agricultural base and its location on a railway junction that gave rise to a diverse range of industries that processed agricultural raw materials: timber, wool scours, soap works, flour-mills and meat chilling.

The first pastoral and agricultural show in Narrandera was held in 1882, (the same year that the Sydney Easter Show moved to the Moore Park Showground ). The Sydney Morning Herald of 2 September 1882 described the inaugural Narrandera show as a great success. Following an application to the Minister for Lands, the Narrandera Pastoral and Agricultural Association was granted a site of six ha (15 acres) as a showground. The land was dedicated on 16 March 1883, a further 3.6 ha (nine acres) being added on 14 November 1893, and another four ha (10 acres) on 12 August 1903, making a total of 13.75 ha (34 acres).

The economic depression of the 1890s was followed by drought across eastern Australia. The King Drought of 1895–1903 was the most prolonged since European settlement, its worst year being 1902–03. The Narrandera Argus noted in 1902 that local stock numbers for horses, cattle and sheep had plummeted between 1901 and 1902 and there was concern that the drought would have an adverse impact on the forthcoming 1902 show. The Argus commented: "It must be readily acknowledged that seasons such as the district has passed through must of necessity have a prejudicial effect upon all pastoral and agricultural products. But when it is an accepted fact that of late years those who managed to keep their stock alive are regarded as fortunate, and that few farmers have reaped any produce – even of an inferior quality – it is unreasonable to assume that a show following seven years of drought is properly representative of the fertility of the district". ('Narrandera Argus', January 30, 1902).

Reporting on the 1902 show, the Narrandera Argus claimed that the 20th annual show was "Successful Beyond Anticipation. There was an overall increase in nearly all categories, but most noticeably in the Industrial Arts, where categories included Needle and Fancy Work, Drawing and School Work, Cookery, Painting, Drawing and Photography, and Fruit and Flowers" ('Narrandera Argus', August 1902). The construction of the purpose-built Industrial Hall for the 1902 show arguably assisted in generating the increased number of entries in this category.

Agricultural shows at that time were significant events in the community and special trains were often scheduled to bring visitors from adjacent towns. Narrandera's location on a railway junction and the showground's position within walking distance of the station positioned it well to draw attendance from neighbouring towns as well as the surrounding district. The show was a collective demonstration of a community's ability and played a social, as well as an economic, function. A community that could put on a good show, particularly in the midst of a severe drought, was demonstrating not only its capacity but also its resilience. The purpose of the Industrial Hall was to demonstrate the range of art, craft, domestic skills and school work of the women and children of the district.

Reporting on the 1903 Annual General Meeting of the Narrandera Pastoral and Agricultural Association, the Narrandera Argus noted that the 'improvements on the ground at this time were ring, grandstand, sheep and poultry sheds, fine arts pavilion [presumably the 1902 Industrial Hall], caretaker's cottage, yards and fencing'.

Exhibits were originally displayed on wooden benches. In 1956 the Narrandera builder G. L. (George) Hinchey and his apprenticed son, Ian, built fine, painted timber and glass display cabinets for the Industrial Hall (one, along the eastern wall, is the surviving remnant of the original cabinets). They consisted of a freestanding central cabinet and cabinets lining all the internal walls. They provided a continuous display area with several lift-up glass covers and were used for the display of competition produce such as cakes and jams.

In 1903 it was reported that the "Committee recommend that a new Industrial Hall should be erected (in which class the exhibitions are largely increasing), if the funds of the Association will permit" ('Narrandera Argus', January 30, 1903). Further research of the "Narrandera Argus" up to and including the AGM of January 1904 has revealed no further reference to this second hall. No additional documentary research has been undertaken but it is believed that the second hall was constructed before 1910. Historical photographs show a rectilinear weatherboard and corrugated-iron roofed building abutting the Industrial Hall on the south side. Evidence of this building can also be seen in the Industrial Hall's fabric and in the building's footprint. This second hall was of rougher construction than the 1902 Industrial Hall and was eventually demolished in the 1950s or 1960s.

The designer of the 1902 Narrandera Showground Industrial Hall is disputed. Some oral evidence attributes the building's design to Laver and Schular. Jack Driscoll, the well-regarded local historian advised that the builder of the hall was Charles Bundock. This is also noted on the information board within the Industrial Hall. Builders W. & C. (Charles P.) Bundock were responsible for the construction of many fine buildings in Narrandera including St John's United Church in 1907 (with its copper sheathed spire) and The Star Hotel in 1916.

Ernest Rees Laver was an architect with the Victorian Public Works Department in the 1880s who moved to NSW establishing his practice in Narrandera from 1893 to 1902. Laver was responsible for the design of the Grandstand of Narrandera Showground, built in the same year as the Industrial Hall (but destroyed by fire in 1907) as well as the Nowra Showground Pavilion (1905) and a range of domestic, commercial, religious and public buildings in Narrandera and the surrounding region.

The Industrial Hall is the only building of state significance on the Narrandera Showground site. The 1907 Grandstand (that replaced the 1902 Grandstand) was a cypress pine-framed building with Oregon cladding. It was demolished in the 1970s due to white ant infestation and dry rot. Other buildings on the showground site are of later construction ( c. late 1950s–70s).

The Industrial Hall on Narrandera Showground is an example of the Federation Free Classical style of architecture (a style which dates from c. 1890 to c. 1915) which is characterised by symmetry, classical proportions and absence of detail with a playful quality.

The Narrandera Showground Industrial Hall is a small, single-storey, octagonal, weatherboard building with a bell-curved, domed corrugated iron roof. The building measures 11 m (36 ft) to the top of the dome that was formerly surmounted by a metal, louvred ventilator that was topped with a mini dome and a flagpole (the ventilator, dome and flagpole are now missing). The eaves are supported with curved timber brackets which are set above an external timber cornice.

The building's octagon is not equal sided, but is more in the nature of a square with splayed corners.

The fifteen-pane windows are mounted in the four shorter sides of the octagon, with sill heights 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) from ground level to provide a larger area of uninterrupted internal wall space for display. The windows have lintels 4.7 m (15 ft) high and multi-coloured glass in the upper window panes.

There are two doors, in the east and west longer walls. The eastern door, which appears to be original, is solid timber and comprises two units that slide open on an overhead track. The western door is a newer roller door.

The internal walls are of vertical weatherboards to approximately one metre and then horizontal boards to the wall plate, which is about 4.8 metres (16 ft) above the floor. A series of primary and secondary curved laminated timber ribs support the roof and ceiling, which again is composed of horizontal purlins and vertical tongue and grooved boards. The primary ribs meet at a decayed octagonal timber ring beam, which supported the former vent. There is a spoke of steel cross-ties at top plate level.

A painted timber and glass display cabinet fitted to the eastern wall of the building is the surviving remnant of the cabinets constructed in 1956 that originally lined the walls with a freestanding central cabinet. The missing cabinets were probably removed after 1996 due to white ant infestation.