The Unique History of the Hall

The state mine was a Liberal Government experiment in state-owned industry, and produced bituminous coal pre-dominantly for state use, and employed just over 200 men.

Rūnanga and Dunollie were home to the Miners’ Union and the Rūnanga Town Council was composed of mainly Miners’ Union members.  It was inevitable that a community of miners and their families would aspire to a venue of their own.

The original Rūnanga Miners’ Hall grew out of a suggestion made by Robert (Bob) Semple, coalminer, trade unionist and politician.  In 1905, shortly after the formation of the Miners’ Union, Semple, then head of the Union, proposed the Union construct their own hall and co-operative store.  The Union’s executive committee initiated planning and work began on clearing the selected section on the corner of Mills and McGowan Streets in April 1907.

The Union approached George Millar, local mine engineer and architect, to design a building to accommodate 500 people complete with a “large stage, ante-rooms, dressing rooms and plenty of seating accommodation” (Grey River Argus.  ‘Dunollie Notes.’ 10 June 1907, p.4. Online. Available: http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.)  The construction work was carried out by Walter Murray of Cobden, Greymouth.

The building’s initial creation is important because it was the first co-operatively built hall in the country.  The employees, by way of the union, the employer, Greymouth business people and the State all combined resources to finance the structure.

The first Rūnanga Miners’ Hall was opened on 2 December 1908, with speeches made to a cheering crowd of around 800 people.

The Rūnanga Miners’ Hall played an essential role in the life of the union and the community, allowing key issues to be discussed and debated and decisions to be made.

In addition, notable speakers, some of them international visitors, used the Hall as a venue to expound views and gain support for different causes.

However, the Hall is best known for its strong and enduring associations with the labour movement and socialism.  The Hall was the centre of Rūnanga’s response to the 1913 Watersiders’ Strike.

On 7 July 1916, the modern New Zealand Labour Party was formed, and Rūnanga leaders were notable among its members, including Bob Semple, Paddy Webb, and Pat Hickey.  Paddy Webb was the MP for Grey from 1913-1916 as a member of the Social Democratic Party, the major contributor to the 1916 Labour Party.

On 27 May 1918 a Labour rally was held at the Hall, with speakers including Peter Fraser, who would be Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1940 to 1949.  Having also spoken at the Hall the previous year, Harry Holland, leader of the Labour Party from 1919 to 1933, launched Labour’s election campaign from the Hall.  In 1926, Holland became Leader of the Opposition, and in 1935 Michael Joseph Savage became Labour’s first Prime Minister.

The Rūnanga Miners’ Hall led the way on other fronts too.  In 1926, at the same time as power supply was established in Rūnanga, silent film screenings were held in the Hall for public viewing.  Originally the film distributers boycotted them because the Miners’ Committee insisted on showing films for entertainment rather than profit.  In 1931 films with sound arrived.

The 1908 Hall was destroyed by fire, thought to be arson, on 2 January 1937.

The replacement building was also designed by George Millar, and this time built by Jack McMillan of Cobden in nine months.  The Hall was built on the same site, but instead of facing south on Mills St, it was built to face east on McGowan St.  The new Hall was opened on 20 August 1937.  The new building retained the same function as the original hall, being the social and political centre of the mining community of Rūnanga.

The 1937 timber Hall has an impressive scale and form.  The main structure is almost 39 metres long and 15.8 metres wide, excluding the lean-to kitchen and toilets.  The Hall is entered through a central hallway, with ante-rooms on either side.  It appears that a sizeable foyer was originally centrally located at the end of this hallway, with the stairs to the mezzanine floor included.  The large auditorium showcases a coved ceiling, high panelled dado, and a flat timber floor.  The mezzanine floor is a shallow raked balcony, and holds a central projection room at the top.

Outside, on the main façade of the Hall, slogans are emblazoned that encapsulate the rationale for the hall and its wider context. In a deliberate effort to connect to its predecessor, the same slogans are repeated that had been on the original Rūnanga Miners’ Hall, they are: ‘WORLD’S WEALTH FOR WORLD’S WORKERS – MINERS’ HALL Opened Dec 2nd 1908 – UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL.’

Social and political events continued in the Hall until the 1960s, when the State Miners Union ceased to exist, and it relinquished its ownership of the hall.

In 1972/73, Kevin Meates, a Christchurch businessman and friend of then Labour Prime Minister Norman Kirk, established Matai Industries as a regional development initiative, believing that the government would provide subsidies and other support for the project.  Two directors were appointed by the Government and one by the Opposition, the Opposition nominee being National MP Robert Muldoon.  In November 1973 Matai Industries opened four factories on the West Coast producing woodware, metalware and plastics in Rūnanga, Greymouth Reefton and Westport.  The Rūnanga Miners’ Hall was one venue given a new lease of life; interestingly Greymouth’s Regent Theatre and Reefton’s Criterion Theatre were other Matai Industries conversions.

However, following a dispute about the actual nature of any government support, Matai Industries was placed into receivership in 1975.

After a period of disuse, in around 1980 the hall became the Rūnanga District Community Centre. In 1983 it was renovated by the Grey District Council, and opened by the Governor-General, the Hon Sir David Beattie.  It appears that this was the point the exterior was re-clad in stucco over the original weatherboards, and it may have been when the internal walls of the ante-rooms were changed.

The original slogans were repainted on the building as part of a millennium project in 2000.

Thus, while the current hall was built in 1937, it is recognised as representing a continuous stream of history back to when the original miners’ hall was constructed in 1908.