Lakes Entrance Mechanics Hall is overlooked as a community needed asset until it is urgently needed, such as during the bushfires in 2019-2020, when hundreds of people flocked there seeking refuge and reassurance.
The first Mechanics Hall was built in 1907, on land donated to the community by local businessman George Carpenter in memory of his father John Carpenter, who was the original contractor for the construction of the artificial entrance that gives the town its name.
As a community hub, the hall has had many purposes over the past hundred years. It has been used to show movies, hold sporting events, stage theatrical productions, hold meetings, conferences, formal dinners, parties, dances, weddings and funerals.
Before other services were established, in the early years the hall was used for official functions including a public dental clinic, blood bank and a mobile chest x-ray clinic. And of course, it still regularly becomes a polling place during State and Federal elections.
Through all this time, the hall has been managed by a committee comprised of members of the community, which has organised bookings and collected the fees, while ensuring maintenance of the building has been carried out in a timely manner.
IMAGE: The current Lakes Entrance Mechanics Hall
