Souled Out!

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.