General News
6 August, 2025
Hall comes tumbling down
A 151-year-old landmark was reduced to a pile of rubble this week when a demolition crew was called in to bowl over the Stawell Scout Hall following a dramatic fire on July 5.
Initially people in the community, including Northern Grampians Mayor Karen Hyslop were hopeful the grand Alfred Street structure could be salvaged however it appears the damage must have been too extensive for the building to be repaired.
It’s just a shame really,” said Councillor Karen Hyslop, Mayor of Northern Grampians Shire Council said the days following the inferno, “I saw all the photos on Facebook of it engulfed in flames and I just thought, what a shame.”
“Hopefully it can be repaired, because buildings like that are really hard to replace and play a big part in the history of Stawell.”
The hall was historically significant, built in 1874 as St Mark’s Presbyterian Church, it was used for a time as a Temperance Hall and for six decades was home to the Plymouth Brethren, later becoming Stawell Scouts headquarters in the 1990s.
Northern Grampians Crime Investigation Unit detectives arrested a 14-year-old boy and two 12-year-old girls in relation to the blaze.
It took a huge team of emergency service crews to control the fire, with resources from as far as Ballarat called to the scene.
A Country Fire Authority spokesperson confirmed the call came in at 4.51am on July 5 alerting them to a fire at Stawell’s 150-year-old Scout Hall in Alfred Street, which required a mighty effort to bring the blaze under control.
“Nine CFA units from Stawell, Ararat, Great Western and Halls Gap attended the scene, alongside Fire Rescue Victoria, Victoria Police and Ambulance Victoria,” said the CFA spokesperson, “Upon arrival crews found a brick building well alight and immediately commenced suppression efforts.”
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