A funeral at The Summit Hall
If you asked me to pick one place, near us, that shows what a funeral outside a funeral home can be, I’d drive you fifteen minutes north of Stanthorpe to 03 Knowledge/Halls/The Summit Hall.
It’s a cute timber hall on Granite Belt Drive. Built in 1923, burnt down in 1932, and rebuilt by the locals in six months. That story is still in the building. When you stand inside it, you’re standing in something people fought to keep.
It has recently had a $35,000 electrical upgrade with new lighting and ceiling fans, so it’s comfortable as well as beautiful. And it’s home to the local Boomerang Bags volunteers, who help look after it.
What the day looks like
Here’s how a funeral at The Summit Hall might run.
The family arrives an hour before the service. They put photos on the tables. Someone’s brought the old footy jumper, the fishing rod, the recipe book. The urn is on in the little kitchen, ready for a cuppa afterwards.
We bring your person in their casket and place them at the front of the hall. If the family chose a Daisybox, it’s probably covered in drawings and messages by now.
The celebrant, or a family member, stands where the stage is and speaks. There are stories. Songs are played through the sound system. People laugh at the right moments and cry at others.
Then the family carries the casket out to the vehicle. If there’s a burial to follow, we head to the cemetery together. If it’s a cremation, the family says their goodbye at the door and we take it from there.
And then nobody has to go anywhere. The sandwiches are already on the bench. People stay for a couple of hours.
Why we recommend it
The Summit Hall works because it gives you room to make it your own. Simple afternoon tea or a properly catered lunch from Brinx Deli & Cafe in Stanthorpe. Twenty people or two hundred. Formal or relaxed.
It has kitchen facilities, flexible seating and plenty of parking. And it sits in the middle of the district many of our Granite Belt families come from. Applethorpe, Thulimbah, Stanthorpe itself.
Booking it
The hall is available for hire through the year, subject to availability. Contact is (07) 4515 1345 or thesummithall.com.
If you want to hold a funeral there, tell us and we’ll help you sort the timing with the hall, the cemetery or crematorium, and anyone else involved.
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