\n The Murrah Hall is a volunteer-run community hall administered by the\n Murrah Hall Preservation Association Inc. on behalf of the Bega Valley\n Shire Council and is one of the many{\" \"}\n
\n Contact
\n © 2025 Murrah Hall Preservation Association Inc.\n
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Supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.
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\n The Hall is situated approximately 20 mins drive South of Bermagui\n and approximately 25 mins north of Tathra.\n
\n2989 Tathra-Bermagui Rd, Murrah NSW 2546
\n\n \n Professional Hirers must show evidence of their own Public\n Liability Insurance before hire date is confirmed.\n \n
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\n There are various ways in which you can contribute to maintaining the\n Murrah Hall as a lively local all age hotspot beloved by generations.\n
\n\n\n Pic by Jimmy Zero\n
\n\n This is a valuable contribution to the Hall – and it is fun,\n which is why we do it. \n
\n\n\n You don’t have to be a Committee member to volunteer, and the\n extent of your participation is always appreciated whether it’s\n an hour, a day, an evening (or part thereof) for catering, serving, or\n a working bee.\n
\n\n\n Generally, volunteers receive free entry to the event for which they\n are volunteering and a serving of curry. Working bees are\n usually catered.\n
\n\n\n All volunteers at the Murrah Hall are covered by 3rd party insurance.\n
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Send us your contact details via
\n Attend an event and talk to the other volunteers there - leave your\n contact details.\n
\n\n Or let us know via{\" \"}\n
\n Typically this involves donating a cake, slices, biscuits, snacks,\n sweet or savoury, to be sold at the Hall music events. This is\n our main fundraising activity and also part of our ‘duty of\n care’ for our audiences.\n
\n\n\n The Murrah can reimburse you for the cost of materials and can collect\n the goodies from you in the event that you can’t make it to the\n Hall.\n
\n\n\n Also, we are always looking for new signature dishes of amazing\n wholesomeness, like our Murrah curries, for serving to large numbers.\n Do you have a suitable recipe or suggestion?\n
\n\n\n This involves serving curries to the audience and artists during the\n Hall music events, taking payments, keeping an eye on the cash box,\n and may include kitchen, sink and clean up duties.\n
\n\n\n Periodically the Murrah has working bees to clean and organise,\n restore and preserve our Hall and surrounds.\n
\n\n\n Would you be prepared to help promote Murrah Hall events? Hang\n posters? Join the Murrah email forum, share on Facebook, or on your\n own forums? We’d be grateful – and so are the\n artists.\n
\n\n\n If you have technical skills in sound and lighting for music and\n theatre events, the Murrah needs you. And if you don’t,\n but are interested in acquiring these skills, then check out the list\n below let us know where you think you could contribute.\n
\n\nUpcoming workshops include:
\n\n\n Interested in hosting or billeting visiting artists? This\n involves accommodating 1-6 artists for one night. Catering is\n minimal as the Murrah provides a meal for the artists at the event.\n
\n\n\n Apart from the donation of valuable volunteer time, the Hall Committee\n is always interested in suitable donations. Our needs are many and\n varied ranging from items for specific projects to\n ‘loaners’ for theatre productions. These items are usually\n specifically requested on the Murrah email forum, and our storage\n space is limited, but do let the committee know if you have something\n in your garage that would be of service to the Hall.\n
\n\n And of course we are always grateful for monetary donations or fund\n raising for the direct benefit of the Hall.{\" \"}\n
\n\n \n The Murrah Hall is a Bega Valley Shire Council owned community hall,\n staffed and run by a committee of volunteers.\n \n
\n\n Mary McLean, Bookings Officer\n
\n Ph: (02) 6494 0259\n
\n Email:
\n Post: Murrah Hall Committee\n
\n PO Box 191\n
\n Bermagui, NSW, 2546\n
\n All intending professional hirers must provide evidence of their 3rd\n Party insurance.\n
\n\n Hall Hire: To secure the hall for your event we\n require upon completion of BVSC hall hire agreement, full payment of\n hall hire fees (plus GST) off an issued BVSC invoice, at least two\n weeks prior to the booking date. Murrah Booking Officer to supply\n details.\n
\n\n Hall fees and charges: to be paid directly to Murrah\n Hall committee.\n
\n In the case of a cancelled event due to unforeseen circumstances, BVSC\n will retain the full hall hire fee. Event entry price must not exceed\n $40 per person as per Bega Valley Shire Council's (BVSC) licence with\n One Music.\n\n Capacity. Indoors seated audience numbers are between 85 (seats) - 120 (inc.\n side benches). Dance music events have chairs located between Hall and\n the outside Cantina for a circulating audience of up to 250.\n
\nMusic events at the Hall are ‘all ages and inclusive’.
\n\n The Committee encourages free admission for children under 16 y.o. and\n a HCC concession policy where possible.\n
\nAll door takings revert to the hirer.
\nThe Murrah Hall has no liquor licence.
\n\n Please note\n
\n The equipment is not a fixed in-house system.\n
\n It’s portable, requiring a supervised set up and pack up - hence these\n rates.\n
By Howard Stanley
\n\n \n We acknowledge Aboriginal people of the Yuin Nation as the\n traditional custodians of the land on which we work and live and pay\n our respect to Elders both past and present.\n \n
\n\n Built in 1903 on land donated to the community by the Gowing family\n the Murrah Hall was, initially, both a school and a community hall\n serving several adjoining localities. After the school closed,\n the Hall remained empty until the early 1970’s.\n
\n\n This current incarnation of the Hall began with chicken wire over the\n windows, road dust and rat poo covering the floor. A group of recently\n arrived people from Melbourne and Sydney saw it as, potentially, an\n ideal place to rehearse plays. The group included Director Wendy\n Blay, later Tucker, Georgie Adamson, Bruce Angus and Arthur Gately.\n Georgie, Bruce and in the mid 90’s, Arthur, all served as\n Presidents of the Hall.\n
\n\n In wanting to attract more locals to their cultural activities, as\n well as help in beginning to restore the Hall, one of the passing\n locals offered to Bruce the following advice:
\n \n “Just paint the roof red, mate. That’ll get ’em interested, paint the roof red.”\n {\" \"}\n So they did.\n
\n In the 1980’s and 90’s, the then President John McViety,\n oversaw a musical and building reconstruction renaissance at the Hall.\n There were featured visiting artists such as The Wararumpi Band, The\n Bondi Cigars, The Gadflys, Colin Hay and many, many locals, like The\n Mullamatics, The Fabulous Wilt Brothers. The locally born resident\n and international jazz diva, the late ‘Madam’ Pat\n Thompson, also called the Murrah home, to the delight of locals. Her\n homage portrait by Lowell Tarling is in the Hall. The Hall’s\n Supper Room photos (courtesy of the late Alf Gowing) show those\n generations: restoring, rebuilding and at play.\n
\n\n In 2002 a community grant on behalf of the Murrah committee and the\n Yuin Nation resulted in a large mural in the Hall identifying\n The Murrah as being part of their community and their nation. This was\n done under the Presidency of Pauleen Harris.\n
\n\n Since 2004 the Hall has been administered by the Murrah Hall\n Preservation Association Inc. on behalf of the Bega Valley Shire\n Council . The handover was the result of increased overheads and the\n cost of basic capital works needed to keep the Hall running smoothly\n and safely, which BVSC has done.\n
\n\n Like all previous committees, this one is committed to the\n continued development and preservation of the Murrah Hall as a\n community resource and as an all age family friendly venue: attracting\n amazing music, creating memorable theatre, supporting and showcasing\n local creatives. Being a portal to the world for our audiences. \n
\n\n The current Committee also actively embarked on a long term plan of\n upgrading the Hall’s facilities, the Murrah Metamorphosis, and\n becoming a community-wide artist-friendly asset, with the introduction\n of basic portable lighting and seating via a Mumbulla Foundation\n grant. The hilarious gender based reversal (directed by H.Stanley) of\n a 1947 Lone Ranger Radio program, created funding for portable rostra,\n enabling new staging and seating possibilities for theatre, cabaret\n and music performances.\n
\n\n More than a decade of catering-based fundraising and a $5,000 donation\n from committee member, performer and ex-President, the late Premda\n Lowson, allowed the current committee, with volunteer labour and\n support from local trades-based individuals and businesses, to build a\n secure dressing and storage room extension onto the rear of the Hall\n in 2018 - The Hall’s 115th Birthday.\n
\n\n With an additional Mumbulla Foundation grant for catering pots and\n saucepans and, because of the volunteer-built new extension, the\n committee partnered with South East Arts, as project managers, to\n successfully apply to the NSW Create Regional Cultural Fund for:\n $70,000.00 for a portable P.A., LED lighting, audio-visual and\n studio lighting equipment, a new portable stage carpet, and \n funding for local technical based training.\n
\nAnd not to forget: This website too!
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\n First the Fires and then COVID created an ongoing fraught time for all.
\n In early February 2020, between emergency evacuations,\n the Hall successfully put on their first free entry, free food and music event with “The Strides”.\n This was supported by an American Philanthropic organisation.
\n It was a singularly memorable night for the hundreds who attended.\n
\n The Murrah Hall Committee adapted to COVID restrictions on our disaster affected\n community by moving performances outside onto the deck of 5 tonne pantech truck\n (with donated safety stairs from Bermagui Seasiders) to become the only community\n venue in the region to be able to offer large numbers of all age audiences safe,\n socially distanced professional entertainment funded from:\n
\n In time for the Hall’s 120th Celebrations, the Hall received a much appreciated\n and needed one-off BVSC grant to replace the north wall weatherboards and hall entry doors,\n install underfloor hall insulation, upgrade the fuse board and, importantly, paint the Hall and surrounds.\n\n
\n\n With a successful second Create NSW Cultural Infrastructure grant of $27,500.00,\n to complete the Murrah Metamorphosis - Indoors project, the Hall now has sixteen\n 2 X 1 metre adjustable height portable indoor/outdoor staging units (also for community hire)\n and now features in a Far South Coast first: acoustic panelling, making it the safest listening Community Hall in the region. \n The nature of the installation allows the Hall to be ‘tuned’ if needed.\n
\n\n\n In response to community need and desire and based on the experiences with the feedback of two near unanimous \n audience surveys, the Murrah Metamorphosis continues - Outdoors. With BVSC permission, plans for a rear of Hall\n mini amphitheatre, an upgraded Cantina BBQ and shading are in process as suitable projects for external funding \n applications in order to create the first integrated indoor/outdoor community hall cultural precinct on the Far South Coast.
\n On October 5th 2023 the Coolagalite fire nearly destroyed the Hall. Four local volunteer units successfully defended the building, with the only major loss being some fencing and the carpark lighting (replaced November 2024)\nSoon after the fire, the Murrah successfully applied for funding with Foundation for Rural Regional Renewal - Rebuilding Communities program for an outdoor amphitheatre. Designed by Garry McKechnie and built by Proscape (Quaama), the project was finished in June and with further funding from Horizon Bank Community Grants for power connection, completed in July, 2024.\nThe opening concert occurred in August and featured Louis Campbell (Welcome to Country and Didgeridoo) Declan Kelly and long time hall favourite, The Strides providing memorable outdoor afternoon and indoor evening shows\nWe’ve come a long since that first community call to action:\n
\n\nWe’ve come a long since that first community call to action:\n\n
\n \n “Just paint the roof red, mate. That’ll get ’em\n interested, paint the roof red.”\n \n
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\n The Murrah Committee acknowledges the decades of contributions from\n the volunteers and families of this remarkable community. On behalf of\n the Hall’s audiences and artists, we express gratitude for\n all the philanthropic, state and local government support and\n especially local business in their recognition and support for this\n unique Far South Coast community cultural asset.\n
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\n \n Detailing the Community recovery and rebuilding of the Murrah Hall: \n
\n The
\n Articles by Dr Richard Reid on the Murrah Archive that originally appeared in ‘Recollections’ issues 29, 31 and 32\n (available online at \n
\n In 2014 Reg Mombassa and Pete O’Doughety’s band Dog\n Trumpet with Bernie Hayes and the late, great, legend, Drummer &\n Journo, Iain Shedden (pictured), first played at the Murrah Hall to\n resounding success on both sides of the lights.\n
\n\n Their return in 2016 was marked by a specially drawn poster of the\n Murrah Hall by Reg for that second show:\n
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