St Kilda Artillery Orderly Room and Drill Hall facts for kids

The St Kilda Artillery Orderly Room and Drill Hall is a special old military building. It is located at 10 Chapel Street, St Kilda East, Victoria, Australia. This building is important because it is on the Australian Commonwealth Heritage List. It was added to this list on June 22, 2004.

This place was used by soldiers a long time ago. It helped train citizen soldiers, also known as militia. These soldiers were not full-time. They trained in their free time, often at night.

What the Building Looks Like

The main building in St Kilda East is made of wood. It has a roof made of corrugated iron. The roof is mostly pointed, like a triangle, over the main part. Smaller roofs cover the office areas at the back. There is also a sloped roof at one end.

The windows are a mix of styles. Some have two parts that slide up and down. Others open outwards like doors. The main doors are made of solid wood. There are also large roller doors on the south side.

The building looks interesting because of its porches and decorated parts. The windows have special frames. There is a line that connects the tops of the windows on the front. These details make the large building look less plain. Three windows on the front are grouped together, which is unusual.

Unlike many other drill halls from the 1880s, this one has metal supports for the roof. This allowed the hall to be wider. The two side sections of the building are a little different from each other. This makes the design more interesting.

Other Buildings on the Site

Around the main drill hall, there are other buildings.

• A house built in 1889, also made of wood.
• Brick offices and classrooms from 1935.
• Brick garages, also from 1935.
• A storage building from around World War II.
• A small garden shed.
• A small brick store for flammable items.
• An older storage building from the early 1900s.
• Another storage building covered in iron.
• A store and toilet building from 1915.

How it Compares to Other Drill Halls

The St Kilda building is one of many drill halls built in Australia. About 439 such buildings were put up. We know that 142 of them still exist today. In Victoria, 46 of these buildings remain.

The St Kilda building is the largest old wooden drill hall in Melbourne. It is a great example of its kind. It shows how citizen soldiers trained in the late 1800s. Regular soldiers had large outdoor parade grounds. But citizen soldiers needed a covered space. This was because they often trained at night and needed shelter and light.

The building also has a special area for guns. This "gun park" makes it unique. The drill hall is near important churches and other buildings. It adds to the look of the street in this area.

Building Condition

The main building and the other smaller buildings look good from the outside. They are in good shape. However, some of the wooden decorations on the triangular roof parts are missing. The building might have been painted recently. This information is from July 2002.

Why This Place is Important

The Artillery Orderly Room and Drill Hall, built in 1889, is very important for history.

It shows how military forces grew in Victoria in the 1800s. It is linked to changes made by Sir Frederick Sargood in the 1880s. These changes helped create paid citizen forces. It also shows the time after the Commonwealth took over defence matters.

The building helps us understand what it was like for citizen soldiers. They needed large, covered spaces to train. These spaces gave them shelter and light, especially at night. So, the building shows how a military drill hall worked in the late 1800s.

This building is the biggest old wooden drill hall still standing in Melbourne. It is a great example of a large building of this type. Even though it was built for a practical purpose, it has nice decorations. These include the windows, doors, and the special line on the front. The metal roof supports also make it stand out. The attached gun park is another unique feature.

The building is also important because of its connection to Sir Frederick Thomas Sargood. He started as a volunteer soldier. He became a commanding officer. More importantly, he was Victoria's first Defence Minister. He made big changes to how the colony's defence was set up. He was also elected to the first Commonwealth Senate in 1901.

The Drill Hall is in an area with many churches and other important buildings. It helps make the streetscape of this part of Melbourne special.