The Quorn Town Hall is a heritage-listed former

town hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

at 20 Railway Terrace,

Quorn, South Australia Quorn is a small town and railhead in the Flinders Ranges in the north of South Australia, northeast of Port Augusta. At the , the locality had a population of 1,230, of which 1,131 lived in its town centre. Quorn is the home of the Flinders R ...

. It was added to the South Australian Heritage Register on 12 January 1984; it is also listed on the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Heritag ...

. It was built by the

Corporate Town of Quorn The Corporate Town of Quorn was a local government area in South Australia from 1883 to 1969, centred on the town of Quorn. It was incorporated on 25 October 1883, prior to the 1888 establishment of the rural District Council of Kanyaka, which ...

in 1891 to a design of

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

architect F. W. Dancker, and erected by Port Augusta contractors Moran Bros. The hall had dimensions of 68 ft by 40 ft, and 20 ft high. The foundation stone was laid on 7 February that year by the wife of mayor Richard Foster; at that time, it had cost £854 10s., and was expected to run to £1,000 for the building itself, with another £350 to fit out and furnish the hall. An

acetylene Acetylene (systematic name: ethyne) is the chemical compound with the formula and structure . It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is unstable in its pure ...

gas lighting system was installed in 1904. In that year, the building contained the main hall, an office shared between the Quorn council and the

District Council of Kanyaka The District Council of Kanyaka was a local government area in South Australia that existed from 1888 to 1969. History The council was established on 5 January 1888 under the provisions of the ''District Councils Act 1887''. On creation, the co ...

, a public reading room and library, and a room for the Institute Committee. By 1910, concerns were being raised about the hall being inadequate for the needs of the town, as it repeatedly proved too small for events held there. Councillor Hudson, in that year, stated that "the lodge room was not large enough to swing a cat in, the institute was too small, as was also the stage and body of the hall, they had no room for holding small meetings in, and the lack of dressing rooms made Quorn a laughing-stock to more up-to-date towns". The council struggled at the time to find the funds for necessary extensions, while acknowledging their necessity. A cinema was conducted in the hall in the years prior to World War II. Both councils vacated the building by the 1950s, the Quorn council building a new chamber in Seventh Street (the modern

Flinders Ranges Council Flinders Ranges Council is a local government area (LGA) located in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia. The LGA is approximately 100 km from north to south, and 45 km from east to west, with a total area of 4,198 square kilometres ...

building) in 1953, and the Kanyaka council converting a house in Eighth Street for their office; however, it remained in use as a community hall. Several additions were made during the twentieth century, and the building was remodelled in 1978, with the stage removed to enlarge the hall. In 2016, it continues in use as a hall, and houses a bar in the former ladies' rest room, council archives in the former library reading room, and a supper room in the former council offices.

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{{commons category-inline Town halls in South Australia Government buildings completed in 1891 South Australian Heritage Register