A crowd assembled outside the fire-damaged Town Hall at Wallaroo. A sign for the Savings Bank of South Australia is adjacent to the front entrance of the building, and bicycles are parked against a steel fence at a level train crossing in the foreground. A note on the reverse, signed by E reads 'This is the Ruins of the Town Hall Where the X is, is yours truly & next to me is two of my girl friends Misses Una Hooper & Nell Dorey'.

The Corporation of the Town of Wallaroo was proclaimed in June 1874. The first meetings were held in the Institute but by 1900 it was felt that something more worthy was needed, and a town hall reserve was gazetted in January of the following year.

The foundation stone was laid 26 March 1902 by the mayor, W Richardson and the building was erected by CH Coltman to a plan by architect C Lindsay. The substantial building was 124 feet (approximately 38 metres) long, 50 feet (approximately 15 metres) wide with seating for 500 people including a dress circle. A 66 foot (approximately 20 metres) tower rose above.

On 26 December 1917 the building was gutted by fire and only the external walls were left standing. Workmen at the nearby railway sheds saw smoke at 5am and raised the alarm. Neither the local firemen or the fire appliance from the smelting works were able to control the blaze. Some documents were salvaged before the tower collapsed, but many valuable relics and photographs were lost. No cause of the fire was established, but the circumstances were considered suspicious.

As a result of the blaze a fire brigade was finally established at Wallaroo, supplementing the private appliance at the smelting works, and the appliance at Kadina.

Hughes, Lloyd Clarence Wallaroo, 1874-1974 Wallaroo: Pub. by the Corporation of the Town of Wallaroo, 1974

Heritage of the Yorke Peninsula prepared by Weidenhofer Architects [Adelaide]: Dept. for Environment, Heritage and Aboriginal Affairs, 1998

Drew, G. J Discovering historic Wallaroo, South Australia [Adelaide]: Dept. of Mines and Energy and the Corporation of the Town of Wallaroo, 1989