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The Original Town Hall

The old Town Hall which is situated alongside the left hand side of the Post Office was originally built as the Petersburg Institute in 1884 at a cost of £853.15.9. It was officially opened by the Hon. W. Copley on Wednesday the 7th of January. Initially it was a privately owned building but the Corporation of Petersburg took over the building and used it as a Town Hall from February 1889. In 1891 the hall was renovated and improvements made to the stage. In 1894 it was decided by the local Council to renovate it again by building an addition onto the front. After much deliberation it was finally decided to build a new stage and dressing rooms at the rear, as well as the two storied front with the Library and Council Chambers downstairs and a Lodge Room upstairs with attached dressing rooms. The final cost was £1,020. Dr J.A.Cockburn, the then Minister for Education and Agriculture, accepted the invitation to lay the foundation stone. It was originally planned to lay the stone on the 20th of June 1894 but as he could not attend on that date the ceremony took place on the 22nd of June. The stone still bears the wrong date. The building was officially opened by The Governor, the Earl of Kintore at 3pm on Thursday the 22nd of November 1894. In 1981 the building was upgraded once again for the Northern College of Further Education (TAFE). In 1993 TAFE and the Library moved to the High School Campus and the building was sold in 1994 to Glen and Miertjie Skidmore who initially turned it into a Coffee Shop and Art gallery. It is now used as their private residence and is not open to the public..

Current Town Hall

The current Town Hall which is on the right hand side of the Old Town Hall was built in 1927 (although the facade says 1926) at a cost of £13,961.0.6, and is claimed to be the largest and most ornate town hall in country South Australia. The stage measures 55 ft wide,21 feet deep and 24 feet high. The Dress Circle consists of 260 padded seats and the Bio Box (projection room) is still intact upstairs but not equipped for films. The hall can seat 1,000 patrons and has excellent facilities such as kitchen/bar area on the southern side of the hall and change rooms beneath the stage. Upstairs are rooms set aside for the Mayor, Council Chambers, RSL and a Meeting room for the townspeople. When the building was being designed it was thought that the five rooms along the front of the building could be leased out as shops as an additional source of revenue. The rooms were used as shops for several years but eventually they became vacant due to the high rent and the fact that they were considered to be on the wrong side of the Main Street to be profitable. Currently the District Council of Peterborough uses the rooms for their offices.

The Hall is open to the public between 9-30am and 4-30pm Monday to Friday - Excluding Public Holidays.

Federation Quilt

The Peterborough Patchworker’s Federation Wall Hanging took in excess of 1700 hours to complete and was constructed during 2001. It was launched on the 1st of December and is housed in a cabinet in the foyer of the Town Hall. It has an audio description of the various features depicted on the hanging.