The Malachi Gilmore Hall was listed on the NSW State Heritage Register (SHR) in 2003, being recognised as having particular significance as an outstanding example of Interwar Art Deco architecture in regional NSW, and having high social significance as an historic venue for numerous local balls, dances, civic receptions and anamteur theatricals.

The video below was made by the NSW Heritage grants team, and follows the beginning of our journey reviving of this wonderful community asset.

The Malachi Gilmore Hall was built in 1937 by the Catholic Diocese as a ‘Picture Show and Dance Hall’ to serve the community of Oberon.  The building presents a startlingly bold Rationalist Art Deco design by Agabiti & Millane architects of Sydney.

The Malachi was at the centre of the town’s social life, with balls, variety shows, school concerts, Queen competitions, CWA dances, sports club dinners, not to mention the talkies!

Over 80 years the Malachi has had its champions, from the Gilmore family, who donated the land to the Catholic church; Reverend Dr. Gummer who commissioned the wonderful building; Les Anstiss and Herb David, both film fanatics and master projectionists who showed movies here for many years; Betta Wool Handlers who bought the Hall and restored it in 1987, converting it into a wool store and craft shop; the Friends of the Malachi whose campaign successfully listed the Hall on the State Heritage register in 2003; and the Cobweb Craft volunteers who consistently kept shop for 35 years.

There is a comprehensive entry for the Malachi Gilmore Hall on Wikipedia here.

The Thematic History of the Oberon District, written by Philippa Gemmell-Smith, is also well worth a read.

If you are wondering who Malachi Gilmore was; he was a ‘Fine Irish-Australian’ born in Athenry, Co. Galway, who came to Australia in the 1860s initially to the Bathurst area, and then was a successful businessman in Sydney. His brother Michael owned ‘Royal Oaks’ at Duckmaloi near Oberon, and Malachi visited regularly. Malachi bought the land where the Hall now stands in 1864.  Michael died young, leaving his 13 year-old son to run the farm, and Malachi helped the young man get established.  After Malachi’s death in 1921, his son Joseph followed a family tradition and donated land to the Catholic church in his father’s memory.  There is a moving account of Malachi Gilmore’s funeral in 1921 available here. He is buried in the family vault in Waverley Cemetery, alongside his wife and children, most of whom had variously served as Mayor or Mayoress of Redfern, NSW.

In October 2018 we opened the doors to the Hall once more for a weekend festival of events called the Malachi Revival.  The aim of this Community Heritage project, funded by the NSW Government, was to signal the revival of the Hall as a place for community engagement, and to collect the oral and pictorial history of the Malachi from the local residents of Oberon.

Here are some of your ‘Malachi Memories’ – two-minute short films of Heritage tales, sharing fond memories of the Hall’s colourful past!