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Please note the new date for Councils Community Information Session re the Woronora River Flood Study is now Wednesday 10 Dec 3.30-5.30pm at the RSL
The Woronora Community Hall
The Woronora Community Hall
Exactly when the building was constructed is unclear. In Oct 1943 the Hurstville Propeller newspaper noted that Council granted a request from the Life Saving Club to use one of the shelters at PEP as temporary quarters for club members. The request was granted until the matter of a club house was finalised.
Whilst a definitive ‘when’ isn’t of great importance, ‘how’ the Hall came about most certainly is.
In the early 1940s the Woronora Progress Association helped in the raising of funds for the club house. Regular Saturday night dances were held at ‘Ogdens Hall’, a large shed at the rear of Ogdens house in Prices Avenue. Local musicians gave their services free of charge; donated items were raffled and there was a small charge for supper. These very popular and well attended dances were a source of much needed revenue for the building of the proposed club house.
And remember, this is 1940s war time when life was bloody tough, and yet the people of Woronora still had the resolve and the determination to create something for their community!
An old brick shed north of the wooden Woronora traffic bridge was demolished with Councils consent. The bricks were then transported to PEP where they were individually scraped and cleaned by club members and their families. Working bees were established and residents then constructed the club house themselves.
Saturday night dances continued in the new club house, with the money raised being used for improvements to the building and through those war years, many social fund-raising functions were held with the proceeds going to the War Comfort Fund and later for Sutherland Hospital. There were open air concerts, river regattas, Queen of the River competitions, diving competitions and marathon runs from RNP entrance to PEP. The people of Woronora certainly knew how to organise a fundraiser!
In the following decades the clubhouse hosted Life-Saving competition carnivals, with participating clubs including Manly, Bondi and Coogee. Generations of residents from Woronora and the surrounding areas have attended lifesaving training and activities in PEP, developing not only safe water skills but also lifelong friendships, and more.
Times change and the Lifesaving Club has been inactive for several years. However, community activity continues, with the Hall continuing to play an important role. Council has recently agreed to continue to make the Hall available to the public so here's to many more years of gathering at the Hall!
Sources:
Patricia Ridgway, Woronora River Public School Golden Jubilee Commemorative Booklet, 1992.
Doreen Bolton, Woronora, 2000.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/235574240?searchTerm=Woronora%20Lifesaving
A brief history of Woronora River Public School
A brief history of Woronora River Public School
The idea of a public school for Woronora was first raised in 1938. At that time, 27 children, 18 of them infants, walked through the bush along Price's Track, two miles or more to Sutherland School each day. The footbridge across the river was built in 1939/40 and in 1941 an area of 2 & 3/4 acres adjoining Prices Avenue was gazetted for a school.
A portable classroom was placed on the site in 1942 and the school opened in May 1942 with 27 children and 1 teacher, Miss Hamblen. At this time there was no electricity or phone at the school and the toilets were pan toilets set on a clay-filled site on the hillside.
In 1948 Woronora became a full Primary School. An additional classroom was added in 1949 and in 1950 the enrolment was 120 students and 3 teachers.
Many of the pupils came from up the river and a regular school boat service was started in the 1950s.
In 1951 a reserve of 2 acres was added to the school.
In 1953 the number of classrooms was increased to 4 and an office block and a weathershed was added.
Bushfire threatened the school in 1954 & 1968. On both occasions pupils were evacuated across the bridge to the park.
Work on the brick building commenced in 1970 and was finished in 1973. When Prices Circuit was being connected to the sewer line, soil removed from the excavation for sewerage was placed on the very uneven bottom playground, bulldozed to create a level surface and then covered with turf to create a much improved grassy playground.
Sources:
Recollections of Jim Wood, A Woronora Boy, Sutherland Shire Historical Society Bulletin, No. 202, February 2017.
Patricia Ridgway, Woronora River Public School Golden Jubilee Commemorative Booklet, 1992.
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