Gilgandra War Memorial Literary Institute

The Gilgandra War Memorial Literary Institute is a single storey symmetrical brick building with a doorway in the centre of the verandah. It has a galvanised iron roof with small panelled timber windows and has a sign over the front verandah identifying it as a war memorial building. The facade features brickwork and cement render typical of the 1920s.

A Gilgandra Literary Institute was established by October 1914 and in November 1915 it had 1,000 books on its shelves. 

The Gilgandra Weekly, 12 May 1922 reported that a meeting in connection with a proposed Gilgandra War Memorial Institute was held in the Union Hall on 6 May. The Shire President Councillor W. Barden occupied the chair. Plans of the proposed building were submitted and discussed. It was decided to erect a building to cost about 1,500 pounds on a block facing Warren Road and Castlereagh Street. A small committee was formed to confer with an architect and submit plans and specifications to the existing committee of the Gilgandra District Soldiers' War Memorial Literary Institute, who were authorised to make the necessary financial arrangements, accept tenders and complete the work. 

The Gilgandra Weekly, 4 October 1923 described the official opening of the institute on 3 October by Mr W.F. Dunn, M.L.A. A large number of local and district residents attended and the Shire President Councillor E. Townsend presided and presented Mr Dunn with a silver key to open the building. Major Buchanan (Tooraweenah) was called upon to unveil the memorial tablet presented to the institute by the employees of M. McLeod Ltd. This contained the names of all of the Gilgandra district soldiers who fell in the Great War. This tablet was moved to the Gilgandra War Memorial in 1997.