Mogo Public School proposes $1.5m hall fives years after devastating fires

A tiny South Coast school miraculously untouched by the devastating Black Summer fires while the town burned around it has lodged plans to erect a new multipurpose hall.

Mogo Public School has just 58 students. Picture: Supplied

A tiny South Coast school miraculously untouched by the devastating Black Summer fires while the town burned around it has lodged plans to erect a new multipurpose hall.

Mogo Public School, in the historic village 10km south of Batemans Bay, was one of the few facilities left standing after the 2020 inferno.

Now, five years on, the school of just 58 students has proposed a $1.5m development to expand its facilities with a new large-scale education and activity hall.

Planning documents lodged with the development application – now on public exhibition – describe “a large open area with an elevated stage, two change rooms, three water closets including one for persons with disabilities and a storage room”.

A Mogo Public School spokesman said the hall would be mainly used between 8am and 4pm for classes and school activities.

Artist impression of the $1.5m Mogo Public School hall. Picture: Supplied

“The hall will also be used infrequently for after school hours functions such as sports training, dance and various other school related activities in the afternoons following school classes at 3.30pm until 5pm,” he said.

“There is also likely to be the occasional school concert or dance nights approximately one or two times a year which will commence from approximately 5pm until 9pm.”

Black Summer devastated the NSW south coast in 2019 and 2020. Picture: Tom McGann.

Mogo Public School is located in southern Mogo. Picture: Supplied

The new hall proposal follows years of rebuilding in the wake of Black Summer, which tore through Mogo, destroying about 300 homes and multiple facilities.

According to the ABC, the fire burned 271,000 hectares – 79 per cent of the Eurobodalla Shire, where Mogo is located.

The development application for the small school’s expansion following the blaze is on public exhibition until May 19.

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