Cinema Web is a Western Australian database that provides photographs and details about picture theatres and cinemas. In 2007 Dr. Ina Bertrand in Melbourne offered a large amount of research material that she had accumulated . A great deal was used in the development of her Cinema Web project which was transferred to Pictures in Motion’s custodianship in 2007. Pictures in Motion is grateful to Dr Bertrand for the data.
2015: Many new photos have been donated to Pictures in Motion which are now being added to the Cinema Web site and the site will continue to be updated. Pictures in Motion has inadvertently used a picture which does not have the photographers’ permission, please let us know so that we can remove it from the site.
Acknowledgement from Dr Bertrand.
Bill Turner embarked on this project with me. Though he withdrew after several years, so he cannot be held responsible for flaws in the final product, his contributions – and particularly his photographs – were invaluable. I am also grateful for the contributions of several research assistants over the years, including Ilma Jasper, Colleen Pead and Heather Dale.
The generosity of the West Australian Film Pioneers has been inspirational. Many of them have talked to me at length and allowed me to copy treasured photographs. In particular, Arthur Stiles has been a continuing mentor, and did not give up on me even when the ‘finished’ product took more than twenty years to arrive.
The research on which this site is based began in 1978. Since then, hundreds of people have contributed – providing documents, images and information. Every effort has been made to list in each entry those who have contributed to that entry – but over the years some names have probably been overlooked, for which I can only apologise. I must also thank the many writers of local histories which I have combed for information: they have often provided the clue to get me started in the right direction. Max Bell’s book was the pioneering effort in the field, but it has been his contributions, and those of Jack Honnibal, to the journal “Kino” (the magazine of the Australian Theatre and Cinema Historical Society) which have been most valuable in alerting me to changes in the venues over many years. Vyonne Geneve’s research on art deco cinemas in WA has also been outstanding. The West Australian system of Heritage Inventories has been a great help, and I hope that, as more of these are completed and existing ones refined, new information about cinema venues will appear.
Stella Files and Graeme Bertrand have provided support all through the long gestation period of this project: it could not have been completed without them.
Sam Hinton came into this project only in the last two years, but it would never have reached the web without him. I am particularly grateful for his endless patience with a web-novice. Many thanks, too, to Brian Sheosmith and Arshad Omari, who recognised the site’s potential, and to Edith Cowan university for hosting the site and for providing the technical backup to make it viable.
The information in this database illustrates how important film has been in the lives of the people of Western Australia, for more than a century. This influence has strengthened and waned in different parts of the state at different times, but, as a new century opens, the pundits who predicted the end of cinema seem – happily, for those of us who love film – to have got it wrong…
Ina Bertrand
October 2001
Copyright in images is held by the person credited. Images from this site can be re-used in any form, provided that the following principles are followed: Copyright in all text is held by Ina Bertrand, except where another writer is cited. Text can be re-used in any form, provided recognised citation procedures are followed.
- Acknowledgement is made of this site as the source of the image.
- Acknowledgement is made of the copyright holder.
- No alteration is made to the image.
- This site is notified (preferably by email) within one month of the usage.
Contact Details
With regard to content issues, Pictures in Motion can be contacted as follows:
PO Box 5147
Dalkeith, Western Australia,6009
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
email: WARegion@ammpt.asn.au
How to read this site
This is a database: it is descriptive rather than analytical, in the hope that once reasonably reliable data is available historical analysis can proceed with more confidence.
The information it contains is incomplete and fallible. Readers are invited to correct and/or to add information. The database will be periodically updated.
Entries are organised by physical location. Except where the information is not available, each entry contains the following:
- Street address, town
- Name/s of venue (earliest to most recent)
- Description and history of the venue, including changes over time to: buildings and fittings, seating accommodation, ownership and/or management, staffing, facilities and services, anecdotal information from management or audience.
- Sources, listed in this order:
- official records (Post Office Directories, local government records, etc);
- books;
- journals and newspapers;
- interviews (name of interviewer): name of person interviewed (year of interview);
- informants (year)
- photographs and diagrams ( year and photographer)
‘Interviews’ have been recorded, and are held either by the interviewer or by libraries (e.g. Battye Library, Perth) or archives (e.g. ScreenSound, Canberra).
‘Informants’ have provided information less formally, in conversations or in letters.
Those photographs for which copyright permission has been obtained are provided on the site Others can only be consulted through the sources listed.