Communities commemorated the Great War in various ways - War Memorials, Avenues of Honour, Memorial Gates, Memorial Hospitals and Memorial Halls. This is an account of the Memorial Hall at Lyndhurst, near Dandenong. I have written a short history of Lyndhurst, here.
The South Bourke and Mornington Journal reported on April 25, 1912 the following - At the Cranbourne Council meeting on Saturday, 13th inst., a communication was received from eight residents of Lyndhurst making application for a piece of land as per plan forwarded, at the endof Kirkham's lane, with a frontage to Lyndhurst road, for the purpose of erecting thereon a public hall (1).
A year later the matter was back before the Council again as they were dealing with correspondence from the Lands Department regarding the site of the Hall and at the May 1913 Cranbourne Shire Council meeting the following was reported - From W. H. Peers, shire solicitor, forwarding copy of plan attached to title for allotment 24 and part of allotment 44, Lyndhurst, proposed site for public hall. On the motion of Crs Brunt and Gamble, secretary to write to owners of land re transfer of same (2). Lyndhurst Road is the same road as Dandenong-Hastings Road which is now called the Western Port Highway.
However, the Lyndhurst community had obviously been very confident obtaining the land and thus building a hall as in October 1912, they purchased a piano for the hall at the cost of £40, a price which was considered a bargain according to the report in the South Bourke and Mornington Journal (3).
I presume that work in connection with the erection of the Hall was put on hold due to the First World War as the only reference I can find to the Hall between 1913 and 1920 was in the Koo Wee Rup Sun in July 1918 which reported on a successful dance having been held in the Lyndhurst Hall (4). This report obviously suggests the Hall was opened by 1918, however it doesn't tally with other reports about the Hall. In the 1920s there were reports about fundraising activities for what was now called the Lyndhurst Memorial Hall and these were often held at the Lyndhurst School (5) and a report from November 1920 talks about the site of the the proposed Hall (6). The earliest report that I can find to the Hall being finished, was this one, below, from the Koo Wee Rup Sun of April 7, 1921. I believe the 1918 report is incorrect and that the successful dance was held either in the Lyndhurst School or another Hall.
This brings us to the name of the Hall. Before the War, the hall was referred to as a public hall and it wasn't until, as I said, the 1920s that the Hall was referred to as a Memorial Hall. In the Dandenong Journal of March 21, 1935, the following was reported - The Lyndhurst Memorial Hall was erected in 1922 to do honor to the late Lieut. M. Kirkham and Driver C. Payne, who paid the supreme sacrifice in the Great War (7). Apart from the date being incorrect this is interesting as it is the first mention in the newspapers of the fact that the hall was a memorial to the two men and not all the men who had served from the area, which was more common. There are more than twenty men with a connection to Lyndhurst, who enlisted, and I have written about them here.
Here is more detail on Lieutenant Kirkham and Driver Payne -Kirkham, Malcolm (Service Number 913) Malcolm was 29, and a farmer from Lyndhurst, when he enlisted on June 8, 1915. He was the son of William Edward and Margaret (nee McLellan) Kirkham. Lieutenant Kirkham was Killed in Action in France on September 2, 1918. Malcolm is listed on the Cranbourne Presbyterian Church Honour Roll (8).
Payne, Charles Lyndhurst (Service Number 4801) Charles Lyndhurst Payne was born in Lyndhurst, and presumably named after his place of birth. He was 21 when he enlisted on April 1, 1916 and his guardian was listed as Mrs Margaret Greaves of Picnic Park, Lyndhurst. He Died of Wounds received whilst fighting in France on April 26, 1918. Margaret Greaves (1842-1921) was married to William Greaves and was the daughter of Stephen and Alice Payne, so I presume that Charles was her nephew (9).
The Hall was the centre of social life in Lyndhurst - it was a very active community and many fundraising functions were held - mainly balls. In 1935 it was reported In the month of October, it is estimated that approximately £50 has been raised for church, charitable and local objects, as the result of efforts in the Lyndhurst Memorial Hall (10). They also held many functions during the Second World War to raise funds for the Red Cross. I have created a list of articles on Trove on the Lyndhurst Memorial Hall, which you can access here, and so you can read for yourself the many and varied social activities that the Hall hosted.
However, sadly these events came to an end on the night of January 25, 1944 when the hall was destroyed by fire. The Dandenong Journal of January 26 reported the fire the Lyndhurst Memorial Hall, which possessed one of the best dance floors in the district, was completely destroyed by fire early yesterday morning. Built in 1921 by the residents of the district as a memorial to Lieut. M. Kirkham and Dvr. C. Payne, the hall cost over £700 then and its value was increased to over £1000 by subsequent additions. It was well appointed and was one of the most popular social centres in the district. The night previous to the fire, a successful function had been held in the hall, and it is surmised that the blaze started from a smouldering cigarette butt (11). This was a bit ironic as the Dandenong Journal of September 27, 1934 reported that the Lyndhurst Memorial Hall Social Committee meeting was held on Friday in which Objections were raised to so much smoking being allowed in the hall, and after discussion it was decided to prohibit smoking in the main hall and kitchen; notices to be put up to that effect (12).
The Lyndhurst Social Club still continued to hold functions at other halls, such as Cranbourne and Hampton Park. A public meeting was held in May 1946 where it was decided to build the new hall in brick and the Hall committee already had £1090 in hand for the rebuilding (13). In 1952, the Lyndhurst Progress Association wrote to the Cranbourne Shire for permission to erect a new hall (14). But the new Hall was never built and I don't know why. It certainly wasn't for lack of community spirit. I do not have a photo of the Memorial Hall, so if you have one in your possession I would be interested in seeing them.
A new memorial was unveiled in Lyndhurst on Remembrance Day, November 11, 2017 - it lists just eight soldiers - two from the Great War and six from the Second World War (15) -Lieutenant Malcolm Kirkham
Driver Charles Lyndhurst Payne
Lieutenant Ivor Kenneth Allison
Private Allen John Brereton
Private Raymond George Brereton
Sergeant James Murray Thomson
Flying Officer Eric Hurlstone Renfree
Private Thomas Alfred Wear
The Memorial was funded by the City of Casey and the money that had been collected to rebuild the Lyndhurst Memorial Hall and kept in Trust for over sixty years was also used. I don't understand why they commemorated only two soldiers from the First World War to be honoured as it appears to me that the original hall was initially opened as a memorial hall for all the soldiers in the area, not just Malcolm Kirkham and Charles Payne. I am not suggesting at all that they are unworthy of the honour. Walter James Norquay, born in Lyndhurst on the property where the new memorial is located and Killed in Action is an egregious example of a man who should be on the new memorial, but was ignored. The Memorial is a wasted opportunity to honour all the men from Lyndhurst who served in the Great War and would lead the many new residents in the now suburban Lyndhurst to believe that only two men with connections to the area enlisted, when in fact there were many more (see here). Casey Cardinia Remembers website, has a photograph and some information on this new memorial - see here.
Trove List - I have created a list of articles on Trove on the Lyndhurst Memorial Hall, which you can access here.
Footnotes(1) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, April 25, 1912, see here.
(2) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, June 12, 1913, see here.
(3) South Bourke & Mornington Journal, October 31, 1912, see here.
(4) Koo Wee Rup Sun, July 24, 1918, see here.
(5) See my Trove list for various reports.
(6) South Bourke and Mornington Journal, November 18, 1920, see here.
(7) Dandenong Journal, March 21, 1935, see here.
(8) Malcolm Kirkham - see his Attestation file from the National Archives of Australia, here.
(9) Charles Payne - some of the family information came from 100 years in Skye: 1850-1950 by Dot Morrison (Mornington Peninsula Family History Society, 2004). see his Attestation file from the National Archives of Australia, here.
