Information

The weatherboard Darra Victory Hall was built in 1918 by the members of the militant Darra WPO (Workers Political Organisation) in celebration of the TJ Ryan’s Queensland Labour election victory. This was a time of growing unionism and socialist ideals. In October 1918, the Darra land was transferred to the WPO. Five local men signed the Nomination of Trustees document, and volunteers were already working to build the hall. In August, before the hall was finished, it gained national notoriety for the Darra Red Flag Incident when the March for Freedom (perhaps the last Army recruiting march) clashed with workers at the hall.

The hall itself was 60 feet long and 30 feet wide. The main floor had an area of 1,500 square feet, and was laid with crow’s ash, for dancing. A stage and two ante-rooms occupy 300 square feet. The Victory Hall lasted only six years, and it was sold in December 1924. Horses or bullocks hauled the hall over to the river, where it floated across the river to Mandalay, reportedly in one piece, on 44-gallon drums. About 1932 it was moved again, and it is now the Brookfield Hall.

Citations

Daily Standard, 10 September 1918; Vicki Mynott, Darra by Decade 1820-2010, Inala Heights: Richlands, Inala & Suburbs History Group Inc., 2010.

Image Citations

Victory Hall, Darra, 1918. Daily Standard, 20 September 1918.

Map References

SLQ. Mathews, E. J. Maps of Brisbane and Suburbs E.J. Mathews, Staff Surveyor. Brisbane: Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, 1917. ATLASL 628.2 1917