The
sale of St Paul's Myalla Church and Hall hurts our local community.
Author:
Lisa McAndrew
Recently
the Wynyard Anglican Parish has decided to sell St Paul's Myalla
church and Public Hall. This was done with no local community
consultation, emails sent to the parish council outlining concerns
with the process were ignored, a proposal for it's continued use was rejected, and the local minister even banned a prayer session in
the church!
The
local Myalla community is devastated, especially those whose families
have been involved with the church and hall for many generations.
Help us to save St Paul's Myalla and stop it from being sold!
Why it is important that you help save our church and hall?
It is an important part of our local rural history
The
St Paul's Church and Public Hall is an important part of our local
rural history. It is 97 years old. It was erected in 1920, on
community donated land, with community donated materials and with
community donated labour to help build it. The building itself is
unusual in that it has an altar behind closed doors so the church can
also be used as a Public Hall. Generations of local families have
been involved with the church and hall and many of them still live in
the local area.
It is a meeting place for country people
It
has been the centre of community life for the local community, where
groups such as CWA and Rural Youth met. It enabled rural people to
meet and to look after themselves, and continue on in the rural
tradition of their forebears. Dances were held and were a place for
people to meet. It can be and will be again a place where people meet
and community can grow.
It has been supported and funded by the local community for over 90 years
For over 90 years the local community has sustained this church, paid
for all its costs, put countless hours into maintaining the building
and fund raising to keep the building maintained. Local people spent
many, many hours looking after it, even though they were farmers and
very busy. Ninety-seven years is a long time for a community to have a building
and then be told it is to be sold off.
Rural communities are paying for the government's and churches privatisation agenda
In
the last 50 years due to mechanisation, the low cost of food, larger
farms and lower wages young people have been leaving the land. This
has meant, of course, the local churches /halls aren't used as they
were before. Of course, this has been used by both the government and
the church as an excuse to sell off our community buildings. We
(country people) are wearing the brunt of the privatisation agenda of
government and church hierarchies.
You are helping new farmers as they move back to the land
Younger
farmers such as my husband and myself are moving back to rural areas
to start new farms and farm in a new way. This is a natural cycle. We
need local churches and halls in the same way towns need their local
churches and halls. We want to live in a caring, connected community.
You are supporting Community Self Sufficiency
Rural
communities generally try to be self sufficient. We try to meet our
own needs as much as we can. In order to do this we need places where
we can meet . Where we can discuss problems and resolve them, where
we can meet in emergencies such as bush fires and floods, where we
can go to classes such as yoga and tai chi. Where young people can
meet. Where local people can exhibit their artworks and more. How can
rural communities hope to meet their own needs if all the places for
community to meet have been taken from them?
You are helping our community overcome rural disadvantage
Health
outcomes, education outcomes and social outcomes are often worse in
rural areas. Why? Because services are further away or non existent.
Because communities face more natural disasters such as floods,
droughts and bush fires. Because farming is a stressful and often
dangerous occupation.
Surely
rural communities deserve as much support as we can give them.
You are supporting the rural communities that grow your food
Yes, that's right, we grow food for people in towns and this is very
important, for you as well as for us! We are happy to do our job, but
we would love some support and respect for the hard work that we do.
Helping us keep our community halls and churches shows us your
support and respect.
Because country peoples voice counts
Because
there is less of us in number, it is hard for us to make our voice
heard. Usually politicians and those in the church hierarchy listen
when more people make a noise. But the population is, of course, lower
in the country areas. Our voice still counts. We are a
very important part of Tasmania. Without us the state would not
be as prosperous as it is.
