By Cam Lucadou-Wells
There’s a saying that you can’t beat Town Hall.
But that’s not stopping Dandenong Mechanics’ Institute from asserting it has rights to the building itself.
The institute’s president Andrew Russell is reviving a debate that pre-dates the landmark Dandenong Town Hall building erected 131 years ago.
He claims that the council holds the upper floor of the town hall in trust for the institute – an agreement that was struck prior to the hall being built in 1890.
“It’s not their property,” Mr Russell said.
“They hold the title but they’re trustees to us. We have full rights of operation of the upper floor.”
He says the institute was set to fight for a ‘breach of trust’ claim worth “many millions of dollars” in the Supreme Court of Victoria.
Mr Russell alleges he has a copy of a 1911 agreement under special seal of the council that states the institute has had possession of the “whole of the upper floor and of the income of that portion of the building” since the hall was built.
That income hasn’t been paid by the council since 1955, he says.
It could potentially include hire charges for the meeting rooms, fittings, interest and lost business opportunities for the institute, he says.
Mr Russell says the council “refuses to give us the keys” to the building.
“We need access to our building or a building in lieu of it.”
A Greater Dandenong Council spokeperson said the council was the “sole owner and operator” of the town hall building and site.
“Council refutes any claim that any individual or association may make over any rights to the Dandenong Town Hall.”
It’s not the first time the council and the institute have clashed over the building.
In 2008, the council appealed to the Federal Court against the institute applying to trademark a black-and-white sketch of the town hall.
At the time, Dandenong Star reported that the council argued that the institute didn’t own the town hall, so the trademarking could “deceive or cause confusion” in the community.
From 1863, the Mechanics’ Institute and its public library formerly occupied the corner of Lonsdale and Walker streets.
At the time, the institute and the then-Shire of Dandenong council were two of the town’s most important organisations and were at “loggerheads” over a proposed town hall on the site, Dandenong and District Historical Society members Chris Keys and Carmen Powell wrote in Star Journal in 2014.
At the heart of the dispute was the institute claiming it was deprived of five shillings weekly rent from the council.
In 1887, “matters weren’t helped” when the council proposed that the institute transfer the site for a town hall.
“After much controversy, the Mechanics committee finally agreed to hand over the prized location in return for the right to the whole upper floor and in consideration of council taking over its debt,” Ms Keys and Ms Powell wrote.
The Mechanics Institute set up its public library, reading room, billiard room and club rooms on the top floor, while a court room, town hall and council chambers occupied the bottom.
In time, the upstairs section was taken over by the council, Ms Keys and Ms Powell stated.
