Hall is a town in the district of

Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and the Early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gre ...

, in the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is situated on the north side of the Australian Capital Territory. At the , the village had a population of 298 people. It is surrounded by open country and has a rural appearance. Hall has retained a village character. The town features historic buildings that existed before the establishment of Canberra.

History

The area that is now known as Hall lies on the traditional lands of the

Ngunnawal The Ngunnawal people, also spelt Ngunawal, are an Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal people of southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. Language Ngunnawal–Gundungurra language, Ngunnawal and Gundungurr ...

people. In 1826, George Palmer established his ''Palmerville'' estate in Ginninginderry, with a homestead located on the banks of Ginninderra Creek, adjacent to the present-day suburb of Giralang. The estate encompassed much of what is now

Belconnen Belconnen () is a Lands administrative divisions of Australia#Australian Capital Territory, district in the Australian Capital Territory in Australia. The district is subdivided into 27 divisions (suburbs), sections and blocks. As at the , the ...

and southern Gungahlin. It adjoined the Charnwood estate to the west and Yarralumla estate to the east. The combined area of the Ginninderra and Charnwood properties was nearly . By 1861, a store, post office, cottages and homestead had been set up on a property owned by William Davis at Ginninderra, about 3 km south of Hall. This settlement was known by residents as Ginninderra village. In 1881, the

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Government surveyed the area for an official village and chose a site on Halls Creek. The new village, called Ginninderra, was officially proclaimed in 1882, but following protests from local residents, was renamed Hall, in honour of Henry Hall, the first landholder in the area. The village was planned on a rectangular grid, and the first sale of land occurred in 1886. In 1911, the Australian Capital Territory was gazetted and Hall lay within the boundary of the land allocated, near the new border with New South Wales. Hall had been one of the sites considered for a capital city, within the 'Yass-Canberra' district. However, following a survey of the various sites, by Charles Scrivener, in 1909, Canberra was selected as the site for the new national capital city. Hall did not grow because, compared with the growing city of Canberra, it had few amenities. For example, it was not provided with town water until 1967. In 1954, the main street of Hall (which had been part of the state highway system since 1935) was named the Barton Highway. In 1980, the highway alignment was shifted to the west as part of a dual-carriage upgrade, bypassing Hall completely, and the former section of the Barton Highway through Hall was renamed Victoria Street.

Churches and Schools

St. Francis Xavier's Catholic Church is located on 220 Victoria Street, Hall. It is one of the oldest churches in the Canberra region and was built in 1910 with the help of the Catholic Community of Hall. There is also an Anglican Church, St Michael and All Angels. Hall had a

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

, from 1911 to 2006; part of it is now a school museum, opened in 2005, and part is used as a pre-school.

Features and Attractions

Some features of note within Hall village are: * Hall Pavilion and Showground. The showground area plays host to the Hall Markets, a popular monthly charity market showcasing hand-produced goods. * Equestrian park and polocrosse grounds * The National Sheep Dog Trial Championship, held each year at the showground * The Hall Bushrangers Rugby Football Club, est. 1991 * Hall Premier Store and Post Office * Hall ACT Rural Fire Service brigade * Numerous historic buildings and cottages, including ''Cooee'' (1900), ''Glenowa'' (1900), ''Winarlia'' (1901) and ''Ottocliffe'' (1907). * St. Francis Xavier's Catholic Church *St. Michael & All Angels' Anglican Church * Memorial Avenue of trees * Hall School Museum and Heritage Centre, located in the former Hall Primary School * The

Rotary Club Rotary International is one of the largest Service club, service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, go ...

of Hall, a rural-focused Rotary Club that runs the Capital Region Farmers Market as a community service project, with the aim of helping to increase agri-business opportunities in the region.

Geology

In the Hall area, the rocks volcanic, and date from the

Silurian The Silurian ( ) is a geologic period and system spanning 23.5 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, Mya. The Silurian is the third and shortest period of t ...

age. Green-grey and purple quartz

andesite Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomina ...

and

dacite Dacite () is a volcanic rock formed by rapid solidification of lava that is high in silica and low in alkali metal oxides. It has a fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic texture and is intermediate in composition between andesite and rhyolite. ...

from the Hawkins Volcanics lie under the village and extend up the Halls Creek valley. Green-grey dacite and quartz andesite from the Hawkins Volcanics cover the surrounding areas, up to the New South Wales border, north to One Tree Hill, south-east to the Harcourt Hill and south to the north edge of Belconnen. Dark grey to green grey dacitic tuff is found over the New South Wales border, and also within the Australian Capital Territory near Gooromon Ponds Creek.

References

External links