gympieregionallibraries

Town Hall & Nash’s Gully

Did you know that the Gympie Town Hall was once three storeys? The area of Nash’s Gully and Fiveways was once a deep gully and over time, it has been built up (and around the existing infrastructure, including the Town Hall). At one time there was a bridge over the gully on Caledonian Hill, in front of the Town Hall.

Many group photos were taken in front of the Gympie Town Hall. The backdrop of the original brickwork of the Town Hall and the outstanding architectural windows have been covered by development of the road infrastructure and the 1939 extensions and remodelling of the Town Hall.

Scroll down to see early photos of the Town Hall and its hidden ground floor (now underground basement) and views of the deep gully that was filled in at the foot of Calton and Caledonian Hills (Fiveways area) including before the Town Hall was built.

Gympie City Band, 1911
Gympie Philharmonic Society Choir, circa 1908
Group of Gympie Pioneers, taken at Town Hall, on October 16, 1917, on the occasion of Gympie’s Jubilee Celebrations
Gympie Township, 1895 (State Library of Queensland, John Oxley Library)

Note the drop and gully behind the Town Hall along Mellor Street (opposite the front of the Olympia Theatre).

Looking down Mellor Street to the now Fiveways area, circa 1900
Looking from Caledonian Hill, up Calton Hill, Gympie.

Note the deep gully beside Caledonian Hill, at the foot of both Caledonian and Calton Hills.

Bridges over Nash’s Gully (Fiveways) at foot of Calton and Caledonian Hills, Gympie. ca 1884 (prior to the Gympie Town Hall being built)
Gympie Town Hall, 1924
View from Nash Street, 1890