The Kirra Hall Community and Cultural Centre was opened for public use in 2011, but has also served as the site for the Coolangatta State School since 2nd October, 1920 after the Spanish Influenza spread to the border. Leading up to the hall is a run of Tuckeroo trees placed in a lineal arrangement along the median strip, they are associated with Laurence and Lance Powell who were killed in action during World War 2. The trees were planted alongside the site and have remained even after the multiple changes it has undergone. The first of these changes occurred in 1977, when the school’s population outgrew the size of the center, requiring it to move to its current location and alter the site into the Coolangatta Special School in 1979 – which catered for those students with mental disabilities. Subsequently, after the school had been abandoned in 2006, the ‘Save Kirra Hill’ group persuaded the Queensland government to preserve the site for public use, with custodianship being passed to the City of Gold Coast in 2008. After public consultation, the city spent $3 million to restore the hall; specifically, they reinstalled the original stairs, reframed the headmaster’s office, redesigned the layout of the Great Hall and refurbished the art gallery. Once again, it was because of local influence that the government decided to maintain the cultural center and make these much needed changes.
