“A mammoth project”: Darlington Hall receives $20,000 funding boost for major revamp

Darlington's 150-year-old hall has hosted movies, meetings and dances for generations, and volunteers are working to ensure it remains a community hub with a $20,000 grant from the Berrybank Wind Farm community benefit fund.

What happened: Corangamite Shire Council approved eight grants at Tuesday's meeting totalling $104,225 after receiving 12 applications. The fund, administered by council on behalf of the wind farm’s Community Engagement Committee, supports projects within 75 kilometres of the development.

• Berrybank Wind Farm, 14km from Lismore, has provided $1.5 million for community infrastructure since 2019, with its $100,000-a-year community grants program beginning in 2022.

A community asset: Darlington Mechanics Institute Hall secretary Trish Wynd told the Brolga the committee had been restoring the historic building since 2023.

🗣️ “It's a major building in our town, so it's the gathering place basically. We do movies, meetings, dances and everything there, so we wanted to keep it going,” she said.

• The latest funding will help pay for recladding, insulation, painting, new doors and windows as part of the hall's extensive restoration.

🗣️ “We have to see it through and just make sure that we're leaving it in good position for the next lot,” Wynd said.

Legacy projects: Councillor Nick Cole said the increasing size of the grants was allowing communities to undertake projects that would benefit towns for decades.

🗣️ “There are some decent amounts of money going out to some community groups to get jobs done," he told the meeting. "Some of these things are becoming legacy projects.”

🗣️ “That hall now, with any luck, should be good for the next 80 or 90 years. It's already been there for about 150 years.”

The full overhaul: Volunteers have already completed major structural works, including restumping, replacing the floor and rebuilding the kitchen after discovering parts of the building had no stumps beneath them.

🗣️ “It's been a mammoth task,” she said.

🗣️ “Our hall has been out of action for three years, so we haven't been able to run our movie nights that normally help pay the bills.”

• Other successful projects included an all-abilities toilet at Lake Bookaar Recreation Reserve, an accessible pathway at the Murnong Indigenous Garden and commercial kitchen equipment for the Skipton Football Netball Club.