Old school’s centre a hidden gem

THE committee behind the Sebastopol Community Centre held their annual open day last weekend, welcoming residents into their Yarrowee Street base.

For many decades, the former Sebastopol State School has been home to several user groups including the Ballarat & District Lapidary Club, or Gem Club, the Filipino Australian Association of Ballarat, the Sebastopol Historical Society, the Yarrowee School of Painters, and life drawers.

SCC secretary Sylvia Hollis facilitates the life drawing classes, and said the open days are an opportunity to generate funds to keep the historic facility fresh, while sharing the community activities on offer with prospective members.

“We do fundraising efforts every now and again to keep the old school building maintained and liveable, because it a very old building,” she said.

“We had a government grant recently to fix the roof because it was leaking, but there are other little things that need to be done to pay for the gas bills and keep everything maintained.

“On Saturday, we had bric-a-brac for sale down downstairs, plant sales, a barbecue, and upstairs we had art displays from the life drawing and art groups. We made the same amount of money as previous years, so it was a great success.”

Through the year, Ms Hollis said the centre’s committee is welcoming to any person that is interested to join one or more of the groups that enjoy the space, or the programs run on site.

“The Historical Society likes to open up so that people can see all of the incredible things that they’ve collected over the years, and gem club is a really vibrant little group here.

“Life drawing runs three sessions weekly, we’re always willing for new members and models, and it’s a beautiful space to do it,” she said.

The Sebastopol State School building became a community centre in 1979, after Sebastopol Primary School’s teaching and learning moved to its current site two blocks north in 1978.

The Sebastopol Historical Society has been based in the old schoolhouse since December of 1979.

“It’s a really old school building in the same era as Macarthur Street and Dana Street primary schools, tucked away on Yarrowee Street,” Ms Hollis said.

“It’s one of the little best kept secrets and has been a haven for all these groups for many years. It’s just fantastic.”