By Jenel Hunt
A recommendation to remove the old Allora Fire Building to free up ground needed for septic space requirements came under fire at the Southern Downs Regional Council meeting on 17 January.
In front of a gallery of interested Allora people, the council watered down the proposal to a recommendation that the council consider the removal of the building only after further consultation.
Councillor Sheryl Windle was the principal dissenter over the building’s removal and other councillors quickly came on board.
Cr Andrew Gale had already asked for a motion to further investigate upgrades to the Allora Community Hall, which is slated for works to bring it up to safety standards so it can once again be used by the community.
“Overwhelmingly, my takeaway [from a recent community survey] is that the community hall is the most important thing in Allora,” he said.
But Cr Windle had the old fire brigade building front and centre of mind.
“I can’t agree to the removal of the fire brigade. If this building is completely destroyed, we will never get it back. And I believe there will be an uproar. I want the council to do further work in regard to a solution for the issues.”
Cr Jo McNally suggested that the whole building might not need to be saved.
“As long as it’s preserved in some way, the building in its entirely doesn’t have to be preserved,” she said, and reminded councillors that there were a lot of public buildings in the town to be maintained.
Cr Ross Bartley said keeping something of the building might mean saving the façade or one of a number of other options.
“In the words of one of your [the Mayor’s] predecessors, you never really miss it until it’s gone. Ron Bellingham said that and I have some respect for those words,” he said.
The council will now undertake consultation with the Allora community in relation to the preservation of the history of the building.
With information collated from the Have Your Say Allora Community Halls and Precinct Survey, councillors also voted to approve, in principle, the expansion of the Allora Sports Museum into the area occupied by the current Allora Library and Customer Service Centre, the relocation of the library to the former Allora Senior Citizens building and to note a recent offer of the Allora Regional Sports Museum to fund an expansion of the museum.
Survey responses
The Allora Community Hall and Precincts Survey, which was run late last year, received more than 250 responses¬¬ from the community of approximately 1250 people, and the Allora Community Hall received the biggest tick of approval.
The survey found that only 8 per cent of the respondents thought investing in the hall was of no importance, while 83 per cent assigned it as very important or extremely important.
Nearly 69 per cent of respondents thought the Senior Citizens Building would be suitable for use as the Allora Library.
More than half thought the museum was very important to the community, with only 26 per cent responding that it was not at all important. About 65 per cent wanted the Allora Sports Museum to expand.
The old fire shed had a 61 per cent vote of ‘not at all important’ among the 186 responses to that question. Comments about the original fire station ranged from the belief that it was a sound building that was part of the community’s history to mentioning the problem of asbestos in a 70-year-old building. Other comments were also made within the survey responses.
“I have lived in the area for 20 years and in that time the old Fire Shed has provided a venue for different businesses and organisations. It doesn’t appear to hold a significant place in Allora’s history,” said one respondent.
“I think it’s a shame it can’t be repurposed, eg, women’s shed, art studio and community shop and the septic issues are sorted out differently,” said another.
“It is our original fire station. It could be used as a meeting place instead of the senior citizens building,” said a third.
