By Jillian Durance

JUST about everyone has been to the Kongwak market; if they haven’t, they will know about it.

Sundays in Kongwak and the market is a hive of activity: music, stalls selling everything from curry puffs to plants, from seasonal produce to second hand clothes, coffee and bric-a-brac, Outside, slowly moving cars edge their way along the road, looking for a park as close as possible to the activity. But if you are willing to walk just a few metres further, the best place to park is the area beside the hall.

The hall, maybe not as well known, is the real heart of Kongwak. Run, maintained and nurtured for well over 100 years (if you count the 25 years before the building was moved to its present site in 1924), the Kongwak Hall is one of the most enduring of all the many halls in South Gippsland. 

Extended, repaired, renovated and constantly improved, it has kept pace with the changing times, offering a space for all manner of activities required by a small but thriving community over the years. From private gatherings to larger public events, the hall with its up-to-date facilities has witnessed more than a century of life within its walls.

Wedding receptions and funeral wakes; Australia Day breakfasts and Anzac Day commemorations; fashion parades, end-of-year school prize givings and concerts; entertainers and euchre nights; cheese festivals and information evenings; twenty-firsts and fortieths; parties and fund-raisers of all descriptions: fetes, bazaars, and the place to hold an annual general meeting for the butter factory, or the Red Cross, or a farewell for a family departing the district. For so many and varied occasions the hall was and still is the venue of choice. Not so big that it feels empty with 30, but not so small that 100 is a squeeze.

If old newspaper articles are to be believed, the hall held 300 on several occasions! Always with a ‘record crowd!’, it was renowned for its dances and balls. Transformed for the night with colourful decorations, an exceptional supper provided by the Ladies Auxiliary that often even surpassed itself, the hall was the place to be. Nearly every newspaper account reports on the excellence of the floor, especially prepared for dancing. A box, weighted down by a couple of bricks, with a hessian bag soaked in a mixture of wax and kerosene would be dragged over the timber until the right level of ‘slide’ was achieved for the leather-soled shoes the dancers wore. Only once was it reported to be a little ‘fast’. Dancing often took place after card playing or a concert and lasted well into the early hours. A welcome chance for farmers, factory workers and their womenfolk to socialise, relax and enjoy a bit of excitement. Yes, Kongwak Hall was the place! 

Imagine the press of people, the atmosphere of elation, tinged with sadness, when in May 1946, a large gathering honoured the men and women of the Kongwak district who had served in World War Two. 

‘How very proud they all were’, Mr Alex Pinkerton said, ‘to extend a welcome to men and women who had done so much for their country.’ He made special mention of those who had returned from German prisoner-of-war camps, while many of those present would have in their minds the few who had not survived imprisonment by the Japanese in Burma and Thailand. The honour boards in the hall today recall all the district’s volunteers of two world wars.

A year later in 1947, it hosted a very different ‘welcome home’ for Miss Linda Parker, a well- travelled and then world-famous soprano who had in 1912 been born in Kongwak, but whose exceptional musical gifts, first as a pianist, would take her far from Gippsland’s green rolling hills to the concert halls of Europe and the Sadlers Wells Opera Company. Dame Nellie Melba had once complimented Linda on her strong fingers, little realising that this slight girl with the ability to hit a faultless High C had grown up on a dairy farm in Kongwak hand-milking cows.

If you had been there on that night as part of ‘the biggest crowd that had ever filled the Kongwak Hall’, you would never have forgotten it. Linda’s voice that had so thrilled those far away audiences with its ‘artless sincerity’ worked its magic on that night, especially with her heart-felt rendition of Home Sweet Home. And ‘tears of pride’, reported the Powlett Express,’ welled in the eyes of the old folk who knew Linda as a tot. It was hard to believe they were listening to the little girl with her hair in plaits who rode to school on a pony along the muddy Lance Creek Road. And to think that with all her fame and success she just wanted to come home to give this concert!’ 

‘Pride’ is the word that longtime resident Brian Brown used when I asked him recently about his feelings about his over 50 years of service to the Kongwak Hall Committee, among other community groups. Pride in what the hall has meant to the people of Kongwak over the years and pride in what the committee has been able to achieve in ensuring that the place can continue to provide a great venue for the district’s activities.

The hall committee is a body of no more than a dozen ‘locals’ (both past and present) who meet monthly to discuss maintenance (traditionally done by volunteers), approve bookings, oversee expenses and assess ways to create income. Not the most scintillating way to spend a Monday evening, you might think, but between them committee members have a few hundred years of experience; they know how to run a meeting, and although the members come and go occasionally, the hall committee has been in operation for more than 100 years - without interruption, with minute books to prove it.

And why do they do it? Brian believes that it is the drive to serve, instilled from an early age, from the example of the generation before. Those who have grown up in Kongwak are especially loyal and newcomers will occasionally be inspired to take on the role and join the committee. Though ‘we need a few more young ones,’ Brian says. 

Resilience and the ability to adapt to the needs of changing times ensures the survival of this special place. The committee has recently acquired a generator that will provide power in case of another week-long blackout, and is working toward making the hall a place of refuge in the event of catastrophic events such as storm or bushfire.

Kongwak from way back is one of those small country places that inspire loyalty and service. The Ladies Auxiliary still caters for events and provides food ‘to die for’. 

‘We never stand still,’ Brian says.

Next time you go to the Kongwak market, remember that the hall is a great place to park. As you walk down to the stalls, or on your return, take a look at that simple unassuming building and imagine what those walls might be able to tell you: stories of a 100-plus years of celebration and commemoration, hard slog and triumph. And cast a vote of gratitude to those who keep it all humming along still.