For the Love of Community Halls: Submissions
CALL-OUT: Help us create South Australia’s first photographic book of Community Halls

Across South Australia, community halls are where life happens.

They are where dances are held, meetings argued, cakes baked, disasters weathered, babies welcomed, and farewells said. They are the quiet beating heart of towns big and small - yet so many of them have never been properly recorded. These halls are often known locally as institutes, memorial halls or progress halls.

Some are still in daily use, echoing with voices and music. Others now stand quiet or derelict, weathered by time, holding memory rather than meetings - still deeply significant as markers of shared history, resilience and community life.

The project is to create a large-format, full-colour coffee-table book celebrating 100 South Australian Community Halls, and communities are invited to help create it.

This book will be a permanent, beautifully designed photographic record of these much-loved buildings - created with communities, not just about them.

It is important to note that this project focuses on community halls built as part of South Australia’s settler history. These buildings sit within a broader and much older Aboriginal history of place, which will be acknowledged more fully in the book’s introduction.

What we’re asking for

We’re inviting people from across South Australia to submit their local hall.

This project is particularly interested in halls in regional and remote towns - including long-standing, purpose-built halls that have served as gathering places for small communities over many decades. These might be standalone buildings made of timber, stone or tin, often run by local committees or volunteers, and sometimes no longer in regular use.

Photographs 

You don’t need to be a professional photographer - phone photos are welcome if they’re clear, nicely composed and well-lit. 

Photo submissions will be selected based on:

• Image quality - sharp, well-lit, and high resolution
• Composition - clear framing that shows the hall and its setting - make sure there's plenty of space in the photo around the hall (don't let your hall fill the entire photo)
• Sense of place - context and landscape where relevant
• Relevance - hall types including institute halls, memorial halls, progress halls, school halls, town halls and other gathering places

File types accepted: JPEG (.jpg) or PNG (.png)

After you have submitted this form, the confirmation screen will give you the email address to send your photos to. Please include the name of the hall as the subject, attaching up to 5 photographs of the hall. At least 1 photo must be of the main exterior, plus internal or old photos of the hall in action are most welcome. The email address is provided following submission of the form. 

Descriptions 

For each hall, we’re asking you to use the below form to tell us:

  • The name of the hall
  • The town or district
  • (If known) the year it was built
  • A short story, memory or description (optional) - 150–250 words, written in the third person, clear and factual. We are keen to include facts such as when the hall was built, what it was originally used for, any major changes or transitions over time, how it is used today. 
  • The photographer’s name (so we can credit them)
  • Contact details of the person submitting their hall

To ensure a balanced and high-quality book, submissions will be curated. Inclusion in the final publication cannot be guaranteed, particularly if more than 100 halls are submitted or if images are not suitable for print reproduction.

What this will become

The final book will be a large-format hardcover coffee-table book, designed to sit proudly in homes, council offices, libraries and visitor centres - a lasting record of South Australia’s community places.

Every hall included will be credited, and contributors will be acknowledged in the book.

Who is behind this

This project is led by Becky Hirst, who has a long career as a leader in community engagement and development across Australia and the UK.

How to submit

To contribute your hall, simply complete the short form below and email your photos to the email address provided on the confirmation screen, with the name of the hall in the subject. By submitting, you confirm you have permission to share the photos and grant the right to publish them in print and digital formats for this project.

Let’s build this together

If you’ve ever danced in a hall, held a meeting in one, or lived in a community shaped by its hall - whether still in use or standing quietly as a place of memory - this project is for you.

Help us make sure these buildings - and the stories held within them - are recognised as part of the social fabric of our communities, past, present and, we hope, future.
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Name of the hall
Address of the hall (including road, town/suburb & postcode)
Region where the hall is located
Year built (if known)
Background/story/memory (optional) - 150-250 words max - if you don't know the story, we can research it after you've submitted your photo
Photographer/s name (to be acknowledged in the book) *
Contact person (if different to photographer)
Phone number (in case we have any follow up questions) *
Email address (in case we have any follow up questions)
I have permission to share the photos and grant the right to publish them in print and digital formats. *
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