The Summit, Qld, Kambuwal Country
The Summit Hall stands on lands traditionally owned by the Kambuwal People.
Famous for being the coldest place in Queensland, the welcome in The Summit is accordingly warm, to keep the spirits alight in those who make the trek up to its mighty 3000+ft elevation. It’s got the highest everything – the highest railway station, the highest maze, the highest roadside fruit stall – and the highest hall? The Summit Hall has always made its own news though – when the original 1923 hall burned down in 1932, the strength of the local community was such that the new hall was built within six months, with most of the finances coming from the locals from card evenings, parties and stump-cap fundraising! The early furniture encouraged many a romance to blossom in the original convenient-for-canoodling canvas chairs under the cover of movie nights. In the 1940s and 1950s an old copper (remember them?) was boiled up for the tea by local legend, the diminutive Mrs Smith who used to walk over to the hall on event nights and do all the washing up by hand. Woe betide anyone who went into ‘her’ kitchen without permission!
Nowadays, the hall is the headquarters of Boomerang Bags, a group of women who upcycle fertiliser bags and secondhand fabrics into bags that help tackle plastic pollution. It is also home to a small social ballroom dancing club and is the meeting place for many other local events. If these wall could talk… they’d tell us they are ready to be abuzz with a party atmosphere once again!
Festival of Small Halls rolls into The Summit on Wednesday, 1 December 2021 with Andrea Kirwin and Tullara
Opening the show will be local act Nine Year Sister!
Nine Year Sister is a multi-award winning pop/folk duo comprised of singer/songwriters Jennie Wardle and Emma Wardle. The sisters, from Stanthorpe in Queensland, perform sets of all original music, enchanting audiences with their beautifully constructed melodies and angelic harmonies.
They began writing songs around 2010, while living in a rural area in the Granite Belt region, pouring their hearts into their lyrics. In 2019, Nine Year Sister began their journey into live performance, incorporating bass and acoustic guitar. Jennie and Emma bring a warmth to the stage, blending their sweet voices with that special magic unique to sibling harmonies.
The age gap between Jennie and Emma was the inspiration for the band name ‘Nine Year Sister’.
The sisters have independently released two albums: their self-titled work ‘Nine Year Sister’ in 2018, followed by ‘A World Is Waiting’ in 2020. Their music has received airplay on the ABC and various other Australian and international radio stations.
Nine Year Sister have won multiple awards for their songwriting and performances including 1st place in the 2020 ANBC South East QLD Stanthorpe Busking Championships, 1st place in the 2019 Noosa FM ’21 Summers’ song contest with their original song ‘Seaside Dreaming’ and 1st place in the 2020 Illawarra Folk Festival song contest with their original song ‘Coming Home’. Their song ‘Seaside Dreaming’ was also nominated as a finalist in the 2020 Queensland Music Awards.
Food and soft drinks available for purchase on the night from 6.00pm and heavenly sweeties/hot drinks at interval. (Proceeds to The Summit School).
Boomerang Bags will have a table showing their wonderfully crafted bags -perfect for stocking fillers – so bring your money!
Tickets are priced at
Full Admission –$20
Child Admission (Aged 14 and Under, must be accompanied by an adult) – FREE
Click here to purchase tickets
Alternatively, you can purchase tickets locally at Gracious Giving, Stanthorpe
Doors open 6.30pm
Show starts 7pm
The Summit Hall is accessible via a ramp to the front of the hall and has accessible toilets on the ground floor at the back of the hall
The Summit Hall is tucked between two houses – don’t miss it! It is one block up from The Summit General Store and opposite the old railway siding. Parking is available on the railway grounds
This show is supported by the Southern Downs Regional Council and has been jointly funded under the Commonwealth/State Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements 2018
Festival of Small Halls events take place in venues operating under an approved QLD Health Covid Safe Event Checklist, and has stringent Workplace Health and Safety requirements for all travelling artists and crew. Under the terms and conditions of all events, you must not attend if you have any symptoms of Covid-19.
Please do your bit to protect others and keep your community safe.