Bunbury Herald (WA : 1892 - 1919), Wednesday 21 March 1894, page 3


OPENING OF THE DARDANUP AGRICULTURAL HALL.

MOST SUCCESSFUL CONCERT AND TEA.

The opening of the Dardanup Ag-ricultural Hall took place on Wed-nesday last, and was celebrated by a tea and concert, which will long be

remembered with pride by the resi-dents of Dardanup, Ferguson and vi-cinity, and with pleasure by the visitors, who attended the ceremony. Mrs. Venn, who took the leading part in the preparations, invited the ladies of the vicinity to assist -by forwarding the materials for the tea, and the invitation was heartily re-sponded to — if the magnificent spread

on the tables was any guide, hampers of cakes and confectionery of all de-scriptions being carried to the ball from, we believe every resident with in a radius of 8 miles, the tables being quite unable to hold the supply. The Dardanup people have gained a reputation in such matters. On the last occasion when a dinner was given to the Hon. H. W. Venn in the school-room, about eighteen months ago, the spread put before the visitors well deserved the compliments passed on it, and on this occasion, although only a tea, fully deserved as much praise. The following are, as far as we could ascertain, the names of the ladies who took part, in getting up the tea meeting, and to whose efforts are due the success of the party, and tbe bountiful supply of good things provided : — Mesdames Venn, Garvey, Coonan, F, Johnston, Busher, Harris, senr., Harris, Fowler, O'Neil and Chapman ; Misses Garvey, Fee, Cleary, Busher, Slattery, Maguire. Gardiner, aud Flora Larkin. Mr. James Doolan in his usual obliging manner, took an active part in assisting the ladies in getting ready the tea, and his kind services were much appreciated. It must have been gratifying to tbe residents of Dardanup and vi cinity to see such a large number of visitors from Bunbury, over 100 of the townspeople being present.

The new hall, which, is about 40 x 20, although not an ornameatal structure, is most suitable for the purpose for which it has been built. The outside is jarrah and weather-board, and the inside is lined with varnished matchboard, the room being well ventilated. The tea having been done full justice to, the tables were cleared away, and the seats arranged jor the concert, but the hall being crowded numbers could not find sitting room. Before the concert commenced. Mr. J. Foster Johnston, J.P. appeared on the stage and read a requisition

from 97 of the Wellington electors to the Hon. H. W. Venn, requesting that he would allow himself to be nominated for the Wellington elec-torate at the forthcoming elections, and promising to use their best efforts to secure his return.

The Hon. H. W. Venn, in replying, said that lie bad not expected such a ceremony that evening, nevertheless it was exceedingly pleasing to him, and be felt very proud that they should ask him again to represent them in the Legislative Assembly. He was not prepared to say much on that occesion, except to tell them he would be most happy to come for-ward. He thanked them most cor-dially for the confidence they had placed in him, and if elected again he hoped his future efforts would be for the benefit of the district. In declaring the Dardanup Agri-cultural Hall formally opened, Mr. Venn said it gave him great pleasure to be present, representing the Go-

vernment at the opening ceremony, and he hoped — in fact he had no doubt— that this hall would be of great service to the people of the dis-trict. He bad been the originator of the idea of erecting these halls in several d stricts of the Colony, where be considered such buildings were re-quired, and although it was not re-garded with, much favor in the House, it had been sufficiently sup-ported to enable him to get a sum of money voted for the erection of the halls. The great success which had attended the opening of this hall and the one at the Brunswick the other evening was sufficient to convince him that the people were able to make a good use of them. He hoped the people of other districts would not fail to agitate for these buildings where they may be considered neces-sary. He thought that monoy spent in this way was well spent, and whe-ther as a member of the Honse or not, be would always in future sup-port such undertakings. He had no doubt that this hall at Dardanup would be utilised to the best possible advantage.

Miss Foss then played the overture 'Oberon' with that young lady's acknowledged skill on the piano, and during the evening Miss Foss con-tributed largely to the succes of the concert as accompanist. Miss Daly's " Kathleen Mavourneen" was highly appreciated, as indeed are all this young lady's efforts on our amateur stage. Mr. Parry on the cornet, ac-companied by Miss Foss on the piano, received rounds of applause in '' Alice where art Thou ?'' and ' Killarney.'' ''e The Blue Alsatian Mountaius,'' by Miss Timperley, was sung very cor rectly. Mr. Newton Moore's '' Quite English you Know'' created great amusement, and an encore was loudly

demanded. He returned and sang '' Where did you get that Hat ?'' which fairly brought down the house, the audience joining in in at the end of each verse. The comic duet '' Very Suspicious,'' by Mr. and Mrs. Staf-ford was very amusing and caused much laughter at the exhibitions of of love and jealousy between husband and wife. This concluded the first part of the performance. The Hon. H. W. Venn then came on to the stage, and said he took the opportunity to thank the ladies and gentlemen from Bunbury who had contributed so much to the evening's entertainment. He was very pleased

to see such unity of feeling existing between the two districts and hoped they would always work together. He desired to tender his most hearty thanks to those ladies and gentlemen who had come from Bunbury, and to assure them that the people of Dar-danup fully appreciated their kind-ness. He trusted that it would not be the last occasion they would have the happiness of meeting the people of Bunbury in that hall. Mr. Venn then called for three cheers for the ladies and gentlemen assisting at the concert and tbe visitors, which were very warmly given. Mr. Stafford thanked those present for the kind way they bad received Mr. Venn's proposition. He quite agreed with what Mr. Venn bad said with regard to their working together and felt sure that if they continued to work together in the future they wonld be able to do much good. It would not he hoped be the last occa-sion the Bunbury people would have an opportunity of assisting them in the manner they then had so much pleasurs in doing.

After the interval Mr, Parry (cor-net) and Miss Foss (piano) played 'The Silver Stream' Polka — a splen-did piece of instrumental music. Mrs. Venn gave ' Home, Sweet Home' very sweetly and correctly, and on receiving an encore sang: ' Tapping at the Garden Gate,' which was well received. Mr. N. J. Moore sang u Two Spoons' very hu-morously. Miss Timperley 's ' Come Back to Erin ' was warmly applauded as was also that beautiful soug ' Sing Sweet Bird' by Miss Daly. This

song requires great practice and a good voice to be effective, but Miss Daly was fully equal to it, the audi-ence loudly expressing their approval Then followed what was unquestion-ably the most mirth provoking song of the evening — '' I've Worked Eight Hours This Day,'' sung in character by Mr. Stafford, whose get-up was immense. All through the song the audience was kept in roars of laugh-ter. For an encore, Mr. Stafford returned dressed in an old-fashioned smock and a slouch hat, which was no less successful. Mr. Parry, on the cornet, again favored the audience with some popular American airs, which concluded the first public con-cert in Dardanup. After '' God Save tho Qneen '' by the audience, the seats were removed by willing hands and dancing kept up with great spirit till the train left for Bunbury. The proceeds of the tea and con cert amounted to £20 5s. 6d., which will go a long way towards finding seats and other furniture for the hall.