laid by Mayor Hill on 6 December 1930. The new Chambers, designed in the Inter-War Georgian Revival style by architects Herbert & Wilson (Leonard Federick Herbert and Edward Douglas Wilson), was officially opened on 16 May 1931 by the Minister for Local Government, William McKell. A new 'Civic Centre' concept with the provision of a performance hall, for a site on McMahon Street north of Dora Street was first proposed Mayor Olds on 17 July 1947, and was the subject of continuing debate throughout the 1950s. The project was finally approved by Council in June 1954. Designed in the Post-War International Style by architects Peddle Thorp & Walker and built by James S. Samson & Co. of Parramatta, the new Civic Centre included an auditorium which seated 1264 people (named Marana Hall in 1964, meaning 'place of stars') and a smaller hall (named Amaroo Hall in 1964, meaning 'lovely place'). Completed at a cost of £320,000, the Civic Centre was officially opened on 2 June 1962 by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Eric Woodward. After the completion of the Civic Centre in 1962, the former Council Chambers further down on McMahon Street was tenanted by the Bank of New South Wales from 1963 to 1965 and the St George Police-Citizens Boys' Club from 1966 to 1969, before being demolished in January 1974 for the 'Hurstville House' office/retail development. The foundation stones from the old Council Chambers were incorporated into façade of 1962 Civic Centre. In January 1977, Hurstville Council acquired the former 'Rivoli Hall' on the other corner of Dora Street and McMahon Street, which was soon demolished to make way for a Brutalist style extension to the Civic Centre that would incorporate a new central library designed by the Council Architect. The extension and library, completed at a cost of approximately $4.3 million, was officially opened on 30 July 1982 by the Premier of New South Wales, Neville Wran. Amalgamation proposals Efforts to bring about a unified council for the St George area were raised regularly since 1901 and the 1946 Clancy Royal Commission into local government boundaries recommended the amalgamation of the municipalities of Hurstville, Kogarah, Rockdale and Bexley. In the following act of parliament passed in December 1948, the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948, the recommendations of the commission were modified, leading only to the merger of Bexley and Rockdale councils. A merger was again