It was celebrations all round on the weekend, when residents and committee members officially reopened the Carrajung Hall after extensive renovations.
The committee has spent six years on the project to turn the neglected and unusable, historic Catholic Church into a beautifully refreshed community hall that honours its origins and provides a valuable community resource for Carrajung.
The Hall now has two accessible composting toilets, a new kitchen, access ramps, new wiring, insulation, flooring and exterior cladding, and everything is freshly painted. The LVA provided funding.
"We decided to do it properly, and get the whole job done,” CCG president, Narelle Lucas, said.
Originally built in 1939 from locally milled timber, the Carrajung Catholic Church was a rare find in the Gippsland hills. And the first wedding held in the building saw twin sisters marry twin brothers.
Plenty more stories were told as community members admired the old timbers from the exterior walls that have been used to create a feature wall inside, and the confession box, which has been left in place as a feature and historical reminder of the building’s origins.
LVA Grants Manager Laurie Paton congratulated the Committee, volunteers and everyone involved in the project on a fantastic job, and said he looked forward to seeing the refreshed Hall being put to great use for community events.
“The LVA is proud to support projects like this one, that truly bring communities together and add real value to our region.”
With its new lease on life, the Carrajung Hall will be at the heart of many more events, stories and memories to come.