People
6 May, 2026
Flash your footy colours for round seven of The Great Hall Crawl
IT’S footy season and the Dergholm Hall is embracing the theme for round seven of The Great Hall Crawl.
A series of fun trivia nights held in a collaborative effort between 10 of the district’s great small halls, the hall crawl is just four rounds out from the grand finale, where the series champion team will take home $500 in Community Cash vouchers, sponsored by The Casterton News and The SE Voice.
“All the hall committees who have been involved in the series have done an outstanding job, as they do in taking care of these great community institutions,” CN editor, Kristy McDonald said.
“It only took one or two events for the word to get around about how much everyone was enjoying the events, what great hosts the halls are and since then, every event has been sold-out ahead of the night, with some halls even having a wait-list for their nights.
“We have had Irish nights, Halloween, All Australian and a heap of other great themes and everyone who has attended has embraced the theme … there’s been some tough decision-making at every event to crown the best-dressed!”
She said while the use of local halls had been greatly reduced over the years, their importance to those who lived around them had not changed.
“Every one of our halls have great stories behind them - from how local residents rallied to build them, to their role as the heart of their communities,” Kristy said.
“They need to be preserved for, if no other reason, their incredible histories.
“In their early days, a weekly dance at the local hall was the social outing that everyone looked forward to and over the years, they have hosted weddings, wakes, birthdays and anniversaries … they were the place you went when there was fire or flood.
“While there are much fewer of those celebratory events, these days, they’re still very much the hearts of their communities; all of our local halls host events like monthly neighbourhood lunches or dinners, commemorative events like Anzac Day services and the annual neighbourhood Christmas party.
“The Great Hall Crawl came together for two purposes - to raise much-needed funds to assist the small, volunteer committees who look after them to pay the bills and to remind people, both in their immediate communities and the wider district, what fabulous venues they are.
“All of these halls have bathrooms, at least a basic kitchen and plenty of room for camping, so that if you’re having a birthday party, you have got a function space with all the amenities and plenty of room for people to stay and avoid the drive home.”
Dergholm and District Soldiers Memorial Hall was built post-World War I, as a memorial to those who served in the Great War, later commemorating World War II servicemen and women and is now cared for by a dedicated group of eight locals.
The hall committee’s Andrea Polderman said the hall land was donated to the community by Mr P Turner, the first president of the local Soldiers Memorial Committee and the funds for the building raised by dedicated locals.
“It was actually built by the locals going out, catching rabbits and selling skins to raise the money,” Andrea said.
“The hall is used a bit now … we have Australia Day and the Anzac Day Dawn Service here, which get bigger crowds every year.
“It’s a meeting place for the locals, the fire brigade and the cemetery group have their meetings here.
“And the second Monday of every month with have a community dinner - before that night, I put a message out on community chat, letting everyone know whether we’re going to have a barbecue, where everyone will bring their own meat and a salad to share, or a community casserole meal, where we just bring a dish to share.
“We have had the occasional weddings, 18ths, 21sts, but we’re trying to get it fixed up, get a few things done to make it more essential for everyone in the community to use.”
There are four rounds of The Great Hall Crawl left before the grand finale and tables are filling up fast for Dergholm.
The team is running a footy-themed night with hot dogs - plain or with the works - on sale for dinner and prizes for the best-dressed participants.
So if you’re a Queen of Quizzes or Master of Mystery Questions, get your team of up to eight trivia talents together and check out the poster below for booking details.
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