Stokes Bay Community Hall members Kate Stanton and Helen Wurst plan to rebuild after destruction of January 4 fire
Kate Stanton and Helen Wurst hugged as they surveyed the damage to their beloved community hall from last week’s fire: “It will be rebuilt, but exactly when, we don’t know.”
SA News
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Two women who are among the hardest-hit farmers on Kangaroo Island have vowed to rebuild a hall that is the epicentre of their tight-knit community.
Stokes Bay Community Hall committee members Kate Stanton and Helen Wurst visited the gutted structure for the first time since last Saturday’s inferno.
The visit was an emotional one for the two women, who have suffered dreadfully from the deadly bushfire.
Ms Stanton and her family lost everything when her home on Stokes Bay Rd burnt down.
Her husband and son spent the weekend shooting and burying hundreds of their injured sheep, prized Dorsets and award-winning Merino rams. Three other members of Ms Stanton’s family lost their homes and farms.
The only member who did not was her father-in-law, 97-year-old Dean Stanton, a decorated war veteran who flew Lancaster bombers during World War II.
Ms Wurst’s son, Thomas, lost his house in the fire, which also consumed his farm and that of his parents. Like the Stantons, they had to shoot and then bury hundreds of their sheep.
They left the wreckage of their properties to join The Advertiser at the Stokes Bay Community Hall, which they had spent hours with other community members renovating.
It was heartbreaking watching two women weep and hug each other as they surveyed the damage inflicted by the inferno which ravaged a third of Kangaroo Island over the weekend.
The women vowed they would work to rebuild the hall, which had taken the local community 12 years of fundraising activities and working bees to renovate.
The original section of the hall was a classroom at American River before it was dismantled and trucked to Stokes Bay Rd in 1953.
“Local farmers wanted a school so this was the area’s first school before it was closed and we bought it as a community,” Ms Stanton said.
As chairwoman of the hall’s committee for 30 years, Ms Stanton had helped oversee a project that transformed the old classroom into a new kitchen and outdoor entertainment area.
“I decided to step down as chairman last year because we had finished the renovations,” she said.
“We had our official opening at our annual fireworks night in November.
“We even put in airconditioning, which we used for the time at our Christmas party in December.
“Each year we put on a pantomime which somebody local writes.”
Ms Stanton said community members regularly played on tennis courts “which need replacing” and used the hall as their church.
“It’s a community building used by the community and owned by the community,” she said.
“It will be rebuilt but exactly when, we don’t know.
“We will put it on the list of things to do.”
Ms Wurst said the hall was due to host its first wedding reception in October.
“Perhaps that can be our deadline to have it finished,” she said.
