Renovation gives Northampton RSL Club fresh purpose

The president of the Northampton RSL sub-branch hopes a new and improved museum will entice tourists to spend more time in the town. The museum, which officially opened on March 11, is part of the Northampton Visitor Centre, which has been extended to adjoin the neighbouring RSL Memorial Hall. The new structure also incorporates a new toilet block with disabled facilities. Improvements to the hall include a renovated kitchen and bar area and, for the first time since the building went up in the 1950s, air-conditioning. Northampton RSL president Bevan Suckling said the hall and museum were perfectly situated to attract travellers as they drove along North West Coastal Highway. “The IGA is right on the corner, across the road, and behind that is a dump point for caravans,” he said. “We’re hoping they’ll stick around and maybe stay in town for a day or two and see the wildflowers, or go up to Port Gregory. “It’ll be really good for the Northampton businesses, because it’s a bit quiet around town now.” Mr Suckling said the RSL Memorial Hall became Northampton’s “de facto” town hall in the 1970s, when the King’s Hall was knocked down. And there are treasures for military history buffs, or those with ancestry in Northampton. “The main hall has photos of every veteran from Northampton — or 99.9 per cent of them — from way back to the Boer War, through World War I and WWII,” Mr Suckling said. Northampton RSL secretary Marg Meagher said the upgraded kitchen and air-conditioning were “very much needed”. “I think it’s making quite a difference to the community and the use the hall — especially this time of year,” Ms Meagher said. “It’s been my wish to upgrade the kitchen area since we joined in about 2004. “It really needed an upgrade because it was a 1950s kitchen. We now have a commercial sized stove.” The Shire of Northampton funded much of the project.