Stanthorpe Drill Hall

STANTHORPE DRILL HALL
CORNER OF SHORT ST. AND CONNOR ST.
STANTHORPE, QLD
IN AUSTRALIA DURING WWII

The Stanthorpe Drill Hall was located on the corner of Short Street and Connor Street, Stanthorpe. The Stanthorpe Drill Hall was officially opened on 14 October 1938. The Stanthorpe Troop of the Light Horse invited Warwick members to attend the opening ceremony.

The Drill Hall was used in 1938 for recruitment drives for the 25th Battalion.

On Sunday morning 30 June 1940, 70 local civilian males reported to the Stanthorpe Drill Hall for instruction in the use of rifles, bayonets and machine guns. In the afternoon, the numbers increased to 100. Many WWI diggers attended for a refresher course. Sergeant Major Hartnett organised the event. Hartnett believed that Stanthorpe was the only place in Australia to undertake training of local civilians. Captain Keith Hope Mackay addressed the parade and congratulated the militia NCOs who volunteered as instructors for the day. A decision was made to hold more training events on alternate Sundays.

In the last week of May 1941, Major Wilkinson visited Stanthorpe where of the 169 men called up for National Service, 120 were passed as Class 1 and 10 as Class 2 medically fit. 25 men were classed as unfit and another 14 as temporarily unfit.

A report in the Warwick Daily News on 27 January 1942, reported that there had been a good attendance of VDC members at the Drill Hall, where intense practice was undertaken in compass reading, musketry, bayonet drill, bomb throwing, field signals, and target practice. Captain Keith Hope Mackay from Dalveen brought 24 men from his platoon for the training.

REFERENCES

"Digger Train Civilians", The Richmond River Herald and Northern Districts Advertiser, 5 July 1940

"Dalveen", Warwick Daily News, 27 January 1942

"National Service Trainees Medically Examined Next Week", Warwick Daily News, 31 May 1941

"Light Horse Notes", Warwick Daily News, 28 September 1938

"Recruiting Drive, New Centres to be Opened", Warwick Daily News, 29 November 1938

Can anyone help me with more information?

"Australia @ War" WWII Research Products