Community & Business
21 May, 2025
F. E. Logan Hall: a pillar of the Clifton community
Over the past 94 years, the Hibernian Hall, renamed first as St. Michael’s Hall and then as the F. E. Logan Hall in honour of one of the town’s finest men, has hosted countless functions and events and played an integral part of the town’s fabric.
Clifton’s Community Hall
Clifton’s present community hall, on the corner of Tooth Street and Meara Place, the F. E. Logan Hall, was not Clifton’s first community hall.
Another building, the Clifton Memorial Hall built circa 1926, had served the community well but was destroyed by fire in 1939.
The Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society (HACB) had built a hall in 1931 mainly for use by the Clifton Catholic Church community.
However, the destruction of the Memorial Hall resulted in greater community demands being placed on the Hibernian Hall (as the F. E. Logan was known).
The cost of hall maintenance and refurbishments were now being borne by the HACB Society with support from Clifton’s Catholic parishioners.
In 1950 long overdue improvements to the hall such as the interior walls being lined and an internal ceiling were all organised by the parishioners.
This work prompted ownership of the hall being transferred to the Diocese/Clifton Parish in April 1952 and the hall became known as St. Michael’s Hall.
Further improvements including the addition of a supper room were completed as the hall became more widely used for community events such as sporting presentations, gift evenings, and public send-offs while local schools and other religious groups also used the hall.
In 1965 the death of Clifton local businessman Frank E. Logan, described as a devoted Catholic and untiring worker in support of the welfare of his community, prompted Monsignor M. M. McKenna to rename the hall in his honour.
For many years normal running expenses of the hall were covered by hall rentals as constant improvements continued.
However, in the mid 1980s Clifton became connected to a sewerage system and the cost to the Parish of hall connection to the scheme was deemed to be placing undue pressure on Parish finances.
As a result, discussions began between the Parish and the Clifton Shire Council regarding transfer of ownership to the Council.
Discussions conducted with Council were described as fair and amicable and the ownership of the hall and land were transfered to Council for no cost and in exchange Clifton Shire Council would “accept all responsibility for the operation, maintenance and upgrading of the building” for what was now considered a Shire amenity.
The Council also agreed to provide the hall to the Parish and school at no cost several times each year.
The F. E. Logan Hall has been a wonderful asset for the Clifton community over many decades.
In the days of Debutante Balls the F. E Logan Hall provided the perfect venue when the hall was decked out with colourful streamers and balloons with coloured lighting providing a romantic atmosphere.
Writing in 2001, Jim Logan remarked “It is acknowledged that many future couples developed their relationships whilst twisting streamers in preparation for the evening’s dance.”
No doubt the F. E. Logan has played an important role in times past in the social interaction of the community’s young people and they would remember it fondly
The Hall’s Future
While the F. E. Logan Hall no longer hosts Debutante or Gala Balls it still plays an important role in Clifton’s social life.
The F. E. Logan Memorial Hall is a giant structure, dwarfing other community halls in the district.
The main hall section has a giant dance floor with a good sized stage.
It also boasts a supper room of considerable size that opens onto an excellent commercial kitchen.
This combination lends itself to a variety of uses as do the wide adjoining verandahs.
While the massive size of this building is one of its main advantages it also means maintenance of the whole structure comes at considerable expense.
Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC) is the owner of the building and surrounding land but leases the hall to the Clifton Chamber of Commerce.
TRC pays for major maintenance of the building while the Chamber of Commerce rents out the hall to local groups, at a very reasonable rate, and pays for smaller maintenance items.
A variety of community groups use the hall on a regular basis including an indoor bowls club and a dance school.
Other functions in the hall range from occasional bush dances, a yearly Harvest Ball, Anzac Day breakfast, Wattles end of year celebration and for market stalls during Country Week.
It would be close to financially impossible for TRC to replace this building with a similar sized structure should the need arise.
Fortunately the F. E. Logan Hall appears structurally sound and should serve the local community well into this century.
The challenge will be for TRC to maintain regular maintenance and hopefully some upgrades to keep the building up to date with modern technology and presented in the best manner possible.
Clifton locals might do well to mention this to our “local“ Councillors close to election time.
In the meantime the F. E. Logan Hall should be utilised as much as possible or as the saying goes, it will be ”use it or lose it.”
Our hall has too many uses and too many memories for it not to be kept in prime condition.
