Moving Marrickville Town Hall: A Story of Growth, Trams and Change

Discover how transport, population growth and changing community needs led to the relocation of Marrickville’s historic Town Hall.

By Matt Murphy

The hub of Marrickville is traversed by Marrickville Road — but that was not always the case.

Early Marrickville had its epicentre further north, in the vicinity of Chapel Street. Marrickville’s first public school, established in 1865, is still on that street. 

Every town featured a town hall, which was typically centrally located, and Marrickville was no different. Built in 1879, Marrickville Town Hall originally stood at 96 Illawarra Road, near the junction of Chapel St. The population of the area grew so quickly that a second storey was added to it only four years later.

When trams came to Marrickville in 1881, they ran down Gannon’s Road (later renamed Marrickville Road), and this quickly became the new centre of Marrickville.  

It was after this, in 1893, that the first suggestion was made by Marrickville’s aldermen to relocate the town hall. A motion was put forward to purchase land on Marrickville Road before the village inevitably started to grow and land values escalated, even if a new town hall could not immediately be built. 

Within two years there were more reasons to relocate.  Firstly, the completion of the Bankstown rail line in 1895, with a new station further down Illawarra Road which was named Marrickville (the old Marrickville station being then renamed Sydenham). In the same year a post office was established on Marrickville Road and the area’s first police station was around the corner, closer to the new rail station, in Gladstone Street. 

Arguments against the relocation of Marrickville Town Hall

However, there were many arguments against relocating the town hall. The first was from the area’s ratepayers who insisted that there was nothing wrong with the current one and that it was only the aldermen who believed the building should be more centralised. The second was that the roads and footpaths had been in poor condition for some time and that surely fixing them was a priority. 

Others who lived near the town hall believed there was a conspiracy to relocate it and that their property values would be eroded in favour of those further south, where, they insisted, many of the aldermen resided. As an added incentive, the aldermen noted that Marrickville needed a public library and suggested that the one building could accommodate both. This provided little impetus, and for the time being the notion was shelved, although the council did advertise their desire to find a suitable site in the local press. 

The prospect of relocating the town hall was raised again in 1898, but it received little attention. 

Alternative Locations

By 1903 attitudes towards relocation had shifted. Marrickville was now a fully established and densely populated suburb. Its town hall in a quiet and relatively narrow back street was considered both inaccessible and too small. The aldermen voted on moving it but the motion was defeated. The mayor, Thomas England, lived in the north of Marrickville and as he was keen for the town hall to remain; it is believed he prejudiced the votes of other aldermen. 

Despite this, a site was strongly considered. What is now the site of St Brigid’s Church on the south-west corner of Marrickville and Livingstone Roads was offered to them for £600. Again, the mayor successfully stirred up sufficient opposition to the proposal. 

The issue again came to a head in early 1908. In February, coinciding with the municipal election, a referendum of ratepayers was held over the vexing issue. The results were 774 saying yes to a new centrally located town hall and 661 voting no. Confusingly, 104 people voted informally. However, many of those in favour of the town hall’s relocation were soon dismayed when it became known that the proposed site – the current St Brigids – was no longer available.

The next site considered was the wedge on Marrickville Road between Fletcher Street and Petersham Road, but it was considered too small. It wasn’t until 1912 that the current site of the town hall was purchased. 

It was to be almost another decade until the ribbon was cut. A  competition to design the town hall was held and won, but there was still the issue of how to pay the estimated £9,000 building cost. Again, other council initiatives were considered more important, including the municipality’s first garbage incinerator, which coincidently was also quoted at £9,000. Money also had to be found for promised footpath upgrades. For the time being, the town hall would have to wait. 

The commencement of WWI saw the council’s attention diverted, however, with the war having no end in sight, the issue was again raised with the notion that the new structure could also serve as a memorial to the local men lost in the war. Consequently, the locally famous ‘Winged Victory’ war memorial (originally named ‘Mourning Glory’), which was at the time of construction in 1919 the largest such memorial in Australia, was unveiled. Yet behind it still lay an empty block of land.

Later that year it was finally resolved; after £15,000 was cleared to upgrade the town’s drainage system, £14,000 was set aside for the construction of the town hall. The foundation stone was laid in 1921 and the building was officially opened on 11 February 1922, 29 years after it was first proposed.

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