Weddings for up to 200 seated guests, conferences, workshops and private parties can be organized at Audley Dance Hall & Cafe, a heritage-listed hall built in 1949 at Audley, the northern entrance to the Royal National Park south of Sydney. The hall looks over the Hacking River from a long verandah, and a cafe and lawns add space for smaller groups.
Seminars and company events
The Dance Hall takes conferences, workshops and corporate days over a half day, a full day or three days. It can be set up classroom, theater or boardroom style, with areas for breakout groups. The equipment includes a built-in color projector, a 6-meter drop-down screen and a full AV system with a wireless microphone. Breaks can be taken in the hall or outdoors: espresso coffee for morning tea, lunch under the trees, house-made pastries and sweets in the afternoon, cold-pressed juice and house-made soda. For team building, National Park rangers can lead guided walks, and the Audley Boatshed across the weir hires rowboats, canoes and kayaks on the river.
Weddings and receptions
The grounds offer six ceremony locations with views over the park, and a wet-weather option is covered. Receptions take place in the Dance Hall, with seated dinners for up to 200 guests, and the hall also works for smaller weddings. Guests are welcomed with canapés on the verandah. The venue also hosts engagements, birthdays, dinner parties, christenings and life celebrations.
Rooms and capacities
The Dance Hall seats up to 200. It has timber-lined walls, high ceilings and a timber dance floor across the whole room, and its doors open onto a wide sloping verandah that runs the full length of the building. The Cafe hosts small groups of 12 to 24 guests. The outdoor areas are used for private catered events of 24 guests or more.
Accommodation
The Audley Ranger's Cottage, 50 meters from the hall, has two bedrooms and is offered to wedding guests. It is reached by a 30-meter footpath from the car park below, with no vehicle access. Inside the park, Reids Flat Cottage, Hilltop Cottage and the Weemelah Cottages have three to four bedrooms each. Bundeena, a seaside town about 20 minutes away, has bed and breakfasts and holiday rentals.
Catering
The venue runs its own food and beverage service. Event menus change with the seasons and are built for sharing: feasting platters, shared dishes, canapés and grazing tables. The team handles the cooking and the cleaning, and the plan can follow a set outline or be built to the host's requirements. Morning, lunch and dinner events are possible. The cafe makes its cakes, sweets and sandwiches in house and marks gluten-free and vegan dishes.
History and setting
Audley was known as the pleasure grounds and has drawn day visitors since the mid-1800s for paddling, bowls, cricket and tennis. The Dance Hall was built in 1949 as a community place for dancing and shared meals, and it was refurbished in 2010 with modern amenities. The Royal National Park was established in 1879 and is described as the second-oldest national park in the world. Before European settlement the land was home to the Gweagal people, a Dharawal-speaking clan.
Getting there
The address is 2 Lady Carrington Drive, Royal National Park, NSW 2233. Audley is about 10 minutes from Sutherland, 40 minutes from Wollongong and 45 minutes from Sydney, and it marks the start of the Grand Pacific Drive. There is plenty of parking on site, which is rare in the park.
