By DANIELLE GALVIN
THE Save the Scout Hall committee in Pakenham will fight for the hall to be heritage listed after it was rejected from the register.
Meryl Waterhouse from the Friends of the Scout Hall group said they were notified that the hall was rejected from the register by Heritage Victoria late last month.
Last week, the group met to discuss their options to continue the campaign to have it put on the register to protect it from being sold off.
“Several people turned up for the meeting – we are currently working on an objection against the refusal,” she said.
The group has until mid-May to respond to the refusal.
“They said that it wasn’t uniquely significant – which we disagree with,” Ms Waterhouse said.
The report by Heritage Victoria details the history of the hall and others like it in Colac, Wangarratta and Woodend.
“The Pakenham Scout Hall is of local historical, architectural and social significance but does not have
sufficient cultural heritage value to be included in the Victorian Heritage Register,” the report reads.
“Built in 1937, the Pakenham Scout Hall was one of a number of halls constructed by the Scouting movement in the 1930s using a rustic American log cabin style.
“The hall in Pakenham is an intact example but is not among the earliest, or most distinctive, examples constructed in Victoria in a rustic style.”
