Quicklinks

AGNEW

AGNEW PICTURE GARDENS

Agnew Picture Gardens c 1938

Beryl Demasson remembers that before the war Alf Peterson screened at Agnew, in an open air venue beside the hotel. Once a week, cars would drive in and face the screen, with sound broadcast from loudspeakers. These screenings were being presented at least in 1938 and may have started as early as 1935, but they stopped when Alf enlisted. When he returned from the war in 1946, he tried to start up again, and is listed in the 1947 Post Office Directory and the 1948/9 Film Weekly as exhibitor at Agnew Gardens. But the venture was not so successful this time, and he moved on to Leonora and Laverton and other nearby townships.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41, 1948/9, Post Office Directory 1947
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Beryl Demasson (1999)
Photo: 1 exterior, b&w, n.d. (1938?), Beryl Demasson

ALBANY

BORONIA DRIVE-IN ,Troode St, Albany

Boronia Gardens Albany 1988This drive-in was located on the western side of Troode St, Collingwood Park, opposite the intersection with Wright St. It was built by Albany Theatres to counter the third drive-in announced for Albany – the Central 70. It was operated by Phil Smith who also operated the Orana. Once the Boronia was opened in January 1964, screenings ceased in the Middleton Beach Hall. The last advertisement for the Boronia was on 22 March 1967, only three years after it opened.The site was purchased by the Christian Family Church, and in 1997 nothing was left of the drive-in.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1965/6 – 1966/7
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes,Sussex, 1986, p.131
Albany Advertiser , 1964 – 1965
Daily News 7 February 1968
Interviews (Colleen Pead): Ron Crisp (1986), Ron Woods (1986)
Photos: exterior, 1988, Roy Mudge

CENTRAL 70 DRIVE-IN Barker Rd, Albany

Central 70 Albany 1988This drive-in opened on 26 December 1964, on the western side of Barker St, opposite the intersection with Stead Rd. It was called the Central 70 because it was the most centrally located of the three drive-ins in the town and the only one to have 70mm projection facilities. It was built for Albany Investments Pty Ltd, a local syndicate with R. W. Wood as secretary, Lindsay Day and Fred (or Syd?) Moore as directors, and Ron Crisp as manager of the cinema. Dorsets later bought out Day, Moore and Woods, and by 1981 Albany Investments was run by John Barnsby. It had provision for 480 cars and 180 seated patrons. In 1982 Orana Holdings took over the Central 70 lease, and ran it from 7 October 1982 to 10 February 1983, when the Siemiginowski family bought Orana Holdings, including the Central 70 lease, and immediately closed the Central 70. They held the lease for only a few weeks before the land was sold, and subdivided for an industrial estate. City Theatres bought the Central 70 equipment and Alan Crew installed it in the Beechline.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1965/6 – 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.132
Albany Advertiser, 1964 – 1965
Interviews (Colleen Pead): Ron Crisp (1986), Ron Woods (1986)
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Alan Crew (1997)
Informant: Ron Siemiginowski (1997)

CREMORNE GARDENS Stirling Tce, Albany

The Royal George Hotel was built on the north side of upper Stirling Terrace between York St and Spencer St. On 28 November 1896, the Cremorne Gardens opened behind the hotel, with Edward Reynolds registered as proprietor and W. B. Warner as lessee. The venue had been the yard of the hotel, and the local newspaper reporter was impressed with the transformation:

Entering under the archway from Stirling-terrace, visitors pass up a gravelled walk festooned with Chinese lanterns, illuminated with numerous gas-jets, and bordered with flower beds. Passing the entrance door, the full effect of the improvements is at once seen. In the background is a convenient stage, with scenery, wings, festoons of drapery, and flags. The side walls are cleverly painted by Mr H.Tassell, who has depicted mountains, lakes, thick bush and partial clearings, winding rivers and stately gullies, in a decidedly effective manner. The middle of the gardens has a fountain, whose falling waters give refreshing suggestions to eye and ear. In one corner stands a cleverly-arranged piece of rockery. Flower beds and borders have been filled with pot plants in bloom, including fragrant musk, gaudy phloxes, carnations, pansies, chrysanthemums, dahlias, lilies, ferns, and native plants. These in a short time will be thoroughly established, and even at present relieve the newly formed parterres from nakedness. Long branches of bright borganvillia (sic), pendant from fountain and vases, look decidedly handsome as floral decorations, and the full-leaved almond tree in one corner fits in with the new surroundings admirably, and supplies a welcome shade for occupants of rustic seats. The entire area has been turfed, and at necessary places neat gravelled walks bisect the lawn. [At night]… Fairy lamps, Chinese lanterns, and brilliant gas jets in fancy globes have, by Mr A. Reeve’s mechanical skill, been placed in advantageous places, and shed sufficient light for comfort and effect. (Albany Advertiser, 1 December 1896)

It was a live venue, with various entertainments available in the gardens setting, and a section for theatrical performances which was part-roofed in 1897 to allow the season to extend.On 11 January 1906 the Theatre Gardens re-opened after a long break, under the direction of Gerald Shaw. From February 1906, travelling film exhibitors screened there occasionally, for instance the Great American Vitascope Co from 10-17 February 1906, and the Ada Delroy Co with the London Bioscope in April that year. These screenings were conducted in competition with others at the Town Hall and the Princess Pavilion. The Cremorne Gardens was damaged by fire in 1910 and never returned to use as a motion picture venue.

Sources: Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.105
Donald S.Garden, Albany: a panorama of the sound from 1

DOWNTOWN CINEMA, 96 Stirling Tce, Albany

Albany Downtown Cinema 1981

On 9 January 1980, when the only remaining film venue in the town was the Orana drive-in, a new hardtop cinema appeared – the Downtown Cinema, built inside a shopping arcade in Stirling Tce (now Proudlove Ave) and with only 200 seats. By 1982 the lease was owned by Orana Holdings, and so was sold to the Siemiginowski family when they bought Orana Holdings. They operated the Downtown till November 1987, when they transferred to Cinema One in the Town Hall.In 1997, the building was Stirling Terrace Arcade, containing shops and a restaurant.

Sources: Informants: Ron Siemiginowski (1997), Ron Woods (1986)
Photos: 1 exterior, 1981, colour, Bill Turner
1 exterior, 1985, colour, Robert Newton

MIDDLETON BEACH TEA ROOMS, Middleton Beach, Albany

Edgar Green owned Greens Hall in the v formed by the intersection of Marine Drive and Adelaide Cres, Middleton Beach. In the fifties, 16mm films were screened in Greens Hall six nights a week by Ron Crisp, but screenings ceased when the Orana Drive-in was opened. In 1997, Greens Hall was used as the Beachside Restaurant.

Sources: Interviews (Colleen Pead): Ron Crisp (1986), Ron Woods (1986)
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Len Lambert (1997)

ORANA DRIVE-IN Albany Hwy, Albany/ ALBANY TWO/ ALBANY THREE

Orana 1987

Golden Nugget Theatre 1980’s

Newspaper advert 1989

Pioneer World was a theme park, containing a street of buildings like those in a small township of the last century. On a prominent corner site within this complex was the Golden Nugget Theatre, opened officially on 10 April 1981. This is a two-storey, red brick building, with impressive copper doors, and seating 250 people.

The complex has had several owners, and been used in different ways. At one stage, in 1989, 16mm black and white films were regularly screened in the theatre: it is not clear when these screenings ceased, or who operated them. Dennis McKenna presented screenings there for some months. In 1990 Max Bell listed the venue as recently refurbished and now up for sale. In 1997 the theatre had been closed for some, and, though the park was still open, only some of the other premises were open for business.

Sources: Kino no.29, September 1989, p.23; no.31, March 1990, p.23
West Australian 1989
Informant: Chris Simmons (2002)
Newspaper cutting and photograph, AMMPT archives

MECHANICS INSTITUTE/ARMADALE HALL AND GARDENS, Jull St, Armadale

Armadale Hall c 1980

Quicklinks

BAKER’S HILL

The HALL

In the late forties and early fifties, Fitzgerald’s Circuit Pictures regularly visited Baker’s Hill.
Sources: Film Weekly Directory, 1948/9 – 1950/51

BALCATTA

GLENWAY DRIVE-IN THEATRE ,Wanneroo Rd, Balga

The Glenway drive-in, with provision for 300 cars, was built for Ace Theatres in 1967, on the western side of Wanneroo Rd, Balga (now part of Balcatta). It was closed and demolished in 1985, and is now the site for the Stirling Gate shopping centre.

Sources: Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459

Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, p.127
Film Weekly Directory 1966/7-1971
West Australian 1967-1984
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Arthur Stiles (1985)

Photos: 2 colour exteriors, 1981 (Bill Turner)

BALINGUP

AGRICULTURAL HALL/ ROADS BOARD HALL cnr Jayes Rd and Roberts St, Balingup

The Agricultural Hall was built about 1905 with a government grant to the Farmers and Settlers Association. The Municipal Heritage Inventory describes it in 1996:

This red brick building has flat gauged arches above the windows. The mortar joints have been painted white, which gives the whole building a very striking checkered appearance. A double jarrah door entrance is on Jayes Rd side, with a single door on Robert St. The open fire place has been converted to a servery from the kitchen, with narrow ramps each side leading to the kitchen area. The ceiling is of T&G pine (Cedar), while the interior walls are rendered and painted.

In 1930 the old hall became the supper room for the new hall, built on its west side. In 1996, this complex is described in the Municipal Heritage Inventory:

Situated on the corner of Robert Street and Jayes Road, and incorporating the original Agricultural Hall into the design, a new red brick hall was built, using stone foundations because of the sloping site. It has an iron roof, wide cement ramp entrance, ticket box, large jarrah double doors into the entrance foyer, double jarrah doors to the mail hall, double doors on the eastern side to the supper room (old hall), and double doors on the west side exit. At the southern end is a wooden stage area with stairs on both sides. Behind the stage, with a weather board and fibro exterior are storage and dressing areas. Leading off the main foyer are a powder room and therapy room. Next to the entrance ramp is a separate office, now the library, formerly the Roads Board Office and Shire Office. Above the library is the old projector room, with access from outside by stairway (since removed). Internal/external toilets are connected to the hall. There is also an honour roll for armed service personnel.

Local historian A.C.Frost describes how these halls were used from very early for motion pictures:

Mr Rob Lukis can remember when the first pictures were screened in Balingup in 1906. It was a biograph operated by Bartlett’s pictures. As a young boy Mr Joe Bovell remembers the time he used to turn the handle of Mr Fred Leach’s cinematograph which he brought from Donnybrook to Mullalyup. For this service young Bovell was allowed in free. These shows operated only spasmodically. (p.49)

He also explains how a district with such a small and dispersed population came to have two pictures shows:

When the new hall was built in 1930 the Board had several requests for a screening of pictures, which by then had reached a much higher standard than the early ´flicks’. Three operators, H. Delavale, F.West and E.Hawter were given the right to screen pictures once a month on a rental charge of 35/- a night. Two years later this arrangement was rescinded. Talkies were introduced and F.E.West was given the right to screen once a fortnight. Pictures were screened on a Saturday night and as this was the night when most local organisations wanted to conduct dances, concerts and such like functions, there was inevitable conflict between the two interests. West had a disagreement with the Board and decided to build his own hall and screen pictures independently. In March 1936 he submitted plans and specifications for a hall on Lot 16 and these were signed by the chairman, W.M.Jenkins. This brought loud cries of protest and a special ratepayers’ meeting was convened to protest at the Board’s action in granting permission for a hall to be erected in opposition to the district hall. The chairman justified the action by explaining that it was not the Board’s policy to interfere with private enterprise.

In the meantime Gray and Friend were granted the sole right to show pictures in the district hall fortnightly at £2 per night. Gray himself took over the contract in April 1927 and by then West was showing in his own hall. Inevitably this led to a clash of dates for picture nights despite the fact that ´talkie’ pictures were enjoying a boom at this time, The result was that in June 1939 West took over Gray’s picture contract and the Board was left without a tenant. In September the Board invited Goldfields Pictures to rent the hall for pictures but eventually S. Jeffries took over the picture rights for the district hall. (pp.49-50)

Film Weekly Directory lists Balingup on A.H.Jeffries’ circuit from 1958/9-1964/5.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1958/9-1964/5

Shire of Donnybrook/Balingup, Municipal Heritage Inventory, Place nos. 48, 48(a)
Max Bell, Perth, a cinema history, The Book Guild Ltd, Lewes, Sussex 1986, p.100-101
A.C.Frost, Baylya-Balinga: a history of Balingup, Donnybrook-Balingup Shire Publishers 1979, pp.49-50

WEST’S HALL , Forrest St, Balingup

Balingup already had a large and commodious public hall in 1930, when Fred West decided to build his own hall for use as a picture theatre. The Municipal Heritage Inventory describes West’s like this:

The Balingup Picture Theatre Hall was built in 1936. The owner, Fred West, screened pictures there until 1958 when he sold the business to Mr Wilfred Walter, who leased the premises to Mr Henry Gruber. The picture theatre is a large weatherboard and iron roof hall, 30 x 60 ft, lined with 18″ jarrah skirting board and jarrah dado approximately 6ft. The continuation of the building has cardboard fibre board walls and ceilings in panels with jarrah battens. The frontage consisted of an enclosed ticket office (west side) and projector room (east side, with outside steps). Between double entry doors two sets of double doors exists. Four sets of upright windows separated outside toilets at far boundary on laneway (now demolished) facing Forrest Street.

The vacant land adjoining building is the site of the outdoor theatre also operated by Mr West. The projector viewing area was from the east side of the projector room. The screen was placed on the eastern boundary of lot 16. A wooden planked fence on the street side screened this from public viewing. Deck chairs from the theatre were used. Mr West had his own power plant for the theatre before being connected to the town SEC supply.

Local historian, A.C.Frost, describes how a district with such a small and dispersed population came to have two pictures shows:

When the new hall was built in 1930 the Board had several requests for a screening of pictures, which by then had reached a much higher standard than the early ´flicks’. Three operators, H. Delavale, F.West and E.Hawter were given the right to screen pictures once a month on a rental charge of 35/- a night. Two years later this arrangement was rescinded. Talkies were introduced and F.E.West was given the right to screen once a fortnight. Pictures were screened on a Saturday night and as this was the night when most local organisations wanted to conduct dances, concerts and such like functions, there was inevitable conflict between the two interests. West had a disagreement with the Board and decided to build his own hall and screen pictures independently. In March 1936 he submitted plans and specifications for a hall on Lot 16 and these were signed by the chairman, W.M.Jenkins. This brought loud cries of protest and a special ratepayers’ meeting was convened to protest at the Board’s action in granting permission for a hall to be erected in opposition to the district hall. The chairman justified the action by explaining that it was not the Board’s policy to interfere with private enterprise.

In the meantime Gray and Friend were granted the sole right to show pictures in the district hall fortnightly at £2 per night. Gray himself took over the contract in April 1927 and by then West was showing in his own hall. Inevitably this led to a clash of dates for picture nights despite the fact that ´talkie’ pictures were enjoying a boom at this time, The result was that in June 1939 West took over Gray’s picture contract and the Board was left without a tenant.

The Board then invited other exhibitors, who continued to screen in opposition to West’s hall. But West’s continued till 1958, when the premises were used as a packing shed, and then as a residence.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1957/8
Shire of Donnybrook/Balingup, Municipal Heritage Inventory, Place no.36
Max Bell, Perth, a cinema history, The Book Guild Ltd, Lewes, Sussex 1986, p.100-101
A.C.Frost, Baylya-Balinga: a history of Balingup, Donnybrook-Balingup Shire Publishers 1979, pp.49-50

BALLIDU

HALL

Ray Dean sold his circuit to Neil McKee and Dave Cox in the fifties. They screened in Ballidu fortnightly, and this continued after Vic Basham bought McKee’s share of the business. After Basham and Cox separated, Basham continued fortnightly screenings in Ballidu, till they ceased once drive-ins began to open in the area.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory , 1940/41 – 1950/51
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Vic Basham (1997)

BANKSIADALE

CENTENNIAL HALL

The town that grew up around No.2 State Mill was later named Banksiadale. It was owned by State Building Supplies, and was the most modern mill town of its time, the only one with electricity. It survived the 1961 fires that burned out nearby Dwellingup, but in 1963 the mill was sold to the Hawker Siddeley Group in England. On 24 June 1963 the mill itself was razed by fire. Company Secretary M. Ledingham was quoted as saying: the fire ´neatly removed the main building… Thousands of pounds worth of sleepers and other stock was nearby, some of it within ten yards of the mill. Yet this was untouched.’ (West Australian 24 June 1963) The townsfolk were suspicious of this fire, even though the company promised its 110 employees that they would be re-employed and the mill rebuilt. Instead, the workers were re-employed by adding an extra shift at Dwellingup: the Banksiadale mill was never rebuilt, 34 mill houses were relocated to Dwellingup, and businesses closed down, leaving the town almost deserted, but some older residents stayed on till they were forced to leave. For this town was submerged under the South Dandalup Dam, opened 8 February 1974 as part of the water supply system for Perth.

While the town was still alive, films were regularly screened in the Centennial Hall, which could seat 250 people: for instance, W.A.Redman is listed as screening there one night per week from the early forties to the early sixties. This was another of those country towns where young boys would ride round on their bikes ringing a bell to warn of the arrival of the picture show that night.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1962/3
Elsie Turner, ´Death of a mill town’, Countryman, 10 September 1970, p.46, West Australian 24 June 1963, p.1

BASSENDEAN

(BASSENDEAN PICTURE GARDENS)\ WONDERVIEW PICTURES , 14-16 Old Perth Rd (now Guildford Rd), Bassendean

This was numbered 194 Old Perth Rd, at the time that the venue opened in 1927 (It may have opened as Bassendean Picture Gardens earlier than this – 1925?). From the Post Office Directory, it seems to have been built on the north side of Guildford Rd, west of Wilson Street, and in the middle of a strip of shops: the entrance may have been between the shops, with the picture gardens located behind the shops. It was a simple open air pictures, without a hardtop, and was run by the Snook family, who also ran the Lyric (Maylands): however, the nearby Town Hall was used for an indoor venue in cold or wet weather, when this did not conflict with the screenings by the regular Town Hall exhibitor. The Wonderview closed in 1946, and the site was later used for a shopping arcade.

Sources: Jennie Carter, Bassendean: a social history 1829 – 1979, Town of Bassendean, Perth WA, 1986, pp.196-7, 265, Post Office Directory 1927 – 1946
Interview (Ina Bertrand): R. Yelland (1985)

Photos: 1 exterior (shopping arcade), colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)

WEST GUILDFORD HALL/ TOWN HALL AND GARDENS/ARCADIA AND GARDENS, 48,54 Old Perth Rd (now Guildford Rd), Bassendean

Bassendean was at first the west ward of the Shire of Guildford. The first films screened in the district were probably in the West Guildford Hall, built on the north side of Guildford Rd, east of Wilson St. Screenings may have begun in 1913, and certainly one early screening took place on Boxing Day 1914. Bob Yelland remembers that Mr Flood, who also operated the Vaudeville Theatre in Guildford Town Hall, provided film screenings in the West Guildford Town Hall in the early silent period (at least from around 1910).

So, regular screenings in the Town Hall seem to have been running before the Wonderview was opened in the next block: early proprietors of the Town Hall pictures were Mr Jones of the Majestic Picture Company, then Frank Piaggio and later Paddy Baker. Bob Yelland was an operator for both the latter, then took over the business himself, at first in partnership with Cameron and later on his own (as Greater X-L Tone Amusements). In the silent days the show had a seven-piece orchestra.

In approx. 1937, a new gardens, with lawns and trees, was built next door to the hall, and named the Arcadia Gardens. For some time both the Arcadia and the Wonderview open air venues co-existed, but the Arcadia was the longer-lived, surviving till 1963.

The Bassendean Town Council buildings are now on the site of the early hall, and the Senior Citizens centre on the site of the gardens.

Sources:Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.20
Jennie Carter, Bassendean: a social history 1829 – 1979, Town of Bassendean, Perth WA, 1986, pp.196-7, 265
Film Weekly Directory, 1943 – 1962
Post Office Directory, 1926 – 1949
West Australian, 26 December 1914; 1937 – 1963
Interview (I. Bertrand): R. Yelland (1985)

BAYSWATER

BAYSWATER HALL AND GARDENS 7 Slade St, Bayswater

The first Bayswater Roads Board Hall was opened in 1898, but the current building was opened 24 September 1914, and soon was used for a regular weekly picture show, operated first by a Mr Nielsen, then Mrs Jones, then Mr Robinson. Screenings ceased for a while in the early days of talkies, but resumed in 1936 when this venue was part of R.R.Perrie’s circuit, which also included Gosnells, Armadale, Queens Park and Rivervale. The hall held 350 people, and in 1953 a gardens seating a further 400 was added, next door to the hall. Screenings continued till 1967. In 1997 the hall was used as a church, and the gardens site was a carpark.

Sources: Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.20
Max Bell, ‘Bayswater cinema’, Kino 74, Summer 2000, p.31
Film Weekly Directory, 1940/41 – 1966/7
Post Office Directory, 1940 – 1949
West Australian, 1954 – 1967

Photos: 1 exterior (old hall visible behind new front section), colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)

BECKENHAM

WAVERLEY DRIVE-IN THEATRE ,cnr Camberwell & William Sts, Beckenham

The Waverley drive-in, with provision for 530 cars, was built by a consortium, of which Goldfields Pictures was the largest shareholder. It opened 31 December 1964, on the corner of William, Camberwell and Sevenoaks Sts: this location between the Albany Highway and the railway line allowed easy access both by car and, for those still without such transport, by train, as it was next to Beckenham station. It was operated at first by Alan Larkin, using mainly Metro product, then in 1971 it was absorbed into the Ace group. In 1985 it was leased on a monthly tenancy to an independent operator, but it closed in May 1989 and the site was cleared for a housing estate (though nothing had been built there by mid-1997).

Sources: Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, p.129
Film Weekly Directory, 1964 – 1971
Kino no.25, September 1988, p.23; no.29, September 1989, p.23
West Australian, 26 February 1964, 29 July 1964, 31 December 1964, 1964 – 1988
Interview (I. Bertrand): Arthur Stiles (1985)

BEDFORD

BEDFORD PARK GARDENS, Walter Rd, Bedford

This site was bought by the manager of the Capri cinema, but he died soon after and the land was sold to Goldfields Pictures. They built the gardens in 1955 on the corner of Grand Promenade, and sold it in 1960.

Sources: Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, p.55
West Australian, 1957 – 1960
Interview (I.Bertrand): R. Elsegood (1985)

BEECHBORO

BEECHLINE DRIVE-IN THEATRE, Beechboro Rd, Beechboro

This drive-in was the 83rd in the state, and the 17th in the metropolitan area. It is technically in Ballajura, but the area is popularly described as Beechboro, and the drive-in draws its name from that suburb. It was built on the north-west corner of Marshall Rd for City Theatres, at a cost of $250,000, and opened 24 February 1971/2.

The cinema was designed by architects Broadhurst, Ryan and Evans, with provision for 500 cars:

The Beechline Drive-in is the first in Western Australia with a cafeteria specially designed for self-service. The screen is equal to the biggest in the State, with an area of 96 feet by 43 feet. The most modern equipment has been installed and this can be adapted for 70mm. A sit-in area can accommodate 40 patrons and the 13 acre site allows for future expansion.
The drive-in will be landscaped and a children’s playground is to be built. (Australasian Exhibitor, February 1972)

In 1983, City Theatres bought the 70mm projectors from the Central 70 when that drive-in closed in Albany, and had them installed in the Beechline. The venue seems to have ceased screening in 1985. In 1988 Hoyts took over City Theatres, and immediately closed all six drive-ins: the Beechline was put on the market for $300,000, but was slow to sell. In 1997, Potter’s House Christian Centre was located on the site.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Kino, no.25, September 1988, p.23; no.26, December, p.23
West Australian, 1972 – 1985
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Alan Crew (1997)

Photos: 2 exterior, colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)

BELLEVUE

HALL

Film Weekly Directory lists Bart Mott’s Star Entertainments circuit as screening in Bellevue 1951/2-1952/3, then A.E.Randell’s circuit 1953/4-1957/8.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1951/2 – 1957/8

BELMONT

BELVEDERE GARDENS, Belvedere St, Belmont

This gardens, built on the eastern corner of Belvedere and Gardiner Sts and holding 200 patrons, was run by the Fitzgerald family. It opened in 1948 and closed in 1961.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory, 1948 – 1962
West Australian, 1953 – 1961

EASTWAY DRIVE-IN THEATRE, Golf St, Belmont

This drive-in was part of the Ace chain. It was built between Harold and Golf Streets, and opened 20 July 1959, with a capacity for 460 cars, which was later increased till it could cater for 590 in 1971. It closed for three years in the eighties, then opened again (no ads after 1985?). In 1988 the site was sold for use as a public car market.

In 1997 it was a housing estate. The highway had been remade (Resolution Drive added) and an entirely new subdivision had obliterated all traces of Harold and Golf Sts, which were approximately where Lakewood Ave and Crake Sts are now.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1959/60 – 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, p.126
Vyonne Geneve, ´William Leighton, architect’, Kino, no.25, September 1988, pp.7 – 15
Film Weekly, 23 July 1959, p.3
Film Weekly Directory, 1960-1971
Kino, no.23, March 1988, p.23; no.25, September 1988, p.23
West Australian, 1959 – 1985
Interview (I.Bertrand & Bill Turner): John Pye (1981)

Photos: 1 exterior, colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)

READING CINEMAS BELMONT, Belmont Ave, Belmont

This $13m ten-cinema complex within the Belmont Forum, was opened by Readings in December 1999, despite earlier opposition from Hoyts (which claimed the Council had not taken parking into consideration when granting the permit).

Sources: Kino, no.63, Autumn 1998, p.34; no.66, Summer 1998, p.30; no.70, Summer 1999, p.35

West Australian 1999 – 2000

BENCUBBIN

BENCUBBIN DRIVE-IN, Monger St, Bencubbin

Bencubbin Drive In 1980’s

Bencubbin 1980’s

Screen Bencubbin 1980’s

Projector room Bencubbin 1980’s

Bencubbin Drive in 1987

Bencubbin Drive in 1987. The Projection Room

This small drive-in, holding only 75 cars, was built on shire land at the southern end of Monger St. It was operated by J.M.Tilka of Perth, and opened in 1964/5? John Marsden took it over in the late seventies, until it was partly dismantled in 1980, then completely demolished to make way for the Shire Caravan Park which now occupies the site.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1966/7 – 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex 1986, p.131
Max Bell, Kino, no.13, September 1985, p.14
F.H.Broomhall, Mount Marshall: a history of its people from earliest times to 1942 , Shire of Mount Marshall, 1983 Interview (Ina Bertrand): John Marsden (1997)

Photos: 3 exterior & 1 interior, 1980’s, Max Bell.

1 interior and 1 exterior, colour, 1987, Roy Mudge

MOUNT MARSHALL ROAD BOARD HALL/ MOUNT MARSHALL SHIRE HALL, Monger St, Bencubbin

The first Bencubbin Hall was built in 1921, of weatherboard and iron, before the Mount Marshall Roads Board was officially constituted in 1923. The first pictures shown there were by Delavale and Nelson, touring through regularly from 14 March 1922.

Soon after, Paddy Baker’s silent film circuit included Bencubbin, screening fortnightly on a Monday. Baker remembered it like this:

I first started showing pictures in the Mount Marshall district about the time the first hall was built in Bencubbin on a block behind the pub. I remember this hall particularly – it had a room at each corner of the building. The projector would be between the two rooms at one end of the hall, while the car would be positioned outside. I had a 1914 Dodge at first, then a T-model Ford, ran the projector off the rear wheel – jacked up one wheel. Another time I had a Silver Anniversary Buick and used to drive the projector off its gear box. (quoted in Broomhall, p.244)

The new hall was built for the Roads Board on the eastern corner of the intersection of Monger and Rupe Streets and opened on 30 July 1927. It was a stone and brick building with a symmetrical facade: the roof was corrugated iron on the hall section and tiles on the front office section. It had a floor space 60ft x 40ft and toilets and landings were added at the rear of the building in the fifties.

Early in 1928 Baker had a fire in the projector, but extinguished it promptly by closing the fireproof door of the bio-box, much to the relief of patrons. Perhaps it was to re-establish his reputation with the locals that in 1929 he donated a handsome cover for the panatrope machine, used to provide mechanical music for the dances also held in the hall. He introduced sound films to the town in 1932:

I ran a show called ´The Robe’ at Bencubbin in the then new Road Board hall, with sound. To make it good I had two big speakers. It was raining a gale that night with rain beating on the windows in a continual roar. When it came to the point where Judas says “I have betrayed him”, I turned those loud speakers on full belt and what with this noise inside and the rain roaring outside there was quite a sensation. One lady who had a miscarriage shortly afterwards blamed me and my sound pictures for it! (quoted in Broomhall, p.244)

It is not clear when screening in the hall ceased, but probably by the mid-sixties.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1964/5
Mount Marshall Shire, Municipal Heritage Inventory, MM 02
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex 1986, p.131
Max Bell, Kino, no.13, September 1985, p.14
F.H.Broomhall, Mount Marshall: a history of its people from earliest times to 1942, Shire of Mount Marshall, 1983

Photos: 1 exterior, b&w, n.d, Mount Marshall Shire, Municipal Heritage Inventory, MM 02
1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

BENTLEY

HIGHWAY DRIVE-IN THEATRE 1235 Albany Highway, Bentley

This was Western Australia’s first drive-in, opened by the Lord Mayor of Perth at a gala preview screening of The Greatest Show on Earth on 13 October 1955. It was built for Ace Theatres to the design of architects Hobbs, Winning and Leighton. Building was hampered by unseasonal weather – high winds and heavy rain, which made problems for contractors not yet accustomed to such forms of construction.

It had a permit for 650 cars on its fifteen acres, but began more modestly with 500 at first: this was soon increased, and by 1971 it could hold 712. Because of its novelty, it was necessary to explain to potential patrons just what they could expect from such a place:

The theatre, which is only 5½ miles from the Perth G.P.O., is designed for family entertainment.
Services offered will include a trained nurse to care for infants.
The screen will be erected 18ft. above the ground, and will be 50ft. long and 36ft. deep.
All vehicles will be equipped with individual microphones, and customers will be able to regulate the sound-track volume to their own requirements.
By pressing a button on the microphone – which hooks onto the car dashboard – patrons will receive prompt service.
Cinemascope and other modern film equipment will be installed.
Cars will have easy access to the theatre, customers paying at a turnstile-type entrance, and exits will allow for a rapid flow of traffic.
All patrons will receive a good view of the screen because of the installations of drive-over ramps, which give the vehicles added elevation.

(West Australian, 19 February, 1955)

A further explanation was given in a short film shown early in the programme to those first patrons. The screen when finally erected was actually 42ft by 62ft. – the largest in Western Australia at that time. A permanent caretaker lived in a house on the site, and a 500-car holding area was provided as well as a children’s playground, a crazy golf course, food service right to your car, as well as a restaurant that served full meals. A uniformed staff attended patrons, just like those in the first-run hard-top venues. The venue was a great success and as people became accustomed to the idea other drive-ins proliferated.

The Highway was twinned in 1986 in anticipation of the closure of the Mellway, but closed in September 1994 and the site was sold for $2.5 mill, for housing development (a motel and housing estate had been built by 1997).

Sources: Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, p.127
Daily News, 6 March 1958
Film Weekly, 20 October 1955
Film Weekly Directory, 1955 – 1971
Kino, no.48, June 1994, p.32; no.49, September 1994, p.31
West Australian, 19 February 1955, 24 October 1955, 1955 – 1985…
Interview (I.Bertrand): Arthur Stiles (1985)

Photo: 1 exterior, b&w, n.d., Stage, Screen and Stars, West Australian, n.d. (1997?), p.44

MELODY GARDENS, Queen St, Bentley

This simple open air cinema opened in 1953/6?, introduced cinemascope in 1957, and closed 1964.

Sources: Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, p.60
West Australian, 1956 – 1964

BEVERLEY

BEVERLEY DRIVE-IN 18 Hunt Rd, Beverley

Graham Ford built this drive-in in Hunt Rd on the east corner of Taylor St, on Council land, and opened it in 1965 (Bell says May 1966).

In 1966, Peter Thomson (the eight-year-old who had earlier assisted Ford at the hall screenings) took over the lease, while Graham Ford went north working on refrigeration. When Thomson shifted to Kambalda in 1967, he left the Beverley drive-in in the care of his brother George, but still organised film supply. They were running only one night a week, but Ford wanted it open more than that, so took the lease back. Brian Richard assisted Ford in Beverley, then in other drive-ins on Ford’s circuit, before taking over Kulin drive-in himself.

Facilities from the Beverley drive-in were transferred to Hyden in 1975. The site is now used by Lotex Carriage Works.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1965/6 – 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex 1986, p.131
Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Peter Thomson (1997), R.Yelland (1985)

TOWN HALL AND GARDENS, Vincent St, Beverley

The Salvation Army Biorama Company visited the town in October 1900 and again in September 1902, and they may have used the old Town Hall, on the west side of Vincent St, not far down from Hunt St, which burned down. The new Town Hall was built on the same site, with the foundation stone laid on 1 September 1938.

Beverley was surprisingly well-served by the early travelling shows. Stevenson’s Royal Biograph appeared there in December 1904 and January 1905 on the way to and from Albany, and the Corrick family, with Leonard’s Beautiful Pictures, visited in July 1907 and again in October 1909. In July 1907, the Taits brought the Kelly gang film and in January 1908 they screened Robbery under arms. The Musical All-Blacks and Page’s Supreme Pictures visited in April 1908. Alf Wheat (later of Geraldton) began his career in pictures operating a circuit which included Beverley in 1913-14, before he went to the First World War.

Percy Lambert ran the power plant and took on the picture show as well. When he went to World War 1, his brother Ernie Lambert supervised the business, and installed Mr L. Swan as manager. Percy Lambert returned from war with consumption and moved to Albany, selling the business to Swan, who operated there till at least 1928.

The next person to run the picture show in the old hall was probably Selby Ford, who was certainly there when the new hall was built. But Bob Yelland remembers that Consolidated Theatres won the tender, established an open air gardens beside the new hall, but closed early (1941?). MPDA records show Ford and Ford as proprietors of the Town Hall and Gardens 1942-44, screening two nights per week. So, it seems like that the show in the hew hall was run first by Selby Ford, then Yelland, then Selby and Graham Ford before they opened the drive-in. Peter Thomson, later of Coastal Cinemas which controlled the cinemas of Fremantle and Rockingham in the nineties, entered the industry as an eight-year-old, assisting Graham Ford on the slide projector in Beverley.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1964/5
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.101
Everyone’s, 1 February 1928, p.16
Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Peter Thomson (1997), R. Yelland (1985)
Limelight Picture Show Tours, http//:www.abc.net.au/limelight/docs/tours

Photos: 1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand. 3 exterior photos, colour, 1998, Roy Mudge

BIG BELL

PALAIS AND GARDENS/ HALL AND GARDENS 107-8 Pitt St, Big Bell

The Big Bell gold mine, 29 km west of Cue, opened first in 1904 but only for a short time. In 1913 it was re-opened by Jim Chesson and Bill Heydon, who worked it till 1926. From 1933 there were moves to re-open it and in 1935 the American Smelting and Refining Company took up the option.

The mine was declared open again on 2 October 1937, celebrated in the Palais Music and Dance Hall, with a glittering Hospital Ball. A special train brought the state Governor from Perth, with three hundred guests in full evening dress, dancing to Ron Jenkins’ popular dance band, and returning next morning at 3 a.m. The town of Big Bell soon became a thriving centre, with a hospital, hotel, post office, ice works, power house, many shops, and a Catholic Church.

Consolidated Theatres were screening in the Palais in 1938, and in the adjacent gardens. Both venues held 250 people, and one or the other was screening twice a week, depending on the weather. But within twelve months the building had burned down, and, as no insurer had been willing to take the risk on a cinema in a town without a reticulated water supply, the company had to bear the loss itself. Temporary premises were used – at first in the open air, then in a small hall – but the Big Bell cinema was never again of the quality of the first Palais.

In 1939, the town voted in a referendum to decide whether to build a new hall, and support was not universal as the shopkeepers in particular resented the additional rates that would be levied. However, the measure went ahead and the levy of seven pence in the pound funded the new hall. The second hall and gardens were of similar design to that in Cue. The simple corrugated iron hall had a built-in ticket box which could serve both venues. The gardens was built alongside, surrounded by a high corrugated iron fence, with entry beside the hall, under the bio-box which the two venues also shared. The concession servery was located in the front corner of the gardens, on the far side from the hall. The venue was used for other purposes as well as pictures: for instance in February 1940 a public meeting about the hospital was held there. The mine closed during World War 2, from 1943 to 1945, but the town survived this and revived after the war.

Bill Pigdon was the projectionist from his return from World War 2 in 1946 till the venue closed: Consolidated Theatres still owned the venue, which offered screenings on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday until the mine closed in 1954. George Yelland, who was cinema manager, was reputed to have green fingers – he made the open air venue look like a real gardens, with trees and shrubs along the back and side walls. Seating was on five-seat wooden-framed deckchairs.

After the mine closed, the town was deserted and gradually disappeared, though the venue continued to be listed in the Film Weekly Directory until 1960/61. In 1987, Australian Consolidated Minerals re-opened the mine and began open-cut operations the following year, but no town has grown up around it. In the nineties, Big Bell is a ghost town, with only some remains of the hotel and church left, and no sign of the cinema.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1960/61
Ann Paterson, The history of Big Bell, Graylands College 1965
Interview (Ina Bertrand): R.Yelland
Informant: Jean Pigdon (1997)

BINDOON

HALL

Regular screenings were conducted here from the late thirties to the early sixties: Ray and Keith Martin remember pushing bikes seven miles from Chittering to see the pictures in the mid-1940s. Fitzgerald Circuit Pictures were in Bindoon from at least 1948 to about 1953, then Lew Punch from the late fifties to the early sixties, then J.Tilka. John Marsden showed twice in Bindoon, in about 1969/70, but abandoned the screenings in the town because of an unreliable power supply. Still later, Steve Marvin screened there occasionally on 16 mm.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1948/9 – 1950/51, 1952/3 – 1953/4, 1958/9 – 1962/63
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.102
Interview (Ina Bertrand): John Marsden (1997), Roy Mudge (1997)
Informant: Valma Martin (1997)

BODDINGTON

BODDINGTON HALL AND GARDENS, Johnstone St, Boddington

Local historian John Ferrell describes how the first Boddington hall came to be built by a local committee, opening in 1923. It was a timber hall, holding 350, and with a built-in asbestos bio-box. It was on several circuits operated over the years by different people, including ´Roch’ Evans up to about 1939, then Charlie Legg, who opened a gardens next door. From 1944, Legg and R.H.Gordon held the power concession in Boddington, and soon after this Gordon relinquished his share. As happened in so many country towns, Legg supplemented the income from the powerhouse with the profits from the weekly picture show, in either the hall or the gardens.

In the forties responsibility for the hall was taken over by the Marradong Roads Board, and in the fifties discussions began about the need for a new hall, which was eventually built on the same site – the north-east corner of the intersection of Johnstone and Wuraming Sts, Boddington. This opened on 10 March 1956, again with a built-in bio-box, ready for film screenings, and tenders were called for these. The Council accepted that from Jimmy Punch, above the established exhibitor – Charlie Legg, but Punch did not succeed in establishing himself in the town (he is listed in the Film Weekly Directory for 1960/61 to 1962/63) and Legg returned. The Council did not support his building a new gardens, so he purchased land two streets away and built there. All the seating was on grass, with Koolama chairs around the sides and deckchairs in the middle. Poplar trees were planted along the sides, and the venue was very pleasant in summer: whole families would come along, parking babies in prams beside the aisle. Legg continued to screen in Boddington Hall and gardens into the early sixties, after he had sold the rest of his circuit.

The gardens site is now vacant. The hall, however, is now on the Suburban Pictures circuit, operated by Steve Marvin, so in the nineties pictures still occasionally come to Boddington Town Hall.

See also the Marradong Agricultural Hall

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1962/3
John Ferrell, Becoming Boddington, Shire of Boddington 1992
Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Charles Legg (1997), Roy Mudge (1997)

Photos: 1 exterior (hall), colour, 1980, Roy Mudge
12 interiors (hall), colour, 1980, Roy Mudge
4 interiors (gardens biobox), b&w, 1977, Roy Mudge
3 exteriors (gardens – screen), b&w, 1977, Roy Mudge
3 exteriors (gardens – biobox), b&w, 1977, Roy Mudge .1 exterior (hall), colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

BOLGART

BOLGART MEMORIAL HALL, George St, Bolgart

The first Bolgart Hall was built at the earlier site of the township, known as Bolgart by the Bog. It was also used as the schoolhouse, and continue to be so used after the new townsite was established in 1914. This hall burned down in January 1932, forcing the authorities to finally build a school. The new hall was opened in January 1933, with a ball attended by three hundred people, and this became the social centre of the district: the Fitzgerald circuit screened there from 1950 to 1952. However, by then the hall was too small for the community’s needs.

Local historian Rica Erickson explains:

Funds were raised by contributions of wheat and in 1952 the Culham Hall was bought and dismantled, the bricks cleaned and all materials carted to Bolgart by voluntary effort. An old newpaper under the foundation stone recalled that the Culham Hall had been built in April 1899, and someone remembered that on the opening day the Victoria Plains cricket team came and thrashed the home side. The old bricks were used to extend the Bolgart Hall with a modern front. A bronze plaque was inserted as a memorial tablet to those who lost their lives in war. Anzac Day ceremonies at Bolgart in the future were to be held at this spot. (p.175)

Bolgart Memorial Hall was opened in 1953 on the north-east corner of the intersection of Emanuel and George Sts. The walls and the gabled roof are of corrugated iron: the bio-box is built above the rendered brick flat-roofed front section, and extra ports allow screening out into a gardens beside the hall. Mrs Thiel remembers Vic Basham screening in the open air beside the Hall on a Sunday. Basham had bought Neil McKee’s half interest in Ray Dean’s circuit, with Dave Cox, and continued to screen fortnightly in Bolgart after the partnership with Cox was dissolved. He put permanent equipment into the hall, but screenings there ceased when drive-ins made the smaller towns uneconomic for the showman.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1950/51 – 1951/2, 1961/2 – 1962/3
Rica Erickson, The Victoria Plains, Lamb Paterson, Osborne Park 1971, pp.101, 130, 175
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Vic Basham (1997)
Informant: Mrs Thiel (1997)

BOORAGOON

HOYTS GARDEN CITY, Risely St, Booragoon

Hoyts announced plans in 1987 to build a multiplex inside the Garden City shopping centre, on the south-west corner of Risely St and Almondbury Rd, Booragoon, in a joint venture with CIC (Cinema International Corporation). It opened 17 June 1997. The shopping centre carpark held 3,500 – ample even if the cinemas were filled to their capacity of 1,947 patrons. The whole complex is spacious and modern, and the cinemas are within easy reach of other entertainments (such as Timezone games) and food outlets.

Sources: Max Bell, ´Hoyts Garden City Booragoon’, Kino no.62, Summer 1997, p.33
Kino, no.17, September 1986, p.24; no.52, June 1995, p.30; no.58, December 1996, p.31
West Australian 14 June 1997, 1999

BORDEN

HALL, Borden

Film Weekly Directory lists S.Bennett’s Columbia Talkies as screening in the town of Borden 1940/41.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41

BOULDER

BELLEVUE GARDENS, 43 Burt St, Boulder

The hotel known as the Australia Bar was built in 1900 and the building still exists at 43 Burt St. The Bellevue Gardens is listed in the Post Office Directory as between the Australia Bar and Wills and Co on the north side of Burt St, and appears to have been operated behind the Australia Bar, probably with an entrance through the bar or along the side of the building. Boulder City rate books record this site (from at least 1907 to 1922) as ‘hotel and gardens’, without ever mentioning film screenings. However, the venue advertised Sunday night concerts including films from 31 July 1908 to October 1911: it may have operated before and after this date, and this was also probably the location of the Bellevue Gardens advertised in 1917-18. John Morris remembers this site as the Queens Gardens, ‘attached to’ the Australia Bar, though the period of which he is speaking is not clear. By 1924 the building had reverted to a house, and it was later used as Polkinghorne’s garage.

Sources: Boulder City Rate Books 1907-1922
Post Office Directory 1916-1919
John Morris, Boulder, city of the Dreamtime, Artlook Books, Perth 1984, p.12
Chris Wood, Kalgoorlie Historical Society
Kalgoorlie Miner 1908-1911

BIJOU/ THEATRE ROYAL, Lane St, Boulder

The Bijou theatre opened in 1902, as a live venue, though films were sometimes shown there, for instance ´Olympia, the Passing Show’ in November 1906. The building was renamed the Theatre Royal in 1908, and in 1910 Jno. Shea bought the property. Electra Pictures operated there in the winters of 1910 and 1911, moving on to the Palace Gardens in Burt St for the summer season. Lyric Pictures operated at the Theatre Royal occasionally (e.g. in June 1915, May 1917, and again in 1918 – possibly when the Mechanics Institute was not available) and the premises may have been used irregularly for other film shows. The building (which may have been the one John Morris refers to as attached to the Broken Hill Hotel, south of Boulder) was blown down in a cyclone.

Sources: John Morris, Boulder, City Of The Dreamtime, Artlook Books, Perth 1984, pp.12-13
Chris Wood, Kalgoorlie Historical Society
Kalgoorlie Miner 24 June 1910

LYRIC PARAMOUNT PICTURE GARDENS, Lane St, Boulder

This garden was located on the west side of Lane St, between Moran St and a laneway. A.Valmedre opened this venue on 21 November 1917, and at first appears to have operated it in addition to his premises in Burt St, though it is not clear when he closed either of these venues. The Lane St Lyric was certainly in operation from 1920-1925, managed by D.Bunker.

Sources: Chris Wood, Kalgoorlie Historical Society

Kalgoorlie Miner 10 November 1917, 21 November 1917

MECHANICS INSTITUTE/ THE GLIDEAWAY/ LYRIC GARDENS, Burt St, Boulder

The Mechanics Institute, on the south side of Burt St, in the middle of the block between Lane and Hamilton Sts (or possibly between Lane and Brookman Streets), was the venue for Pathe pictures, shown by West’s in November 1907. From 1909, a gardens and skating rink known as the Glideaway was operating next door, between the Mechanics Institute and the Workers (A.W.U.) Hall.

King’s Pictures inaugurated their Boulder screenings at the Town Hall early in 1909, then moved later in the year to the Glideaway (in summer) and the Mechanics Hall (in winter), weekly at first, and later more often. In 1913, Attinio Valmadre renovated the Glideaway, renamed it the Lyric Gardens, and opened it with The Modern Girl on 23 October:

The Lyric Gardens, Burt St, Boulder were opened last evening, and judging by the heavy initial attendance this is destined to prove an exceedingly popular open air amusement resort throughout the summer nights. Owing to the enterprise of Mr Valmadre the premises have been tastefully renovated throughout, and now present an exceedingly ornate appearance, while in the matter of seating accommodation the comfort of patrons has been well catered for. (Kalgoorlie Miner, 24 October 1913)

The Mechanics Institute continued to be used in winter when the gardens did not offer sufficient protection from the weather. Valmedre opened a second venue (the Lyric Gardens in Lane St) in 1917, and appears to have operated it in addition to his premises in Burt St. The Mechanics Institute burnt down on 12 February 1925: the area was cleared and it became White City, a venue for all kinds of entertainment, including dancing, gambling and sporting contests. By 1997, the St John Ambulance had an office on the site.

Sources: Max Bell, Perth, a cinema history, The Book Guild Ltd, Lewes, Sussex 1986, pp.109-110
John Morris, Boulder, city of the Dreamtime, Artlook Books, Perth 1984, pp. 8, 26
Chris Wood, Kalgoorlie Historical Society
Kalgoorlie Miner 1900-1925

PALACE PICTURE GARDENS/ LYRIC PALACE PICTURES/ PALACE 23-5 Burt St, Boulder

The first purpose-built cinema in Boulder was the Palace Gardens, erected by Mr J. P. Butler, in Burt St, on the north-west corner of Brookman St. It was leased by Electra Pictures, and opened on Wednesday 2 November 1910. The Kalgoorlie Miner (3 November 1910) explained that it was ´built along the same lines as the Stadium [Kalgoorlie] with the exception that, for the time being, there is a gravel floor, but otherwise the place is well fitted up’. On opening day, they described the premises:

The gardens are most complete and up-to-date. Seating accommodation is provided for 2000 persons, in the shape of garden seats, built up seats, and a large gallery. At one end of the grounds is a fine stage, having an opening of 24 feet. The operating box is constructed of asbestos, and is fireproof. Everything has been provided for the safety and comfort of visitors. (Kalgoorlie Miner 2 November 1910)

In winter, Electra Pictures screened in either the Theatre Royal or (diagonally opposite the gardens) in the Town Hall. Palace Gardens Skating Rink operated on this corner site 1912-1918, and King’s Pictures screened there from 1912-14. In 1915 the premises were taken over by Butler’s Palace Pictures, and in 1916 by Powell’s Palace Pictures.

The story of the hardtop Palace Theatre, which later operated in conjunction with the gardens is more cloudy, with sources providing contradictory information.

In May 1916, a New Palace Theatre was reported to be nearing completion, beside the gardens in Brookman St:

Although not quite completed, the theatre furnished enough comfort to permit of it being thrown open to the public. The theatre is built on modern lines, having a sloping floor and special theatre chairs, and when totally finished will present an elaborate appearance. (Kalgoorlie Miner 17 May 1916)

´Appropriate music’ was provided by the Palace orchestra.

From 1918-1920, the gardens on the corner facing onto Brookman St was known as the Lyric Theatre, perhaps while it was managed by Harrie Delavale. From 1920, now operated by R.Millbank, the name reverted to Palace Gardens, but Palace Theatre & Gardens continues to be advertised right through the period. In 1922-3 Watts was manager, and in 1924-5 he was joined by Smith.

Mrs Nelson played piano for film screenings here, and when the exhibitors (presumably Watts and Smith) could not pay her she took over the show, initiating the Nelson chain of cinemas that expanded into Kalgoorlie and beyond.

A second explanation of the construction of the Palace Theatre is that, when the hotel next door to the gardens in Burt St became vacant, it was converted into a theatre, and opened in 1927, with the gardens still operating on the corner next door. This places the building where it now stands in Burt St, but still does not explain why the Heritage Inventory lists it as being built in 1937: the present building also does not look like a converted hotel.

Descriptions of the theatre in the thirties are clear: the rear seating was ramped, and the biobox was located in the corner, where it could be swung around to project through the wall out into the gardens: the theatre was used in winter and the gardens in summer. In October 1929, a Raycophone sound system was installed. In 1933 Goldfields Pictures bought the Palace Theatre and Gardens from R.M.B.Nelson. In 1942 the theatre and the gardens had 1100 seats each, and the premises were screening six nights each week. In the sixties, it was operated by Selby Ford of Beverley, but reverted to Goldfields, who sold the theatre in 1975. In the nineties the building was still standing, in use as a skating rink.

Sources: Boulder City Rate Books 1907 – 1939
City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Draft Municipal Heritage Inventory, June 1995
Post Office Directory 1924-1929
Public Works Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth, a cinema history, The Book Guild Ltd, Lewes, Sussex 1986, p.118
Vyonne Geneve, ´The vulnerability of our Art Deco theatres’, Kino, no.28, June 1989, pp.6-12
Vyonne Geneve, Significant buildings of the 1930s in Western Australia , Vyonne Geneve, June 1994, National Trust of Australia (WA)/ National Estate Grants Programme 2 vols
John Morris, Boulder, city of the Dreamtime, Artlook Books, Perth 1984, pp.12-13
Chris Wood, Kalgoorlie Historical Society
Everyone’s 23 October 1929, p.18-19
Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1971
Kalgoorlie Miner 1910-1925
Interviews (Ina Bertrand): R.Yelland (1985), Ron Elsegood (1985)
Interviews (Colleen Pead): Ted Moore (1986), Noel Dunning (1986)

Photos: 1 exterior (Palace Gardens, audience), b&w, n.d., Museum of the Goldfields no.2508
1 exterior (Palace Theatre), colour, 1990s (Robert Newton)
1 exterior (Palace Theatre), b&w, 1988, Kino, no.28, June 1989, p.11 (Lynne Robins)

TOWN HALL , cnr Burt and Brookman Sts, Boulder

The Salvation Army Biorama Company visited Boulder in October 1900, October 1902, March 1904 and November 1904, but it is not clear which venue they used. Boulder Town Hall was designed by Oswald Wilson and opened on the south-east corner of the junction of Brookman and Burt Sts on 23 June 1908. The balcony running around all three sides was supported on pillars, with a decorative cast iron balustrade. The pressed-metal ceiling was most impressive, and the hall was generously proportioned.

It was used primarily as a community facility, but that included occasional use for live performances, and even sometimes for films: for instance, in April 1909 King’s Pictures conducted an extended season here, and in the winter of 1911 Electra Pictures moved here from their Gardens in Burt St.

Sources: The Heritage of Western Australia: the Illustrated Register of the National Estate , Macmillan 1989, p.83
City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder,Draft Municipal Heritage Inventory, June 1995
Kalgoorlie Miner 1908-1919, 1 June 1911
Limelight Picture Show Tours, http//:www.abc.net.au/limelight/docs/tours

Photos: 1 interior (performance on stage), b&w, 23 June 1908, Robert Pascoe & Frances Thompson, In Old Kalgoorlie, West Australian Museum, 1989, p.188
1 exterior, b&w, n.d., Martyn Webb & Audrey Webb, Golden Destiny: the centenary history of Kalgoorlie-Boulder and the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia, City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, 1993, p.600
1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand
3 interiors, b&w, n.d. (1920s?), Museum of the Goldfields nos. 335, 1418, 1447

BOYANUP

BOYANUP HALL, Boyanup

The Boyanup Hall was on the west side of the main Boyanup-Donnybrook Rd, in the middle of town (near where Simmons St enters on the east side of the highway).

This hall was on Allan Jones’ circuit out of Busselton from the forties to the sixties. He visited Boyanup on Monday and Capel on Tuesday, so anyone who missed the screening in Boyanup could go the next night to Capel. The Boyanup hall seated about one hundred on rows of wooden seats with padded seat and backs: children sat in the front rows, or, if the room was crowded, on the floor. Refreshments came from the Greenery Tea-rooms, which provided school lunches during school terms and opened on Mondays just for the pictures trade.

The old hall was demolished and the Hugh Kilpatrick Memorial Hall was built at the back of the site, with its carpark where the old hall once stood. There is no bio-box in the new hall and it is not used for film screenings.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41-1962/3
Informants: Tess & Clive Reed (1997)

BOYUP BROOK

AGRICULTURAL HALL, cnr Abel & Bridge Sts, Boyup Brook

The Agricultural Hall was built in the V-intersection of Abel and Bridge Sts, opened on 27 April 1910. It is a small brick and rubble stone building with a corrugated iron roof, and has been extended at both ends. It was used for all community activities, including film screenings, and is now the Tourist Centre.

Sources: Municipal Inventory, Shire of Boyup Brook, pp.17,26-7
A.Schorer, History of the Upper Blackwood , 1968, pp.175-6

Photo: 1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

TOWN HALL, cnr Abel and Cowley Sts, Boyup Brook

The foundation stone of the Boyup Brook Town Hall was laid on 1 June 1936, listing the Architect as W.H.Jefferis, and contractor as O.A.Doran, and the hall was officially opened on 16 August 1936. It was built on the V-intersection of Abel and Cowley Streets, constructed of brick and cement rendered.

Films were screened here from the thirties, when the town was in the fortnightly circuit of Modern Photoplays. In 1939 Goldfields Pictures (founded in 1933 in Kalgoorlie) bought out the local operators and included Boyup Brook in their new circuit: a program was sent out from Bunbury by manager Ron Elsegood and was switched among Harvey, Donnybrook, Bridgetown, Greenbushes and Boyup Brook, screening in Boyup Brook weekly on Fridays. Goldfields left the town in about 1945, and South West Picture Co (A.H.Jeffries) arrived shortly after and stayed till the early sixties, after the Bridgetown Drive-in was opened.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41-1945/6, 1948/9-1964/5
Municipal Inventory, Shire of Boyup Brook, pp.17,28-9
Informant: Ken Alexander (1986)

Photo: 1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

BRENTWOOD

BRENTWOOD PICTURES, Brentwood

Advertisements appear for this in 1959-1960 – but it is not clear which cinema is being referred to.

Sources: West Australian, 1959-1960

BRIDGETOWN

BRIDGETOWN DRIVE-IN, Les Woodhead Ave, Bridgetown

Bridgetown Drive In early 1980’s

Bridgetown Drive In early 1980s

Bridgetown Drive In early 1980s

Bridgetown Drive In 1988

Bridgetown Drive In 1988

The Bridgetown Drive-in was built on shire land in the V-intersection of Les Woodhead Ave and the Bridgetown-Boyup Brook Rd. It opened in 1960 with a permit for 200 cars, and leased to Alan Larkin. As it served both Bridgetown (with a population of 2200 at that time) and Boyup Brook (with a population of 1899 at the time), eighteen miles away, screenings in halls in both these townships ceased soon after the drive-in opened.

Bridgetown Drive-in had been closed for three months at the end of Larkin’s 20-year lease before Roy Mudge took on the lease: his first screening was The Boat on 31 December 1982. He screened there on Fridays and Tuesdays, closed it for ten months in 1983 after opening the Town Hall, then opened it again over the summer of 1983-4. The drive-in was finally closed on 27 January 1985: it never re-opened and was eventually demolished and the site used as a BMX track.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1961/2 – 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth, a cinema history, The Book Guild Ltd, Lewes, Sussex 1986, p.131
Max Bell, Kino, no.52, June 1995, p.31
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Alan Larkin (1985), Roy Mudge (1997) Photos ; 3 exterior sepia, 1980’s ,Max Bell 2 exterior colour , 1988, Roy Mudge

MECHANICS INSTITUTE/ BRIDGETOWN TOWN HALL, Hampton St, Bridgetown

The Municipal Heritage Inventory describes the Town Hall complex:

The town hall was constructed on the site of the previous Mechanics Institute constructed in 1877 of local bricks with a shingled roof. This building was extended in 1908 to include a reading room and library… The Mechanics Institute was demolished in 1932 to make way for the new Town Hall which was opened in 1935 by Mr A. Doust. The Town Hall consisted of a hall, board offices, lesser hall, ladies rest room and banking chambers occupied by the Commonwealth Bank, and cost 7,000 pounds to construct. The Commonwealth bank moved out of the building in 1964.

In 1990 the building was remodelled and extended. The extensions included the addition of an upper floor on the Hampton Street elevation and alterations to the administrative areas of the building. The extensions designed by Lynne Sheen and Associates complements the original building with similar detailing and finishes. The original entry to the building had been closed.

The Town Hall is a two storeyed rendered brick building with face brick detailing which addresses the Hampton, Steere Street corner in the centre of Bridgetown. The style of the building is typical of the inter-war period with an emphasis on the horizontal in the external form and detail of the building.

The Mechanics Institute was the venue for early film screenings. Bridgetown was visited by the Salvationa Army Biorama Company in October 1904, and was one of the towns visited in 1906 by Heller’s Mahatma Company, from India, mostly screening Boer War films. In August 1907 and again in 1909, the Corrick family visited, with Leonard’s Beautiful Pictures. Films were screened intermittently over the years, but by the sound period in the thirties there was a regular weekly screening by a local operator (A.Jefferies?).

In 1939 Goldfields Pictures (founded in 1933 in Kalgoorlie) bought out the local operators and established a circuit, which included Harvey, Donnybrook, Bridgetown, Greenbushes and Boyup Brook, using a program sent out from Bunbury by manager Ron Elsegood and switched among the five venues. A resident operator (A.Jefferies?) screened in Bridgetown two nights per week.

In 1947, Alan Larkin bought the Bridgetown and Harvey picture businesses from Goldfields, converted them to Cinemascope and was screening two or three nights per week, commuting each week from Perth. The Film Weekly Directory lists Goldfields returning in 1962 and opening a gardens which lasted only two years. When these screenings ceased after the drive-in opened in 1960, the projection equipment remained in the bio-box in the hall for twenty years, because there was no market for secondhand apparatus in the wake of the collapse of film exhibition throughout the state.

Roy Mudge re-opened regular weekly screenings at Bridgetown Town Hall on 16 May 1983, starting with The Slipper and the Rose. Screenings were on Friday nights till Mudge also re-opened at Katanning, and after that the Bridgetown screenings were on Sunday nights. These weekly screenings ceased on 22 June 1985, and Mudge resumed screenings on 10 December 1994, with Lion King, continuing every three weeks till 14 July 1996 (the last film in this series was Dunstan checks in). Steve Marvin of Suburban Theatres then took on the venue and in 1997 was screening there irregularly, but this has now ceased.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1964/5 Shire of Bridgetown/ Greenbushes, Municipal Heritage Inventory, HCWA No.12 0249 . Office Directory 1924-1949 Max Bell, Perth, a cinema history, The Book Guild Ltd, Lewes, Sussex 1986, p.103

Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Ron Elsegood (1985), Alan Larkin (1985), Roy Mudge (1997) Informant: Tony C.Paulsen (2002) Photos: 2 exteriors, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

BROOKTON

BROOKTON DISTRICT MEMORIAL HALL,Whittington St, Brookton

The first Brookton hall was built on the north side of Whittington St, east of the White St corner. A second hall was then built on the west side of this, parallel with Whittington St. Finally, a still larger hall was built right up to the north-east corner of the intersection: the foundation stone for this final structure is dated 9 May 1956. The first hall became a general purpose room, the second became known as the Lesser Hall.

It was probably the first hall which was used by the Corricks when they stopped at Brookton, in November 1909. The second was visited by Columbia Talkies around 1940, and it and also the final building would have been used by Paddy Baker when the town was on his circuit, from the early forties to the late sixties.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41, 1942/3 – 1966/7

West Australian 1909
Informant: Norman Apthorp (Brookton 1997) Photo: 1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

BROOME

SUN PICTURE GARDENS, Carnarvon St, Broome

Broome c 1980’s

There are more photographs and drawings and paintings of this venue than of any other in the state. In the Broome Museum (in the old Customs House) there are many relics of the theatre, including one of the original cast iron and wooden ceiling fans, glass advertising slides, wooden ticket dispensers and (most important of all) the original architect’s drawings in 1916. There is also a great deal written about it. The whole story is told in a small booklet available for $5 in all the tourist outlets of Broome: Maria Mann, Reflections of the Sun: a short history of the Sun Picture Gardens, Sun Pictures (Broome 1991). This story is summarised below.

The first regular screenings in Broome began at the Roebuck Hotel and the Continental Gardens Hotel, screening in alternate weeks until the rival operators had a falling out. Then in 1916 Sun Pictures was built for Ted Hunter, who had bought from the Yamasaki family a mixed business in Chinatown. Architect Lance Burton of Oldham, Boas and Ednie-Brown, prepared the plans, suitable for the tropical climate. The ‘shopfront’ appearance was retained, with a double hip roof above a long verandah on the street front. Behind was a simple ‘tin shed’, with the rear wall permanently open, so that the front half of the venue (closest to the street) was under cover and the rear section (closest to the screen) was open to the stars. It could hold nearly 600, and was often full. The cane chairs in the centre were reserved for the most important people of the town, with wooden bench seats for the rest, and careful racial segregation was maintained till 1967. Till 1930, movie patrons could ride the train from the Customs House to town for the movies.

In the first half of the twentieth century, the ports were the largest population centres in the far north of the state, and the natural places for cinemas to open. By the thirties, the State ships that went regularly up the coast carried films as deck cargo, packed in 40 gallon drums, delivering first to Carnarvon, then to Hedland, Broome and Derby. On a regular run, the films would be away from Perth for five months. In the fifties, Exmouth was added to this run.

In 1924, the Sun Pictures business was sold to Harry Milner and Leonard Knight, and the management was later taken over by Milner’s eldest son Jim. Milner and Knight added a mobile stage, which could be rolled in for live shows, including local school concerts as well as the occasional visiting performance. In 1948, the premises were bought by Mr and Mrs Walter James Anderson, and in 1953 by Alf Morgan, who leased them to Jean and Peter Haynes. Their daughter June Haynes writing in 1984, describes how, until a levee bank was built by the Shire, the King Tides would flood the main street of the town three times a year, so that patrons who walked in to the cinema would find that they had to wade out, or be carried out piggy-back to higher ground. This, and the effects of salt air and battering by cyclones, led to major repairs to the structure, but without much change to its appearance. She also remembers with affection -the beautiful marble soda fountain and a confectionery bar in the foyer’, which -became redundant as trade built up in Carnarvon Street.’

In July 1981, the Haynes family reluctantly closed the cinema, and put it up for sale. It was closed for some months before being bought by Lord Alistair McAlpine in 1982, and re-opened in 1983. There were a number of lessees during this period, none staying for very long. McAlpine’s chauffeur on his buying spree in Broome was a young Tony Hutchinson, who then returned to Perth to study Real Estate and came back to Broome in 1987 to begin work both in Real Estate and as projectionist at the Sun Pictures. In 1987 he bought the business from McAlpine with his fiancee Marisa Ferraz, and the two continued to operate the picture show while Hutchinson also worked as a Real Estate agent. By 1988 the cinema was screening seven nights a week and advertising as -the world’s oldest operating picture garden.

In 2000, it is still screening nightly, usually with two sessions each night. Old equipment and posters are on display in the foyer and around the entrance. So, the best way to find out about Sun Pictures is to visit it: it is well-patronised by both the tourists and the locals. In 1995 the cinema was nominated for the WA Register of Historic Places, and the planned renovations are intended to preserve its heritage value. It continued to operate after the new twin cinema was built, and is – and hopefully will remain – an important part of the state’s movie history.

Sources: The Heritage of Western Australia: the Illustrated Register of the National Estate, Macmillan 1989, p.128
Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1971
Kino no.6, December 1983, p.17; no.46, December 1993, p.30; no.53, September 1995, p.31; no.80, Winter 2002, p.54
Post Office Directory, 1917 – 1949
Ina Bertrand, �Going to the pictures in the Kimberley�, part 3, Kino 74, Summer 2000, pp.39-41
Colin Bowles, Nights in the Sun Penguin 2003 (This is a work of fiction, based around the Sun Picture Gardens and the town of Broome as it was in 1926)
Bill Bresser, Broome Reflected: pencil sketches of Broome, BJ Publications, Canberra 1986, p.4
Raymond Gill, �Cinema among the bougainvillea’, Age, Melbourne, 2 October 1993
Jean Haynes, unpublished reminiscences
Jean Haynes, Kevin Lawton, �The oldest operating picture gardens in the world: Sun Pictures’,Shire of Broome Community Information Directory 1987-88
Maria Mann, Reflections of the Sun: a short history of the Sun Picture Gardens, Sun Pictures, Broome 1991
Russell Scott, �The Sun always rises�, Kino, no.70, Summer 1999, pp.30-31
Stage, Screen and Stars, West Australian, n.d. (1997?), p.49
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Alan Larkin (1985)

Photos: 1 interior, b&w, 1928 Everyone’s, 27 June 1928, p.14
1 interior, b&w, 1930 (racially segregated audience), Battye 3680B (also in Stage, Screen and Stars, West Australian, n.d. (1997?), p.49)
1 interior, b&w, 1953 (section of audience) Battye TB 764
1 interior, b&w, 1953 (section of audience, prams parked beside seats) Battye TB 765
1 exterior, b&w, 1983?, Kino no.6, p.17 (G.England, courtesy John Williams)
1 exterior (pencil sketch), 1986, Bill Bresser, Broome Reflected: pencil sketches of Broome, BJ Publications, Canberra 1986, p.4
1 interior (ticket box), colour, 1988 (Margot Tucker)
1 interior (screen & seating), colour, 1988 (Margot Tucker)
3 interior (seating and biobox), colour, 1988 (Margot Tucker)
1 exterior, colour postcard, no date, copyright Northern Territory Souvenirs, photograph by Wayne Zerbe
2 exterior, colour, 1988 (Bill Turner)
2 exterior, colour, 1988 (Margot Tucker)
1 exterior (night), colour, 1988 (Margot Tucker)
1 exterior, b&w, n.d., The Heritage of Western Australia: the Illustrated Register of the National Estate, Macmillan 1989, p.126
1 exterior, colour, 1994 (Robert Newton)
2 interior (seating and screen), colour, 1994 (Robert Newton)
1 exterior, colour, 1999 (Graeme Bertrand)
3 interiors, colour, 1999 (Graeme Bertrand). 1 exterior Max Bell 1980’s

BROOMEHILL

BROOMEHILL HALL/ MECHANICS INSTITUTE, Journal St, Broomehill

The Broomehill Hall was built on the southern corner of Jasper St, but facing Journal St. It was completed on 20 April 1898, and was opened with a ball on 1 July 1898. It was a small brick building with an iron roof, used for many community activities, and later known as the Mechanics Institute. It was the only hall in the town till about 1910, so till then any films in the town must have been shown there. It was consecrated as a church in 1929 and became the town museum in 1979.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1950/51 – 1951/2
Shire of Broomehill, Municipal Inventory
Informant: S.MacDonald (1997)

Photos: 2 exteriors, b&w, n.d., Shire of Broomehill, Municipal Inventory
2 interiors, b&w, n.d., Shire of Broomehill, Municipal Inventory
1 exterior, b&w, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

SHERIDAN’S HALL/ TOWN HALL, Jasper St, Broomehill

This hall was built about 1910, on the southern side of Jasper St, in the middle of the block west of Journal St. It was at first known as Sheridan’s Hall:

This galvanised iron hall was built for Mrs Kathleen Sheridan (Imperial Hotel licensee) by George Green. It was used as a skating rink as well as a hall. The brick front was added in 1928 for the Broome Hill Road Board as offices and a boardroom. (Municipal Inventory)

It may have been here that Tivoli Pictures presented their films in Broomehill on 18 June 1914. There is a bio-box in the hall and local people still remember pictures there from the twenties to the late forties. One member of the Historical Society remembers being taken to see “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” about 1926, but she cried so piteously that she was taken outside. Frank Greenslade remembers Star Talkies in the Broomehill Town Hall once a month in 1937/8 when he was a boy. He says the red truck would drive into town and the boys would rush to be first to be given the task of washing the vehicle, in return for a free ticket to the pictures. The screenings by the Kanzlers were also probably here, when the town was on their circuit around 1950.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1950/51 – 1951/2 Frank Greenslade (at Maylands Historical Society, July 1997)
Shire of Broomehill, Municipal Inventory
Great Southern Herald, 13 June 1914

Photos: Shire of Broomehill, Municipal Inventory .

1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

BRUCE ROCK

DURHAM HALL, Johnson St, Bruce Rock

The first hall in Bruce Rock was opened 25 July 1917, but was quickly outgrown and replaced by a new hall, opened 28 July 1920. The brick offices in front were replaced with a new two-storey frontage, opened 5 January 1929.

The Durham Hall stands prominently in Johnson St, only one building block south of the junction with Parry St, and next to the hotel of which it seems to have been a part. It is a stone building, with a corrugated iron roof, and the bio-box is still visible inside.

In 1921, West’s Touring Pictures visited the town. In 1928 Athol Pearmine was screening at Bruce Rock. From 1929 to 1949 the business was operated by Stanley Lonsdale and later by his widow Mrs H.M.Lonsdale, then Stanley Lonsdale jnr. The hall held two hundred, and screenings were offered once or twice a week, except for a short period after it burned down on 7 January 1937: the hall was rebuilt and screenings continued into the sixties.

In 1997 Durham Hall was in use as a restaurant, and no-one could remember how long ago films were last screened there.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1964/5

Post Office Directory 1929-49
Max Bell, Kino, no.46, December 1993, p.30
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.103
John K. Ewers. Bruce Rock: the story of a district, Bruce Rock District Road Board 1959, p.48
Everyone’s 7 March 1928, p.18

Photo: 1 exterior (Road Board offices and hall), John K. Ewers. Bruce Rock: the story of a district, Bruce Rock District Road Board 1959, Plate XXII
1 exterior (Durham Hall), colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand . 1 Exterior , Max Bell no date.

ROCKVIEW DRIVE-IN, Noonajin Rd, Bruce Rock

This small drive-in opened in 1964, on the southern side of Noonajin St, opposite where Johnson and Butcher Sts meet Noonajin St. It was operated by Stanley Lonsdale jnr, and had a capacity for 155 cars at first, later increased to 208, with a section for seated patrons:

Council borrowed a $24,000 self-supporting loan to enable Mr Lonsdale to build the theatre but unfortunately he was forced to abandon the project in 1977 because of a fall off in patronage due to newly constructed theatres in neighbouring towns.

Council then took over the running of the theatre for twelve months before leasing it to G.F.Ford of Merredin who carried on with the operating until the screen was destroyed by a bad storm in early 1981.

As patronage had dwindled to a large extent and the theatre was uneconomic it was decided not to replace the screen and to close the drive-in. The only activity at the drive-in since closure was a tractor-pull demonstration organised by the Bruce Rock Apex Club in 21 July 1981 which raised $16,000 for a local indoor recreation centre project. (Bell, p.132)

In 1997 the road entry and ticket box were still standing, but the site was a private residence.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1964/5 – 1971 Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild ,Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.131-2
Merredin Mercury (check before Nov.1965)
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Alan Larkin (1985)

Photos; 3 exterior, colour, 1987, Roy Mudge

BRUNSWICK JUNCTION

MEMORIAL HALL, Ridley St, Brunswick Junction

The Brunswick Memorial Hall is constructed on the corner of Ridley St and the highway, with the main and lesser halls facing Ridley St and an entrance named Memorial Hall on the highway. There seem to be three halls here, and the middle one (the one with the bio-box) is dated 1936.

The town was on the Kanzler’s circuit out of Albany in the forties, on Allan Jones’ circuit out of Busselton in the fifties, and on A.H.Jeffries’ South West Pictures circuit in the early sixties. In the middle sixties, John Marsden started screening there. He was working six nights a week at the Mayfair, Bunbury, and had been screening on Sunday nights in Capel Town Hall for a year when he decided to shift these screenings to Brunswick Junction. At first he screened every Sunday night, then he opened also in Dwellingup and alternated Sunday nights in the two towns, continuing even after he moved back to Perth to screen at the Windsor, Nedlands.

It is not clear whether anyone else screened at Brunswick Junction after Marsden left.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory , 1940/41 – 1964/5
Interview (Ina Bertrand): John Marsden (1997) Photo: 1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

BULLFINCH

HALL AND GARDENS, Bullfinch

Max Bell (p.103) says:

Operated by R.Morris and N.V.McDougall, the Bullfinch, opened in late 1940s. Seating capacity of indoor cinema was for 350 patrons on one level. Seating capacity for the adjoining gardens was the same but with canvas deckchairs. The venue ceased operating in 1965.

The Film Weekly Directory suggests that S.Bennett’s Columbia Talkies may have screened here in the thirties. By the late forties, there was a gardens as well as the hall, and the town was on Morris’s circuit out of Marvel Loch, and this continued till the middle sixties, when it was taken over by Stanley Lonsdale junior, who continued till screenings ceased in 1965.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41, 1948/9 – 1964/5

Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.103

BULLSBROOK

HALL, Pearce RAAF Base, Bullsbrook

Valma Martin remembers:

“Outsiders” (people other than RAAF personnel) who lived nearby could attend pictures on the base. You only had to slow down at the gate and were waved through in your vehicle. You parked near the theatre, which was small, probably held about 100. This was early 1950s.

The Pearce RAAF Base hall was listed as holding 300, in the Film Weekly Directory of 1971.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1971

Informant: Valma Martin (Swan View 1997)

OPEN AIR PICTURES, Bullsbrook

Ruth Talbot remembers that Mr Angel of Bullsbrook used to show pictures in the open at the Bullsbrook school in the early 1950s.

Sources: Informant: Valma Martin (Swan View 1997)

BUNBURY

BEDFORD HALL/ EMPIRE THEATRE/ HALL, Bunbury

The foundation stone of the Bedford Hall is now held in the King Cottage Museum. It records the opening of the building on 27 September 1906 by Sir Frederick Bedford.

It is not clear where films were screened in the town before that date, but Bunbury was the major location for companies touring the southwest from very early in the century. The Payne Family Concert and Cinematograph Co presented films of the Boer War in Bunbury for two nights as early as May 1900, with great success. The Salvation Army Biorama Company visited the town in October 1900, August 1902, January 1904 and October 1904.

After the Lyric opened in 1905 and the Bedford Hall in 1906 the touring companies continued to come, and the advertisements do not always make clear where they held their screenings. So Heller’s Mahatma Company, from India, but screening mostly Boer War films still, toured the area later in 1906, stopping for a night or two in Bunbury among others in July 1907. A month later, the Corrick family, with Leonard’s Beautiful Pictures, came through Bunbury, and made a return visit on their way back to Perth. They visited again in 1909. Edison’s Popular Pictures reached Bunbury in August 1908, and Moore’s Marvellous Moving Pictures arrived only a month later. The tour of the Musical All-Blacks brought them to Bunbury in April and September 1908. Vic’s Pictures also visited Bunbury regularly for some time in the following years. All of these may have been in the Bedford Hall, though that is not certain.

In November 1910, Spencer’s Pictures were presented by the Gaiety Picture Co, definitely in the Bedford Hall. On 30 December 1918, local entrepreneur Gunning (Spot) Davis opened the converted Bedford Hall as the Empire Theatre. A mixed programme of pictures and vaudeville was presented there up to three times a week until at least March 1919. It is not clear what happened to this venture – but Davis left Australia in 1920 to tour America with a four-legged chicken, so if the Empire continued it was probably under the direction of someone else.

The hall was demolished.

Sources: South Western Herald 1906-1918

South West Times 16 April 1997

EMPIRE PICTURE GARDENS, Wellington St, Bunbury

On 12 February 1911, the first purpose-built cinema in Bunbury was opened next to the Rose Hotel in Wellington St. The local paper commented:

The gardens, newly-formed though they be, are exceedingly pretty and comfortably appointed. (Bunbury Herald 9 February 1911 p.3)

J.B.O’Neill directed the proceedings, screening International Pictures from the J.D.Williams Co, every night over the summer months. The Gardens opened again over the summers of 1912-13 and 1913-14, but was not advertised after this, though it was listed in the Post Office Directory in 1920.

Sources: Post Office Directory 1920 Bunbury Herald 9 February 1911 p.3
South Western Herald 1910-1919

ENTERTAINMENT CENTRE

This large complex is primarily a live venue, for concerts and theatrical performances. It was built in 1990 by the City of Bunbury, at a cost of $5.5million, funded by endowment lands. Continuing funding for the Centre’s operation is provided by the City, with assistance from state government grants: in 1997 there was some controversy over whether this funding was sufficient and why the state government could not find the additional $100,000 per annum required to keep the venture solvent.

At that time, films were screened there from Thursday to Sunday each week, mainly arthouse product. The programming policy differed from the commercial fare at the Grand Cinemas next door, but was in competition with it nonetheless, and that competition was blamed for the difficulty the complex had in keeping afloat.

Sources: Anthony J.Barker & Maxine Laurie, Excellent connections: a history of Bunbury, Western Australia, 1836-1990 , City of Bunbury 1992
Informant: Barry Lee (1997)

FORREST THEATRE & GARDENS, Spencer St, Carey Park, Bunbury

Goldfields Pictures had a monopoly of cinema in Bunbury in 1951, when Mr Arthur Dunn, a former employee of Goldfields, opened the Forrest Theatre, in Spencer St, Carey Park on 14 December. This was a small hardtop cinema, designed by R.M.Neal and Allen, with provision for around 500 patrons. It was described in the South Western Times as ´modern in conception both inside and out’ (13 December 1951), with modern lighting, comfortable chairs, and – most innovative of all – a crying room. In 1954, a gardens was added alongside.

When Dunn and Ace Theatres opened the Forrest Drive-in, in September 1963, the Forrest Theatre closed. The Forrest Gardens lasted one more summer season, then it too was closed, and a BP service station was built on the site.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1952/3 – 1964/5
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth, a cinema history, The Book Guild Ltd, Lewes, Sussex 1986, p.109
South Western Times 13 December 1951

Photos: South Western Times 13 December 1951

GRAND CINEMAS, Victoria St, Bunbury

Jimmy Stiles’ Grand Theatre Co had been a force to be reckoned with in the thirties in Perth city and suburbs. Later the company became City Theatres, was taken over by TVW7 and in 1988 the theatres were sold to Hoyts. But the Stiles family retained their interest in moving pictures, and in the nineties formed a new Grand Theatre Co and opened the Warwick 8 in suburban Perth.

Their second venture, this time in partnership with the Key West group, was a multi-plex in Bunbury on a site bounded by Victoria St, Blair St and Clifton St. The main entry was on Victoria St, but an equally imposing facade along Blair St echoed the pillars and rounded lines of the Entertainment Centre next door. The complex opened on 22 November 1996, with four cinemas – two holding 188 and two holding 238. All were equipped with the latest digital sound, were very modern in design, and provided wheelchair access.

They screen seven days a week, with daytime as well as evening screenings, and at least one new film each week. In 1997 the manager was Barry Lee, who began his career at Cinema City, Perth. In 1998, plans were announced to add a further two cinemas, each holding 193 patrons.

Sources: Kino, no.56, June 1996, p.31; no.59, March 1997, p.31; no.62, Summer 1997, p.35; no.66, Summer 1998, p.30.
Informants: Barry Lee (1997), Arthur Stiles (1998)

Photo: 1 exterior (Blair St facade), colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

LYRIC, Victoria St, Bunbury

Bunbury Lyric 1938

Bunbury Lyric 1985

Local halls were usually multi-purpose venues. The earliest real theatre in the area was Bunbury’s Lyric Theatre, built on the south-west corner of the intersection of Victoria and Symons Sts for the Weiss Brothers in 1905:

The arrangement of the building consists of a principal entrance from Victoria St, which is obtained through a spacious vestibule with tiled floor. Through a handsome pair of wrought-iron gates access is given to the ticket office and staircase hall, while flanking the sides of vestibule are two large shops. Immediately opposite the vestibule is the entrance to the hall, which latter strikes one as being finely proportioned. Its dimensions are 72ft long by a width of 49ft, and from the floor to the highest point of the ceiling 28ft. Extending round the sides and at the back of the hall is a gallery, the supporting pillars of which are so arranged as to secure an uninterrupted view of the stage, as well as forming the least possible encroachment on the dancing space. The gallery is reached by a broad staircase leading up from the left of the principal entrance, and has seating accommodation for 250 persons. The view of the stage from all parts of the gallery is uninterrupted; in fact the best seats in the hall so far as the stage view is concerned are on the back gallery. Special attention has been given to ventilation. The whole of the cove at the intersection of the ceiling and the wall is battened, and forms a ventilating shaft, while four exhaust shafts have been provided in the ceiling. The lighting in the hall is by means of eight large semi-circular windows, which give a good light and provide a striking feature. The roof is of iron, the constructional parts of which are exposed. Leading from the stairs and before entering the gallery, is a large crush hall, from which entrance is obtained to the cloakroom and to a lounge or refreshment room, which has a balcony spanning the footpath over the main entrance to the theatre. By the same means the asphalted roof gardens over the two shops are approached, on which it is proposed to place seats and provide ornamentation with pots, ferns etc. These pleasant lounges are sure to be much appreciated. The bold moulded proscenium opening measures 20 x 18, and the stage, which is provided with galleries and gridiron for fixing and manipulating the scenery, measures 40 x 20 feet… (Bunbury Herald, 3 April 1905)

Stage and backstage facilities were provided on a level quite lavish for a provincial theatre, and it was obviously intended to be the venue for visiting companies as well as for local dramatic groups, dances and other community occasions. Local resident Verna Glossik recalls that Paddy Doyle used to play the pianola there.

Though not specifically built to screen films, it was obviously ideally suited for this purpose, and was soon in demand from travelling showmen. In April 1909, King’s Pictures began a weekly circuit that brought their programmes to the Lyric every Thursday and a month later, West’s initiated a similar circuit, which screened in the Lyric every Monday till August 1912 when they shifted to Thursday.

In 1923 the Princess opened, but the Lyric, bought by A.D.Swanson in 1926, continued to screen films, and for some time the competition was so fierce that both the Lyric and the Princess spent large sums on advertising in the local paper, in ever more lavish displays, and in employing vaudeville artists to outshine their rivals. This was clearly not a viable situation for either management, and in 1933 Swanson bought the Princess lease and for a short time ran both venues. In 1936, however, he sold out to Nelsons, who at first also continued with both theatres. Though the older of the two, the Lyric was the prestige venue – the one with the superior Western Electric sound equipment (installed in 1929), with the best programmes from the largest Hollywood studios, and with the occasional high-class supporting live entertainment. However, on 1 April 1937 a fire severely damaged the front section and the rear was affected by smoke and water.

It was then remodelled to a design of William Leighton, turning it from an all-purpose building into a purpose-built cinema. The stage was removed, the proscenium enlarged, and additional seating provided in the stalls in the extra space thus opened up. The pillars holding the gallery were removed, and girders were added to take the weight of the upstairs section. The wings of the gallery were demolished, and the rest of the gallery turned into a sloping dress circle. The windows, praised when first constructed, were now described as ´unsightly’, and were replaced with plaster grilles, to ensure the continuation of the ventilation they provided, but in a manner more aesthetically pleasing to thirties’ tastes. The whole interior was repainted and refurnished, including carpets in the lounge foyer. Outside, the alterations were equally dramatic. The verandah was replaced with a cantilever structure, the facade modernised and simplified, the entrance provided with swinging glass doors with chromium fittings, and the shopfronts altered in keeping with the general design. The turret tower, however, was retained, and was used to hold the new neon sign for the cinema.

The New Lyric opened with Sonja Henie in Girl in a Million on 6 July 1937, but later that year both the Lyric and the Mayfair were bought from Nelsons by Goldfields Pictures. They turned the Princess into a dance hall at first, then, despite the recent re-fitting of the Lyric, they decided that a more modern theatre was warranted in the town. The Lyric continued to screen, while the Princess was demolished to make way for the spectacular Mayfair Theatre, which opened on Friday 4 August, 1939.

The Lyric closed in December 1939, was first leased to Colin Smith as a dance hall, then converted into shops, and was sold by Goldfields in 1946. In the fifties the building was used as a dance hall, and in the eighties and nineties by Browns Furniture: the structure is still clearly visible, from both inside and outside.

Sources: Max Bell, Perth, a cinema history, The Book Guild Ltd, Lewes, Sussex 1986, p.113
Vyonne Geneve, ´William Leighton, architect’, Kino, no.25, September 1988, p.12
Jenny Staines, ´The Lyric Theatre down through the ages’, typescript, 1987>
Verna Glossik to A.E.Wiliams, June 1985
Bunbury Herald 3 April 1905
South Western Times 3 July 1937
Interviews (Colleen Pead): Ron Elsegood (1986), Jack Everett (1986)>

Photos: 1 exterior, b&w, 1938 (Ron Elsegood)
1 exterior, colour, 1985 (Robert Newton)
1 exterior, b&w, 1986, Kino no.25, September 1988, p.10 (Byron Geneve)

MAYFAIR DRIVE-IN, Vittoria Rd, Glen Iris, Bunbury

Bunbury Mayfair Drive In 1885

The Mayfair Drive-in, designed by Kenneth Broadhurst for Goldfields Pictures in Glen Iris, a suburb of Bunbury, opened on the 9 December 1958, with The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing. Drive-ins were so new that it was thought necessary to educate people about what to expect. The public was invited to ´Come as you are in the family car’. A four-page supplement in the local paper provided an introduction to every aspect of the new premises:

Orthodox theatres take film entertainment into the families. Drive-ins bring family life into the theatres.

In your own car, in whatever clothes you wish to wear, and in complete privacy, you can enjoy the same films you would see at any theatre. As with any drive-in, Bunbury’s Mayfair provides each car with an internal speaker so that the complete soundtrack comes to you clearly and uninterrupted.

The Mayfair’s giant screen ensures that each carload of patrons receives a perfect view of the pictures, and the entire parking area is scientifically ramped to place each car in a position from which the screen is perfectly visible…

Here, at the Mayfair Drive-in, a novel and pleasing feature is possible – modern entertainment in homely comfort, with the unsurpassable background of the Australian bush at night. (South Western Times 4 December 1958)

The venue held 300 cars when it first opened, but was soon enlarged to 400. In 1985, Goldfields no longer ran their drive-in themselves, but leased it and were looking for a buyer. It was then purchased by the Grace Christian Centre Apostolic Church for use as a school site: the ticket box and entry road were incorporated into the school grounds, and the screen still looked down on the playing fields till it was demolished, late in 1998.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1959/60 – 1971
Public Heath Department, building permit, Batty 1459
Max Bell, Perth, a cinema history, The Book Guild Ltd, Lewes, Sussex 1986, p.137
Kino, no.29, September 1989, p.23; no.66, Summer 1998, p.30.
South Western Times 4 December 1958
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Ron Elsegood (1985)

Photos: 1 exterior, entrance, colour, 1985, Robert Newton
2 exteriors (ramps and screen, children’s play area) South Western Times 4 December 1958

PRINCESS/ MAYFAIR, Stephen St, Bunbury

Bunbury Mayfair 1938

Interior on Opening Night

The Princess was built for local entrepreneur (and at that time Mayor of Bunbury) J. (Jack) Hands, on the south side of Stephen St, and opened on 31 October 1923, with seating for one thousand people:

There are no posts in the theatre, so that all can have the same view of the pictures without any interruption whatever.

The operating box is probably unique in Western Australia. It is absolutely fireproof, being built of re-inforced concrete, in sliding panels to automatically shut instantaneously at a moment’s notice. The operating machine itself is the latest Simplex model and has evoked the warmest praise from cinema experts all over the world. It can be driven by motor or by hand.

The advertising machine is a separate instrument, so as to ensure to advertisers the best possible value for their announcements, some of which, by the way, are quite novel for this part of the state.

The lighting of the theatre is controlled from the operating box besides, independently, whilst owing to a special arrangement, the supply of electric current is continuously assured – only limited by a complete breakdown at the same time in the municipal lighting system.

As to the risk of fire, besides the absolute fireproof construction of the operating box, there are five exits from the building – more than required under the regulations governing this matter at places of public entertainment. (Bunbury Herald and Blackwood Express, 30 October 1923)

Clearly, since the opening of the Lyric nearly twenty years earlier, the needs of film had been recognised as being specific and rather different from the needs of legitimate theatre. Nevertheless, the Lyric, bought by A.D.Swanson in 1926, continued to screen films in competition with the Princess, and for some time that competition was so fierce that each spent large sums on advertising in the local paper, in ever more lavish displays, and in employing vaudeville artists to outshine their rivals. This was clearly not a viable situation for either management, and in 1933 Swanson bought the Princess lease and for a short time ran both venues. In 1936, however, he sold out to Nelsons, who at first also continued with both theatres.

When the New Lyric opened in 1937, the Princess ceased showing films, and was turned into a dance hall. In 1939, both leases were bought from Nelsons by Goldfields Pictures, and despite the comparatively recent re-fitting of the Lyric, they decided that a more modern theatre was warranted in the town. The Lyric continued to screen, while the Princess was demolished to make way for the spectacular Mayfair Theatre, which opened on Friday 4 August, 1939.

The Souvenir Programme of the Gala Opening of the Mayfair was as extravagant in its claims for the theatre as those issued for the opening of city venues:

…In the construction of the Mayfair Theatre the first consideration has been for the comfort and convenience of patrons, and we feel that not only has this been accomplished but that we have been instrumental in having erected a building in the South-West which is more modern than in any provincial district throughout the Southern Hemisphere…

Taking twenty weeks in the construction, the Theatre is one of the largest buildings in the South-West and is capable of seating 1200 persons.

Three hundred and sixty yards of sand, 150 tons of metal, 50 tons of steel and 85 tons of cement were used in the reinforced concrete work in the building while 204 thousand bricks were required to build the walls.

The entire interior of the building has been lighted with Neon tubing and this is the first theatre in a provincial town in Australia to be so treated. Altogether more than 2,000 feet of Neon tubing were utilised….

With the ceilings painted in shades of autumn tints the effect of this Neon lighting is a sight to behold. Constructed in strips the length of the ceiling the tubing exudes its soft light over the whole of the interior, picking up and reflecting the autumn tinted colour scheme…

…provision has been made for large sections of the wall to be opened to allow of free access of the sea breezes which are a feature of the summer evenings in Bunbury.

Large roller shutters have been built into the walls of the theatre to cover these apertures in the winter, but during the warmer weather they can be rolled up into a recess near the ceiling…

We feel confident that this ´natural air conditioning’ will meet with the immediate approval of all patrons…

All seats in the Lounge and Dress Circle are of padded Dunlopillo: the very latest in seating comfort. The seats are generously wide, with large sprung arms…

Commencing at the entrance to the main foyer carpets have been provided to cover the entire flooring of the staircases, lounge foyer, lounge and dress circle. In fact patrons of the dress circle and lounge will be on carpet from the time they enter the building till they depart.

It is clear from this description that the standards of comfort which by 1939 were simply taken for granted in city theatres and were standard even for most suburban theatres were still remarkable for the country patron. The management of the Mayfair did not intend to let the citizens of Bunbury forget that here was a theatre that could offer country people some of the luxury associated with the distant metropolis.

Even the outbreak of war only a month after the opening, though it required the blacking out of the windows, did not dim the fortunes of the theatre. In fact, when the town became a centre for U.S. marines on furlough, business boomed, sometimes to the chagrin of the locals. One evening some regular patrons were distressed to find that they could not obtain their usual seats because a marine had bought 55 seats – the whole back row – so that he could be alone with his girl.

Under the combined effects of television and the competition of two drive-in theatres (one of them their own) Goldfields closed the Mayfair Theatre in 1967, and when the lease expired in 1969, the property reverted to the Hands estate, and is now the site of the Commonwealth Bank.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1966/7
Post Office Directory 1924-1949
Public Health Department, building permits, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth, a cinema history, The Book Guild Ltd, Lewes, Sussex 1986, pp.114-5
Mayfair souvenir programme , Friday 4 August 1939
Bunbury Herald and Blackwood Express, 30 October 1923
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Ron Elsegood (1985)
Interview (Colleen Pead): Jack Everett (1986)

Photos: 1 exterior, Mayfair 1938, b&w, Ron Elsegood
1 interior, foyer, opening night, Mayfair 1939, b&w, Ron Elsegood

BUNTINE

HALL

Buntine, 17km. north of Wubin on the Perenjori Rd, was on the Fitzgerald circuit around 1950, then on Lew Punch’s wheatbelt circuit till about 1959. As this was before the hall was built, these screenings may have been open air.

The hall, built in 1958, is large, with a rendered brick facade. In the late fifties, Vic Basham bought Neil McKee’s half interest in Ray Dean’s circuit, and continued to work the circuit with Dave Cox. After the partnership broke up, Basham continued to provide Buntine with fortnightly screenings, until drive-ins made screenings in the smaller towns uneconomic.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1950/51 – 1960/61
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Vic Basham (1997)

BURRUP

BURRUP Gardens

Burrup Gardens 1986

Photos, 4 colour, exterior, 1986, Roy Mudge

BUSSELTON

BARNARDS HALL/ (CONVENT HALL)/ BUSSELTON PICTURE GARDENS/ REGAL & GARDENS/ ALLAN CINEMA/ CINEMA 1, Albert St, Busselton

Busselton Allan Theatre 1980’s

Busselton Allan Theatre 1980’s

Busselton Allan Theatre 1980’s

In 1907, the Corrick family, with Leonard’s Beautiful Pictures, came through Busselton, and there were occasional films screened in those very early days by other touring companies, including the Salvation Army in October 1904. All these may have been held in Barnards Hall, which had been built about 1900 in Albert St, next to the Commercial Hotel which stood on the north-east corner of the intersection of Albert and Queen Streets.

The first regular film screenings may have been those of Jack Bignell (or was it Victor Kruger?), in the Dining Room of Bignell’s Esplanade Hotel. Bignell then began a weekly Saturday night screening in Barnards Hall. In the twenties, this venture was operated by G. L. (Gomer) Edwards, who renovated the hall, including the installation of a bio-box. But the venue was still rather primitive: seating was on 79 chairs and twelve backless forms, until additional seating arrived from Sydney in 1923. Edwards introduced sound films – first on disc, then sound-on-film.

This business, known as Regal Pictures, was bought out by Allan Jones in 1935. At the same time, Jones bought out Edwards’ competitor, who was screening at the Convent Hall. He amalgamated the two shows, continuing to screen in Barnard’s Hall, and re-negotiated contracts for the town.

Two years later Jones added the Busselton Picture Gardens, also on the north side of Albert St, but across the Queen St intersection. This had 350 seats, and ran during the summer in conjunction with the hall, which also had 350 seats. The whole enterprise was known within the trade as the Regal and Gardens. At the time, this was the only open air show in the south-west, as the weather was not as enticing here even in the summer months as it was in Perth and further north. But it was a real gardens, with deck chairs and trees and shrubs surrounding the seating area. In typical fashion with such seating, the canvas was likely to rot, and to let the patrons down unexpectedly: Jones learned to play the national anthem at the end of the programme, rather than at the beginning when he risked having all the patrons sitting down hard at the same moment as soon as it finished! Against all expectations, even of the locals, the gardens was quite successful.

Nevertheless, in April 1958 the gardens closed and in November 1958 the Allan Theatre opened on the gardens site and screenings ceased in the hall, which was demolished in 1969. As attendances dropped after television reached the district, Jones curtained off one side of the cinema as a display area for movie equipment and memorabilia, and opened it to the public as a museum. Attendance diminished during the seventies, and rowdiness became a problem among younger patrons.

When Allan Jones died in May 1982, his cinemas were taken over by a family company – Jones’ Cinewest Drive-ins. Though Allan had been the figurehead, the family had always been closely involved in the running of the cinemas – Mrs Jones managed the cinema in Busselton for more than thirty years, and two sons had worked with their father from as soon as they were able. The company continued to run the drive-ins at Busselton and Margaret River, as well as the cinema at Busselton, now known as Cinema 1.

In 1983 they curtained off the sides of the cinema right to the ceiling (not just halfway like the museum curtain), and installed Dolby stereo sound and new seating. The sound was again upgraded in 1995. Attendance revived slowly in the eighties and nineties till in 1997 the cinema was screening Friday to Sunday, and sometimes on Wednesday night all through the year, with many more screenings during school holidays, and many fund-raising screenings as well.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1966/7
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth, a cinema history, The Book Guild Ltd, Lewes, Sussex 1986, pp.95-98, 99, 101
´Chandem’, ´The cinema at Busselton’, Busselton Historical Society Newsletter, March 1967, vol.2, no.2
Allan Jones, Reminiscences of a Travelling Picture Showman , Busselton 1974
Interview (Ina Bertrand & Irma Whitford): Allan Jones (1978)
Limelight Picture Show Tours, http//:www.abc.net.au/limelight/docs/tours

Photos: 1 exterior, Barnard’s Regal Theatre 1940, b&w, Allan Jones, Reminiscences of a Travelling Picture Showman, Busselton 1974, p.12
1 exterior, Picture gardens 1939, b&w, Allan Jones, Reminiscences of a Travelling Picture Showman, Busselton 1974, p.12
1 exterior, Allan Theatre 1958, b&w, Allan Jones, Reminiscences of a Travelling Picture Showman, Busselton 1974, p.7
1 exterior, Cinema 1 1986, Kino no.19, p.12, Max Bell
1 interior of museum, Cinema 1 1986, Kino no.19, p.12, Max Bell>
1 exterior Cinema 1, 1985, colour, Robert Newton 3 exterior Max Bell 1980’s

BUSSELTON DRIVE-IN, Bussell Highway, Busselton

Allan Jones built a drive-in on the southern side of the Bussell Highway in the Busselton suburb of Broadlands, on the south-east corner of Bent Drive. It opened 17 December 1961, with provision for 150 cars, but was later enlarged (to 450?). When he died in 1982, his cinemas were taken over by a family company – Jones’ Cinewest Drive-ins, which continued to run the drive-in.

In 1997 it was operating in the summer months, screening every night in warm weather and school holidays, then tapering off as the weather gets colder. The gardens were still trim, and FM stereo sound was introduced in the summer of 1996-7, though the speakers had been retained in case any car had no radio or had trouble with it.

Attendance was improving, particularly among the tourists. The snackbar was refurbished in 1996 and in the summer of 1997-8 it opened for tea before the show because the previous season cars were lining up outside well before opening time. More families were coming by then, so the management deliberately programmed family films: the back rows where the young people used to gather were by then usually empty.

This drive-in was successful, but its future was not assured: in 1997 there were plans to replace it with a multiplex some time in the future.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1961/2 – 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 14592
Max Bell, Perth, a cinema history, The Book Guild Ltd, Lews, Sussex 1986, pp.132
Allan Jones, Reminiscences of a Travelling Picture Showman, Busselton 1974
Film Weekly, 5 January 1961, p.7
Interview (Ina Bertrand & Irma Whitford): Allan Jones (1978)
Informant: Ron Jones (Busselton, September 1997)

Photos: 3 exterior (entrance gates and billboards) , colour 1985, Robert Newton 3 exterior Max Bell 1980’s

BYFORD

BYFORD PICTURES, Byford

Byford was a small country town when Roch Evans’ Modern Cinemas circuit visited the town fortnightly in the thirties, with Ken Alexander as projectionist. In the forties and early fifties it was on Bart Mott’s Star Entertainments circuit, then till the sixties on A.E.Randell’s circuit. In 1960-61, Jim Punch ran Byford Pictures in a local hall seating 150 people.

Sources: Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.21
Film Weekly Directory, 1940/41 – 1960/1
Interview (Colleen Pead): Ken Alexander (1986)

Quicklinks

CADOUX

HALL

Vic Basham introduced films to Cadoux, screening fortnightly in the hall and building a gardens in the late fifties. He ceased screening in the town after the hall was destroyed by an earthquake.

Sources:
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Vic Basham (1997)

CALINGIRI

AGRICULTURAL HALL, Cavell St, Calingiri

Calingiri townsite was officially gazetted in January 1917, and the community constructed a hall, using voluntary labour, very soon after. It opened in November 1918, but at the end of 1923 a violent storm so damaged the building that extensive repairs were needed. Nevertheless, films were screened there in 1924. In January 1926, another cyclone destroyed the hall completely, and a new building was opened, on 14 October 1926 – still a small timber hall, without a built-in bio-box. Films were screened here too, though it is not clear when screenings began, and they may have ceased for a time in the thirties and early forties. The hall was on Fitzgerald’s circuit in the late forties and early fifties, then briefly on Lew Punch’s circuit in the middle fifties, and it is not clear when screenings ceased.

That hall was demolished before the new Recreation Hall was opened in Yulgering Rd on 29 March 1980. The Shire Caravan Park now stands on the site of the old hall.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1948/9 – 1956/7
Rica Erickson, The Victoria Plains, Lamb Paterson, Osborne Park 1971, pp.114-5, 119-120
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.103
Photos: 1 interior (old hall), colour, n.d., Shire of Victoria Plains
1 exterior (old hall), colour, n.d., Shire of Victoria Plains

CANNINGTON

CANNINGTON PUBLIC HALL, Albany Hwy, Cannington

Canning Road Board was founded in 1871, and in 1907 divided into Queens Park Road Board and Gosnells Road Board, with also some of the district going to Belmont and Darling Range. The (Queens Park) Town Hall, with new offices adjoining, was built in 1909, but there must have been a hall in the district earlier than this, where Stevenson’s Royal Biograph exhibited ´40 biographs and 50 limelight views’ on 10 October 1904 (perhaps the Agricultural Hall?).

The Board was renamed Canning District Road Board in 1921, and in 1926 the old offices were demolished and new ones built in front of the Town Hall, which was also extended.

Local historian Fred Carden explains (p.127) how regular film screenings came to this venue:

Mr F.V.Hodges commenced showing ‘pictures’ in the Town Hall around 1923 and continued until the early 1930s. In March 1924, the C.R.B. granted him sole rights to screen pictures for the following twelve months, and later that year Mr Hodges’ offer of 200 tip-up seats was accepted by the Board and a new agreement drawn up re theatre rights. This form of entertainment required the seats to be fixtures on the floor and thus curtailed the hall’s future use for dancing. From this time onwards the Agricultural Hall, East Cannington Hall and Queens Park Memorial Hall became the venue of dances and balls.

There may have been a gap in the early years of sound, but from well before 1940 to the late fifties Bart Mott’s Star Entertainments was screening there regularly. Exhibitors in later years included A.E.Randell, Vic Lucas, and the Varne family. Screenings were suspended in 1961 because of lack of patronage: the lease was revoked, though it was announced that occasional screenings may occur in future.

Sources: Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.21
F.G.Carden, Along the Canning: a history of the Shire of Canning district, WA, Shire of Canning 1968
Film Weekly Directory, 1940 – 1962
Film Weekly, 9 February 1961, p.3
Kino, no.48, June 1994, p.21
West Australian, 10 October 1904; 1943 – 1961
Photos: F.G.Carden, Along the Canning: a history of the Shire of Canning district, WA, Shire of Canning 1968, opp.p.8

HOYTS 8/ CAROUSEL/ CAROUSEL MEGAPLEX, Cecil Ave, Cannington

Hoyts 8, a joint venture of Hoyts and CIC (Cinema International Corporation), opened in the Carousel shopping centre in Cannington on 28 June 1990. The venue cost $10 million, was designed by Hames Sharley Australia and was immediately successful, drawing very large crowds. In 1996, it was rumoured to be about to be extended to twenty screens, and the following year this rumour had risen to 24, including a Cinemotion cinema, but planning permission was not given. Eventually, the building was extended to 14 screens, opening on 28 October 1999. Of these, eleven were Cinemax, with Dolby digital sound and stadium seating, and three were La Premiere, providing luxury seating on two-seater couches, complimentary popcorn, and a licensed area from which patrons were permitted to take drinks back to their seats. This was Hoyts’ answer to the GU Megaplex in Innaloo, which had more screens but was not as luxurious.

Sources: Max Bell, ´Hoyts 8 Carousel’, Kino no.47, March 1994 p.26
Kino, no.17, September 1986, p.24; no.27, March 1989, p.23; no.33 September 1990, p.23; no.34, December 1990, p.24; no.57, September 1996, p.31; no.59, March 1997, p.31; no.63, Autumn 1998; p.34, no.70, Summer 1999, p.35.
West Australian, 1991 – 2000
Photos: 2 exteriors, colour, 1997 (Graeme Bertrand)

CAPEL

CAPEL HALL , Forrest St, Capel

The Capel Hall was first built in 1911, on the north-west corner of Forrest St and Roe Rd. It was constructed of timber, 80′ by 30′, with a supper room and portable stage, but no bio-box. Neville Chinnery was operating there in the thirties, and may have been there earlier still.

One of the earliest of Allan Jones’ four picture show vans operated for a time out of Capel at first, before being based at Busselton. This van travelled through Margaret River, Nannup, Boyanup, Cowaramup, Dunsborough, East Witchcliffe, Jarrahwood, Karridale and Augusta: Tuesday night was picture night in Capel, from before 1940 to about 1964.

In the middle sixties, John Marsden branched out on his own while working six nights a week at the Mayfair, Bunbury. On the seventh night each week he would screen at Capel Hall, using J1 portable projectors, and AC carbon rods. His first show was Laurence of Arabia – attended by only five people and one dog. Nevertheless, he continued at Capel for about a year on Sunday nights, before closing at Capel
and moving to Brunswick Junction, leaving Capel without films once again

In 1972 the hall was burnt down when two small boys were playing with matches, and a new hall opened on the same site on 13 July 1974. The new hall had no bio-box and pictures were not screened there.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1964/5
Post Office Directory 1922/4 – 1935/6
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Alan Jones (1978), John Marsden (1997)
Informant: Clive Reed (1997)

CARDIFF

CARDIFF HALL, Shannon St, Cardiff

This weatherboard building with a corrugated iron roof was built around 1920. In the days of silent pictures, Edward Ernest Wheeler (father of Eddie Wheeler who later ran the Bow cinema in Collie) and Bert Dyer (father of Noel Dyer, who later became projectionist at the Royal, Collie) ran a regular screening in this hall, with a hand-cranked projector. For instance, on Sunday 30 October 1921, Hearts of the World was screened there. In the sound period, it was on Fred West’s circuit, but that ceased about 1936.

Sources: Collie Municipal Heritage Inventory, no.130
Collie Mail 7 October 1921
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Eddie Wheeler (1997)

Photo: 1 exterior, b&w, n.d., Collie Municipal Heritage Inventory, no.130

CARLISLE

ARCHER AND GARDENS, 234 Orrong Rd, Carlisle

The Archer gardens, holding 450, was built in 1954 in Orrong Rd, for Eric Nichols and Jack Gynn, both of whom were working as projectionists for Hoyts at the time. This was so successful that in 1958 it was enlarged to a capacity of nearly 1000, and a theatre holding a further 560 was built in front of the gardens, in Archer St. By this time, however, television and drive-ins were providing stiff competition. The premises were sold in 1969 and became a supermarket and car park.

Sources: Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, pp.19, 54
Film Weekly Directory, 1954 – 1970
West Australian, 1954 – 1968, 30 May 1969
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Ken Booth (1978)
Interview (Ina Bertrand & Bill Turner): Jack Gynn (1981)
Photos: 2 exterior (now shop and car park), colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)

BICKFORD MEMORIAL HALL AND GARDENS, Rutland Ave, Carlisle

The Briggs family operated in this hall, holding 200, from about 1953 to 1961.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory, 1954 – 1961

West Australian, 1957 – 1958
Interview (Ina Bertrand & Bill Turner): Jack Gynn (1981)

CARNAMAH

BROADLANDS DRIVE-IN, McPherson St, Carnamah

In 1963, a company comprising Bob Yelland’s Consolidated Theatres and local shareholders built the Broadlands drive-in on Council land on the north side of an unnamed street with access from McPherson St, off King St, next to the caravan park. It held 211 cars. The first manager was Kevin Sear, then Dick Evans, then Ron Chapman, then Wally van Leen. At first it was screening four nights each week (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday), two different programmes each showing for two nights.

It was a very basic venue, with no playground or sit-in section, and the only plants were some oleanders edging the driveway. From 1965-1969, while her husband was managing the venue, Bridie Evans worked in the ticket box and/or the shop: there she learned to make beef and bacon burgers from the cook whose specialty they were. The Evans children were required to clean up the mess around the ramps the next morning – a task they resented. Bridie Evans cannot remember the venue ever being full enough that anyone had to be turned away, nor any particularly rowdy behaviour. She does remember that the septic system was often blocked, caused by the cleaner’s overenthusiastic use of disinfectant.

The arrival of television in the town brought about a downturn in drive-in patronage, particularly after GWN arrived in 1986. P.R.Heydon describes it like this:
The Broadlands Drive-in Pictures had been operating since 1963 but had fallen on bad times and the Council decided in August 1973 to purchase some of the equipment and carry on under Council management, but it was soon realised that running a Drive-in Theatre, purchasing films, etc, was a specialist business, and proved a worry to the Shire Clerk. The facilities were let to a travelling picture company who were servicing the surrounding areas [this is probably a reference to Ray Dean’s company], and they carried on for a time until Television started to have a big impact on attendance figures, then the video boom added to the manager’s woes. Finally, the touring company were using the facilities at no charge to the Council, who were also paying the electricity charges to provide the facility for townspeople. But this did not help, and the venture folded up. (Heydon, p.105)

The drive-in closed, though in 1997 the ramps and ticket-box and speaker-stands were still there, and so was the concession/ biobox building which had been used by the P&C as a tuckshop for the local school and by the Buffs Lodge as a meeting place. The projectors were returned to the Shire Hall, with the intention of starting up screenings there again, but to 1997 this had not happened.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1963/4 – 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes Sussex 1986, p.132
P.R.Heydon, Westward to the sea: reminiscences and a history of Carnamah District 1861 – 1987, Carnamah Historical Society, 1988
The Showman, 16 September 1963, p.19
Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Alan Larkin, Ray Dean (1997)
Informant: Bridie Evans (1997)

Photos : 2 colour , Roy Mudge 1987

SHIRE HALL AND GARDENS , McPherson St Carnamah

One of the early items of business discussed by the Carnamah Roads Board was a request on 21 September 1926 from Mr Walker-Taylor that a bio-box be installed in the planned Roads Board Hall. Instead, ´Permission was granted for Mr Taylor to show pictures once a month, but he had to erect his own asbestos box.'(P.R.Heydon, p.97)

The Roads Board Hall was built in 1929 – a solid stone structure, on the north-east corner of the junction of Caron and McPherson Sts. Wednesday night was picture night. Bridie Evans can remember the excitement of walking two and a half miles into town once or twice a year with her older brother when she was about nine years old to attend the pictures at this venue in the mid-thirties. At that time the screen was on the stage and the bio-box above the entrance to the hall. The hall had columns supporting the roof, so patrons sought to avoid the seats with poor sightlines.

In the forties, Ray Dean’s ´West Talkies’ included Carnamah on its circuit, and this was one of the towns taken over by Vic Basham and Dave Cox in the fifties. They built a gardens behind the hall, along Caron St. This had metal-frame deckchairs in rows of four or five, and one resident can remember how the children in the late fifties would run across the tops of the rails from the back to the front of the cinema… At this time, the bio-box seems to have been re-sited onto the stage of the hall, so that projectors could be swung round to serve the gardens through ports in the back wall of the stage. This put the screen at the front of the hall and allowed seating to be placed on the stage – highly-valued seats, similar to the dress circle in a purpose-built cinema, so there would be a scramble to fill these first. When the partnership of Basham and Cox split up, Cox continued in Carnamah.

The building was demolished and replaced with a new Shire Hall in 1962. This hall had a bio-box, but, as the drive-in had been opened by then, regular screenings were never provided in the new hall. After the drive-in closed, the projectors were returned to the bio-box in the new hall, with the intention of starting screenings again, but by 1997 this had not yet happened.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1950/51
Shire of Carnamah, Municipal Inventory, 1995
P.R.Heydon, Westward to the sea: Reminiscences and a history of Carnamah District 1861 – 1987, Carnamah Historical Society, 1988
Informant: Bridie Evans (1997)
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Vic Basham (1997)
Photos: 1 exterior (Roads Board Hall), b&w, n.d., P.R.Heydon, Westward to the sea: Reminiscences and a history of Carnamah District 1861 – 1987, Carnamah Historical Society, 1988, p.98
2 exteriors (Roads Board Hall), b&w, n.d. (held by Shire Offices)
1 exterior (Shire Hall), b&w, 1995, Shire of Carnamah, Municipal Inventory, 1995
1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

CARNARVON

BOOR’S THEATRE, Robinson St, Carnarvon

J.A. (John Arthur) Boor was born in England in 1869 and emigrated to Western Australia as an adult. He lived first in Bunbury, but moved to Carnarvon, where he became a Town Councillor and eventually Mayor.

Boor’s Drapery store, on the north-west corner of the intersection of Robinson St and Alexandra St, is clearly visible in several early photos of the town, one as early as 1902 (Cecily Miller, vol.3, p. 2) and two taken during the 1909 flood (Cecily Miller, vol.4, p.1). The building was a simple unlined, two-roomed timber frame clad with iron: the front room was the draper’s store and the back room was converted for use as a theatre. It could be cleared for dances, or filled with seats for a performance or screening: there was a stage at one end for live theatre and a screen at the other for films, and the seats were reversible.

The first film screening in this theatre took place on Saturday 6 February 1915, in competition with Mr Louden’s Star Pictures at the Masonic Hall. Soon after, Louden took out a lease on Boor’s Theatre and transferred his plant there, though he probably retained the aluminium screen that Boor had proudly advertised. Films were delivered by the ships on the coastal run to Darwin.

On 7 March 1922 the theatre was gutted by fire and Louden’s projection apparatus destroyed. For some months the town was without a picture show, until on 23 September 1922 Louden opened his own “Picture Palace”, further up and on the other side of Robinson Street.

Sources: Cecily Miller, Photographical History of Carnarvon and the Gascoyne Region, Cecily Miller, Carnarvon, 7 vols 1996-7
Rica Erickson, A bi-centennial dictionary of Western Australia p.260
Northern Star 6 February 1915, 13 February 1915, 11 March 1922
Discussion at Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage, Carnarvon, 27 July 1997, with members of Carnarvon Historical Society
Photos: Cecily Miller, Photographical History, vol.3, p.2; vol.4, p.1
1 exterior, b&w, about 1908, R. Scott Memory, A town grows: Carnarvon, Western Australia, Service Printing CO, Perth July 1967, opp.p.164

CAMEL LANE THEATRE, Robinson St, Carnarvon

The goods shed, which was part of the storage facilities connected with the One Mile Jetty, was built in 1904 in Robinson St, on the south-west corner of Stuart St. It was renovated in 1966 and used as a Civic Centre till it was demolished in 1990.

The new Civic Centre buildings were completed on this site in November 1990, and officially opened 22 February 1991. These included the Camel Lane theatre, used both for live performances and weekly film screenings. The complex cost $400,000, and is used as a community facility, also containing the Tourist Bureau.

Sources: Max Bell, Kino, no.36, June 1991, p.24
Discussion at Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage, Carnarvon, 27 July 1997, with members of Carnarvon Historical Society

Photo: 1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

CARNIVAL OPEN AIR THEATRE, Egan St, Carnarvon

By the end of the fifties the district had begun that expansion which culminated in the space-tracking station and various exploration activities. On 30 April 1960 local residents Fred Ross and Homer Glaris opened the Carnival Open Air Theatre on the southern side of Egan St. This block was between Robinson and Rushton Sts, on land behind the house in Rushton St. owned by Nick Glaris, Homer Glaris’s father and a well-known identity in the town (the local SP bookmaker as well as a business-man). The gardens could seat 5-600 and was operated in competition with the Memorial Theatre.

The premises were described as ´the most modern picture gardens outside the metropolitan area’ (Northern Times 5 May 1960), with tubular steel deck chairs with canvas covers, a modern kiosk and a children’s playground. However, in other ways it was a rather functional structure, with sheet metal walls, a gravel floor and little adornment. The screen was on the east wall, and the bio-box near the entrance in Egan St. Unlike so many other locations, the gardens continued after the drive-in was built, and the two venues advertised together for many years (till at least 1977).

In 1997, parts of the walls were still standing, but the site was derelict.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1961/2 – 1971
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes Sussex 1986, p.104
Jack Valli, Gascoyne Days, St George Books, Perth 1983
Jack Valli, correspondence with Colleen Pead
Northern Times 1960-1977
Interview (Ina Bertrand): R.Yelland
Discussion at Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage, Carnarvon, 27 July 1997, with members of Carnarvon Historical Society

LOUDEN’S PICTURE PALACE/ SWANSEA PICTURE PALACE/ MEMORIAL THEATRE, Robinson St, Carnarvon

On 7 March 1922 Boor’s Theatre was gutted by fire and Mr Louden’s projection apparatus destroyed. For some months the town was without a picture show, until Louden had time to construct his own “Picture Palace” . Immediately after the fire (the lease was registered on 29 March 1922), Louden took out a lease for five years on Town Lots 178 and 179 owned by Herbert Thomas Jackman, on the south side of Robinson Street, in the middle of the block between Francis St and Olivia Tce, next to the old Post Office. He must have contracted local builder Hubert Green (known as Huey Green) to construct the premises, which opened on 23 September 1922.

It was a simple open air theatre, which screened weekly as Louden’s Picture Palace until early 1924. The rumour is that Louden was unable to pay Green for the building work, and that Green must have foreclosed to cover the debt. In any case, Green owned the premises from 1924, and opened it weekly from 2 April, in addition to his regular work as carpenter and undertaker for the town. He renamed it the Swansea Picture Palace, and introduced an innovation much appreciated by the patrons – the availability of cushions for a small hire charge, for use on the hard seats. In the early thirties, Thelma Tonkin and Thelma Daulby (then sixteen years old) were employed to hire out these cushions at 2d each before the show and collect them afterwards, and at interval to work in the concession selling sweets. They were not paid for this, except in free tickets to the show and a gift at Christmas. Other young people did similar service in the theatre over the years.

The Green family left Carnarvon briefly in 1929, but lessees Hastie and Skipworth were not successful so Huey Green returned only a year later. At that time, shops were built in front of the theatre, and a roof added: entrance to the theatre was now through a passage between the shops, with the ticket box and cushion window on one side and the bio-box on the other.

In May 1933 an XL-Tone sound system was installed and Daddylonglegs was the first sound film presented, the acoustics of the building having been improved by a myriad of crepe paper streamers hanging from the roof. Except for that short period in 1929-30 when the theatre was leased to others, Green operated the Swansea till 1948.

After World War 2, the town was considering how to commemorate the contribution of local members of the armed forces just at the time that Green placed the Swansea on the market: it was suggested that purchasing the theatre on behalf of the whole town would make a fitting memorial. The venue was then bought by Henry Butcher and Cyril Cornish in trust for the newly-formed Carnarvon-Gascoyne Memorial Theatre, which officially took over the venue in its own right in 1964. Through all this time, it continued to be operated as a cinema, run by various managers employed by the Theatre Trust, and now renamed the Memorial Theatre.

Local historian Jack Valli describes the cramped and stuffy local lock-up, located opposite the theatre. A sympathetic sergeant of police often allowed the prisoners a short walk before being locked up for the night. Some would take advantage of this to buy a ticket for the pictures, even if their stay was necessarily short. One night, when a prisoner had overstayed his leave, the rest of the audience were amused to see a message scrawled on a slide on the screen: “If Mr… is not back in his cell in five minutes he will be locked out.”

Valli also described how the local community watched the 1969 moon landing ´live’ in the theatre, courtesy of NASA, in recognition of the contribution of the NASA station in Carnarvon to that historic event.

The RSL record books indicate that the Memorial Theatre was still screening films up to 1969, but those records then cease. The last advertisement for films at the Memorial Theatre is on Thursday 3 April 1973, when The Last Picture Show (starring Timothy Bottoms and Jeff Bridges) was to be screened. The building was later demolished (except for the concrete wall of the bio-box with portholes and flume, still visible upstairs and incorporated within the new structure), and replaced with shops on the street frontage, and offices and a new RSL clubrooms upstairs.

Sources: Registers of titles (copies held by Gascoyne Historical Society)
Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1969/70
Shire of Carnarvon, Heritage Inventory , C63
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes ,Sussex, 1986, p.102
Cecily Miller, Photographical History of Carnarvon and the Gascoyne Region, Cecily Miller,Carnarvon, 7 vols 1996-7
Jack Valli, Gascoyne Days, St George Books, Perth 1983
Jack Valli, correspondence with Colleen Pead
Northern Times 1919-1973, 19 April 1973
Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Des Abermardie, Alan Larkin, R.Yelland
Interview (Colleen Pead): Harry Green (August 1986)
Discussion at Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage, Carnarvon, 27 July 1997, with members of Carnarvon Historical Society
RSL Gascoyne Branch record books
Photos: 2 exterior, late thirties, b&w, H.Green
2 interior, late thirties, b&w, H.Green
1 exterior (Anzac Day 1950-52), b&w, Dal Crake (Cecily Miller, vol.3, p.4)

MASONIC HALL, Francis St, Carnarvon

The first known screening of moving pictures in Carnarvon took place in the Masonic Hall, on the west side of Francis St, between Johnston and Robinson Sts. This was a season of Brete’s Pictures, which commenced on Tuesday 16 February 1909.

In January 1915, Mr H. Louden was screening there regularly, and he was still there when A.J.Boor began film screenings in his new Boor’s Theatre. Some time after that, Louden took a lease of the picture business in Boor’s Theatre and regular film screenings in the Masonic Hall seem to have ceased.

The hall was later acquired by the Anglican Church and became known as the Parish Hall, and in 1997 it was still standing, in use as a commercial premises with the signs (Masonic Hall/Parish Hall) covered over.

Sources: Northern Times 20 February 1909, 23 January 1915
Discussion at Lighthouse Keeper’s Cottage, Carnarvon, 27 July 1997, with members of Carnarvon Historical Society

Photo: 1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

RIVERSIDE DRIVE-IN, Robinson St, East Carnarvon

Photos: 1 exterior (rear of screen), colour, 1981, Bill Turner
1 exterior (rear of screen), b&w, 1968, C.A.Miller

CHANDLER

HALL, Chandler

CHANNAR

OPEN AIR CINEMA, Channar

Channar is another mining operation just at the back of Para’s mine. But they have no drive-in or cinema. What they did have was an extra TV station for films and videos. I don’t think they have anything now, as the workers live in town and travel each day to the mine about 1 hr 30 mins I think.

CHIDLOW

HALL, Chidlow

CHITTERING

HALL, Chittering

CHRISTMAS ISLAND

CLUB SETTLEMENT CINEMA, Christmas Island

On this unique and quite attractive island, repose three open air cinemas, which are operated by the mining company. The cinemas were first built in 1950, one at South Point, one at Drumsite and the other at Settlement. The whole locality at South Point was dismantled in 1968 to make way for further mining operations and has now disappeared into the jungle. The original Settlement Cinema was also dismantled to make way for other buildings, but a newer cinema is still operating there.

The cinema situation in 1985 is that two outdoor theatres are still operating, Settlement and Poon San. Both of these formerly screened 35mm films but were discontinued five years ago because of operational problems. The units were Simplex with Calder automatic arcs, manufactured by a Sydney company, J & W Bunt and Co. Two new Bell and Howell 16mm projection units were installed at both of Settlement and Poon San, where films are screened twice a week to an average audience of 100 persons. Each cinema seats 300, mainly on wooden forms.

Films were previously hired from Cathay Films in Singapore when the 35mm units were operating, and from Australasian Film Hire in Perth, but presently films come mainly from Amalgamated Films in Sydney and are normally in English, but there are some spoken in Malay and Mandarin.

The appearance of the open air cinemas is quite interesting and pleasing to the eye, with neatly built bio boxes, graduated seating and well designed cinema screens. They are well maintained and it is most obvious that the company presents the entertainment with quite some pride for their employees.

The disused 35mm projectors are shortly to be moved to a new home, very appropriately in Western Australian, where they will be put on display in the Allen Theatre, Busselton, which has a unique cinema museum in the upstairs foyer. (Max Bell, ‘Christmas Island’, Kino, no.17, p.12)

CLAREMONT

PARISH HALL, Claremont Ave (Stirling Hwy),Claremont

SWANBOURNE THEATRE, 136 Railway St, Claremont

Photo: 1 exterior (Police & Citizens Youth club), colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)

COCKATOO ISLAND

OPEN AIR PICTURES, Cockatoo Island

There were not many single girls: there were only two of us, I think. When I came home from boarding school, the plane would land and they could see from the power house who was getting off the plane. And if there were pictures that night the numbers would go up, they’d want to check out who the bird was who had got off the plane. Then it would quieten off. We went with friends, usually in a group, unless you paired off with a fella and went with your boyfriend.

COLLIE

COLISEUM, Wittenoom St, Collie

DRIVE-IN, Laurie St, Collie

GAIETY GARDENS, Forrest St, Collie

MECHANICS INSTITUTE AND GARDENS/ EMPIRE/ LYCEUM THEATRE/ BOW CINEMA, Throssel St, Collie

POLICE AND CITIZENS YOUTH CLUB, Forrest St, Collie

THEATRE ROYAL, 33 Forrest St, Collie

TIVOLI THEATRE, Forrest St, Collie

UNION HALL, Collie

COMO

COOLGARDIE

TOWN HALL AND GARDENS, Bayley St, Coolgardie

COOROW

CORRIGIN

TOWN HALL, Corrigin

COTTESLOE

LIDO GARDENS, Forrest St, Cottesloe

WELLS HALL/ COTTESLOE THEATRE AND GARDENS, 114 Stirling Hwy, Cottesloe

Wells Hall was a prominent two storey building on the corner of Leake Street and the Perth-Fremantle Road, this site where years later the Hatfield family built their cinema and picture gardens is now dominated by today’s Grove Shopping Centre. The ground floor of the Wells Hall housed several shops, one of these was occupied by well known grocer, S.J.Luce. Gawned’s dining room (the ‘Cottesloe Hall’) and a small confectionery shop stood next door. The building also included a number of offices and meeting rooms, upstairs consisted of a large hall complete with stage and dressing conveniences and space used by the Freemason’s Boronia lodge. Wells Hall, being so centrally positioned, was the venue for local concerts, charitable Fetes and Balls.

COWARAMUP

SHOWGROUNDS/ HALL, Cowaramup

CRANBROOK

CRANBROOK MEMORIAL HALL, Gathorne St, Cranbrook

CRAWLEY

SOMERVILLE AUDITORIUM, Howard St, Crawley

CUE

HALL AND GARDENS, Dowley St, Cue

CUNDERDIN

CUNDERDIN DRIVE-IN, West Main St, Cunderdin

ROADS BOARD HALL/ SHIRE HALL AND GARDENS, Main St, Cunderdin

CURRAMBINE

GRAND CINEMA COMPLEX, cnr Marmion Ave & Shenton Ave, Currambine

Quicklinks

ESPERANCE

BIJOU/ R.A.O.B. HALL ,Dempster St, Esperance

The Bijou Theatre was built in August 1896 (over a period of only 31 days) on the west side of Dempster St, near William St. It was officially opened on 5 September 1896. The Esperance Municipal Heritage Inventory describes it like this:

The size of the original building was 93ft x 32ft, height 22ft, auditorium 55ft x 32ft with stage 17ft x 30ft. The floor was pine. Two backdrop scenes were painted by H Gough, one of West Beach and the “Grace Darling” entering the harbour and the other scene of a drawing room. Patrons were seated on wooden stools and chairs. Illumination was by six large kerosene lamps.

The building had been owned originally by the Adelaide and Esperance Land Company and was managed for them by E.J.McCarthy. In 1947 it was purchased by the R.A.O.B.: in 1971 they sold it to Esperance Repertory and built the new grey brick meeting hall behind the Bijou.

The Bijou had a weatherboard facade, but was mainly built of corrugated iron over a timber frame. It was a multi-purpose community building, used occasionally for film screenings in the early days and more regularly (under various proprietors) from the thirties to the mid-sixties.

This was where ‘Ilham the Afghan’ conducted his occasional screenings of silent pictures in the twenties. He travelled with a horse-drawn caravan, carrying a portable power plant, just powerful enough to run the carbon arc but not to also run a projector. So he hand-cranked the projector – Philip Hancock suggests he was perhaps ‘an early candidate for R.S.I.’ (letter to Neville Mulgat). Because his visits were irregular, he needed to be able to let the town know when a screening was to take place: so he employed a custom common at the time, of a boy from the local school acting as ‘Town Crier’, walking round the streets ringing the bell and calling out the slogan for the films.

Cran Smither reminisces:

All preparations completed the single cylinder engine outside was cranked up and Mr Ilham brought the two carbon rods together and with a bright flash and sizzle an intense white light was made. The projector was hand turned all night by Mr Ilham at a very steady speed. By turning too fast the image on the screen was speeded up and if too slow the nitrate film was set on fire so Mr Ilham had a pair of scissors very handy to snip the film and therefore save the top reel from catching fire.

At this stage of film screening the projector was in the middle of the hall and the audience, so the use of scissors was the only safety device known. When the film was cut or a break occurred it had to be re-threaded through various cogs and gates and it was local custom for all the kids to count the break out: ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, OUT!! as is done now on space launches. This custom was also applied to a love scene (kissing only those days). The kiss was counted down and OUT. So the silent flicks of our early lives were not always silent…

Round about Mr Ilham’s visit to Esperance the hunt for empty beer bottles became keen (half penny each), the bigger kids hunted rats because the local Road Board paid a bounty on ears and tail so the streets became neat and tidy, free of vermin with the resulting few pennies going towards “the flicks”.

In the thirties, Les Anderson moved from Boulder to Esperance and by 1940 he was the owner of the Bijou. He screened films only once a week in winter and kept his income up by opening the hall for roller skating, but in summer he screened to good houses three nights a week. He also operated the power station, which meant he had to rush off at interval every night to regulate the power supply, while his wife Molly was showing advertising slides. Anderson sold out to Jack Scholey in 1946, who operated the business as Esperance Talkies, till he too sold it in the late forties to E. McFetridge, who in turn sold in the early fifties to Mick Lalor. From the late fifties till it closed in the mid-sixties it was operated by Esperance Theatres. No-one can remember any outdoor screenings in conjunction with the Bijou – perhaps it was just too cold in Esperance?

Brian (Bunny) Dunn went to the Bijou in 1937, when his uncle Reddie McCudden was operator. At that time they had two projectors and screened on Saturday night only, with the projectors on the balcony and the screen on the stage. When Mick Lalor owned the projectors, people would book for the pictures at Lalor’s shop. Patrons would come down from Kalgoorlie to the Bijou at Christmas, and Lalor would pack them in on extra deckchairs – with the ever-present danger of canvas tearing or frames giving way! Deckchairs were used in the hall because they were simple to move in when a screening was on, or out when the hall was needed for something else (such as badminton). After Lalor opened his drive-in, regular film screenings at the Bijou ceased.

The slide projector and slides from the Bijou are currently housed in the Esperance Museum. The Municipal Heritage Inventory describes the theatre today like this:

Today the Bijou retains the original facade but it now has raked seating, consisting of 160 padded fold up seats. A rear balcony accommodates stage lighting and sound operations. A bar/kiosk has been built inside the small entrance foyer. Steps either side lead up to the auditorium.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1964/5
Shire of Esperance, Draft Municipal Heritage Inventory, place no.3
Max Bell, ´Esperance Bijou’, Kino, no.29, September 1989, p.17
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes Sussex, 1986, p.101
R.C.Bridges, Footprints in the sand, self-published, n.d.
Informants: Brian (Bunny) Dunn (Esperance, 17 August 1997); Elaine Siemer (Esperance, 17 August 1997)
Letter, Philip Hancock to Neville Mulgat, November 1995
Letter, Peter & Cran Smither to Neville Mulgat, 23 January 1996
Notes of interview (Neville Mulgat): Molly Anderson (1996)
Phil Blake, http://members.westnet.com.au/dakota/INTRO and bijou

Photos: 1 exterior, b&w, n.d., Shire of Esperance, Draft Municipal Heritage Inventory, place no.3
1 exterior, b&w, 1988, Kino, no.29, p.17 (Max Bell)
1 exterior, b&w, 1916, Battye 26711P (reproduced http://members.westnet.com.au/dakota/bijou.htm)
1 interior, b&w, 1897, Esperance Museum (reproduced http://members.westnet.com.au/dakota/bijou.htm)
1 exterior, colour, 1997 (Graeme Bertrand)

1 exterior, Max Bell , 1980’s

CIVIC CENTRE, Council Place, Esperance

The large Civic Centre, including a hall, was built in Council Place, off Jane St, and opened in 1981. The Shire of Esperance brochure describes the venue in glowing terms: the setting among native plants and with ample parking space, the driveway with covered entry to the building, the auditorium with raked seating that can be converted to a flat surface by retracting the tiers on which the seats stand, the spacious stage with professional quality lighting and sound capacity, and the reception centre for smaller functions.

From 1981 it was occasionally booked by travelling film shows, using portable 16mm equipment. Then Christopher Baldwin and David Hayter initiated more regular commercial 35mm screenings there: with assistance from an experienced operator in Perth, they bought a second-hand 35mm projector and a screen. In 1995, David Hayter left the cinema, and Chris Baldwin brought in Phil Blake as weekend projectionist. Dolby Surround Sound wsa introduced in 1997, installed by Ron Tutt from Perth.

Because the venue was owned by the Shire, and no-one could have a monopoly on civic facilities, they were only able to book one month ahead, but occasionally, if they wished to book a blockbuster and the distributor required more than one month’s notice, that requirement was waived. In 1997, they did not screen every week – sometimes there were other events that booked the venue on a weekend. But when it was available, they screened on Friday and Saturday, 6 and 8 p.m. each day, with extra screenings (maybe 2 and 4 p.m. on Saturday) when they had a particularly popular film. They advertised in the Esperance Advertiser on a Thursday, and put up posters in the town.

Neville Mulgat in the Shire Office considered that the screenings were a boon to the town: they were popular with the young people, and rent to the Shire kept the Civic Centre viable, allowing it to make a profit in 1996. Popcorn made a mess, and the young patrons were sometimes very noisy, but that was a small price to pay for a valuable social activity. Regular screenings ceased in the Civic Centre when the new cinema complex opened in 2002.

Sources: Shire of Esperance, Draft Municipal Heritage Inventory, place no.8
Shire of Esperance, Esperance Civic Centre (brochure)
Max Bell, Kino no.21, September 1987, p.22
Phil Blake, http://members.westnet.com.au/dakota/ESPERANCE.htm
Informant: Neville Mulgat (Esperance 1997)

Photos: 1 exterior, b&w, n.d., Shire of Esperance, Draft Municipal Heritage Inventory, place no.8
exteriors and interiors, b&w, n.d., Shire of Esperance, Esperance Civic Centre (brochure)
1 exterior, 3 interiors, colour, n.d., http://members.westnet.com.au/dakota/ESPERANCE.htm (Phil Blake)

ESPERANCE DRIVE-IN, Sinclair St, Esperance

Mick Lalor had had the land for a drive-in for some time but had not proceeded with the building. The locals began to lose faith that he would ever build, so they approached Perth businessman Alan Larkin. A syndicate was formed, including Larkin and Goldfields Pictures as well as several Esperance businessmen. The company began construction, but so did Mr Lalor, and his Pink Lake Drive-in was already open when the Esperance Drive-in opened at the end of January 1966 in Sinclair St, on the corner of Fisheries Rd. At first it had places for 355 cars on seven acres, but the site was ten acres, allowing room for later expansion. The locally-made screen was 70ft by 34ft, and a playground and planting campaign were planned. W. Churchill moved from Norseman as manager.

It closed in the early eighties, re-opened over the summer of 1985 for three nights a week, but closed again the following year, permanently this time.

The Esperance Museum now holds one of the Gaumont Kalee Model 21 projectors and the Carbon arc slide projector in use at the Esperance Drive-in from 1967 to 1986.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1965/6 – 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth, a cinema history, The Book Guild Ltd, Lewes, Sussex ,1986, p.135
Max Bell, Kino, September 1985, no.13, p.14
Phil Blake, http://members.westnet.com.au/dakota/ESPERANCE.htm
Esperance Advertiser, 28 January 1966, p.6
Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Alan Larkin (1985), Ron Elsegood (1985)

Photos: 3 exteriors, colour, n.d., http://members.westnet.com.au/dakota/ESPERANCE.htm
(Phil Blake)

3 exterior ,sepia, Max Bell , 1980’s

FENWICK 3 CINEMAS, Esperance

Phil Blake describes how this 3-cinema complex was ‘built by a group of local residents along with two Victorian Cinema owners. The site on which the complex was built has historic importance being the site of the local legendary doctor John Fenwick who served the town for many years’. It opened 7 December 2002.

Sources: Phil Blake, http://westnet.com.au/dakota/PINKLAKE.htm
Kino, no.83, Autumn 2003, p.43

Photos: 1 exterior, 4 interiors, colour, http://members.westnet.com.au/dakota/ESPERANCE.htm (Phil Blake)

HANCOCK’S HALL, Andrew St, Esperance

Philip Hancock reminisces:

My father Cecil ‘Pop’ Hancock operated a picture theatre in ‘Hancock’s Hall’, Andrew Street from about 1926, so far as I can recall…

The theatre was a reconstruction of a shed which had previously served as a garage cum barn which became a dance hall and picture theatre. In earlier times the front of this place bore sign-painted evidence of the diverse and multiple skills of one, George Hearne, later to become store owner, funeral conductor and story teller. As a lad I calculated he was some 4 to 500 years old and had travelled adventurously and extensively throughout the then known world…

The hall seating consisted of a number of bentwood plus other chairs from the early Esperance Hotel, later delicensed. The front seating consisted of forms made up from the original shed flooring. The planks were about 15cm. wide and the forms when made up were appx. 20 cm. wide and 2½ m. in length.

The projection room was an asbestos construction. The Arc-lamp illuminated projection machine was driven and powered by a five horse power, petrol fed, Gardner upright single cylinder engine, with a long-belt coupled generator. The engine was water-cooled. Neither the dynamo nor the engine were satisfactorily bedded, being mounted on relatively light timber frames restrained by bags of sand against excessive vibration. The floor of the area was packed sand. Engine start was achieved by pulling on the belt to turn the motor, a dirty and somewhat hazardous arrangement. Under these ´Heath-Robinson’ conditions with leaking fuel, flooded engine, loose timing rods, poor insulation and with ´Pop’ dropping lighted papers into the plug hole in vain endeavours, the re-starting of the power supply would outperform any pantomime one could imagine. Sometimes patrons attending a showing on Saturday night would be issued passes to return on Monday evening and eventually complete the film Tuesday.

The exit door near the front stalls enabled access to such toilet facilities which, for want of suitable description, hardly existed. This door also enabled the many frantic trips to keep the plant operating. Another useful purpose was to allow ingress of ´Pop’s’ many aboriginal acquaintances. The usual idea was for the door to be opened after lights out so that when lights came on the scene was a bit different from before. Fleas were not at all uncommon.

The films of course were silent, in black and white. They arrived by rail Friday night, were wound joined and spooled by the operator big brother, Cecil. After display films were repaired, rewound and railed out Wednesday nights. From memory the hire cost per programme totalled in the vicinity (in today’s currency) of four to ten dollars. Except for the Christmas and Easter holiday periods, return from patronage was about the same. Admittance was, including 2 cents tax, 15 cents. The only justification for the display, given by ´Pop’ was that it brought people up to the shopping area, and gave a bit of life to the town.

The projector was operated by big brother Cecil who stood by the open door. It was his part to join the arc-light and see the film did not jam, if it did he was obliged to protect the frame thru which the film passed to prevent the flammable material bursting into flame from the heat intensity. He also changed to big reels after each two part section was completed. My own job was situated underneath the machine winding the expired film onto matching big reels, then quickly placing the reel of film into the steel fire proof box provided. There was an obvious incentive in performing the requirements quickly and carefully, I was not nearly close enough to the door.

The musical accompaniment was provided by ´POP’ Cecil Hancock who was I am sure a gifted musician. He would faithfully follow the action or mood of the film throughout, excepting that portion immediately preceding interval, at which point sound would stop. The reason for this would become apparent when on interval, those thirsty patrons repairing to the nearby inn would find that jovial musician already breasting the bar. ´MUM’ Emily Hancock sat at the entrance door and was cashier.

The Esperance Echo (8 August 1929) carried an advertisement for The Talkies, one night only, with full supporting programme of silents, but gave no indication of who the exhibitor was or where the presentation would take place. The very favourable review the following week still did not provide these details, but both Philip Hancock and Cran Smithers remember it as being in Hancock’s Hall: Philip Hancock found the sound-on-disk synchronisation very inadequate!

‘Pop’ Hancock’s own screenings ceased after sound-on-film was successfully demonstrated in the town and it became obvious that he could not afford to acquire quality sound equipment. Hancock’s Hall became Mick Lalor’s hardware store in the fifties, but it was later demolished and in the nineties the BP Service Station stands on the site.

Sources: R.C.Bridges, Footprints in the sand, self-published, n.d.
Informant: Brian (Bunny) Dunn, Esperance, 17 August 1997
Letter, Philip Hancock to Neville Mulgat, November 1995
Letter, Peter & Cran Smither to Neville Mulgat, 23 January 1996

PINK LAKE DRIVE-IN, Freeman St, Esperance

The Pink Lake Drive-in, with a capacity of 300 cars, was opened in Freeman St, beside the High School, on 15 December 1965. It was built for Mick Lalor, who had operated out of the Bijou, and continued to operate both venues for some time. It had a 90ft x 42ft screen, and buildings of the latest design:

All three buildings at the drive-in – ticket box, concessional building, and projection room are of American design.

The projection building is 20 feet square. It is built with Ravensthorpe stone.

It has a low flat-topped roof which enables people immediately behind it to see over the top.

The projection building is 300 feet from the screen.

The concession building, built of cream bricks, is about 65 feet long by 25 feet wide.

It contains a cafeteria and office.

The ticket box, a 19 feet by eight feet brick building, is well off the road to avoid congestion of cars outside the drive-in. (Esperance Advertiser, 17 December 1965, p.15)

Trees and shrubs were planted to beautify the venue, and a children’s playground was also planned, but the site was never sealed.

Phil Blake began his cinema career there as an assistant projectionist in 1977. On his web-site he describes the effect of video on audiences: declining patronage led to a brief closure in 1983, re-opening under a consortium that was also operating the Twin City Drive-in in Kalgoorlie, then final closure in 1985, after it had been operating in the summer months only. By 1986 the venue had been sold and the land was used for a private house, with some of the buildings converted.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1964/5 – 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Kino, September 1985, no.13, p.14
Max Bell, Perth, a cinema history, The Book Guild Ltd, Lewes, Sussex 1986, p.139-140
Phil Blake, http://westnet.com.au/dakota/PINKLAKE.htm
Esperance Advertiser, 17 December 1965, p.15
West Australian 1985 – 1986
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Alan Larkin (1985)
Interview (Colleen Pead): R.Yelland (1986)

Photos: 4 exteriors, colour, http://members.westnet.com.au/dakota/ESPERANCE.htm (Phil Blake)

1 exterior, Max Bell 1985

newspaper clipping, Max Bell

EXMOUTH

DRIVE-IN, Murat Rd, Exmouth

Jack Valli remembers the start of the drive-in like this:

The then Civil Commissioner of Exmouth, Colonel J.P.K.Murdoch made a successful approach to Greater Union Theatres, and in late 1967 the Exmouth Drive-in Theatre opened for business in Murat road.

Colin Hatfield, who was running the small Panorama Drive-in at Roleystone in the late sixties, remembers that at that time television was starting to impact on drive-in audiences in the Perth suburban area. He says the town of Exmouth decided to investigate the possibility of a drive-in, and approached him for advice. He agreed to supply all the fittings and projection equipment, closed the Panorama in April 1967, transported the speakers and projection equipment to Exmouth and installed them on the prepared site. The screen was not ready, so the program he had brought with him could not be shown, and he returned to Perth.

Around Christmas 1967 Exmouth Shire Council approached Jim Woods with a request for his co-operation in the drive-in theatre venture. He agreed: the Council provided the venue and Woods provided the programming (coming up on the coastal ships from Perth, as they did to Derby, Carnarvon and Port Hedland). The venue was a combined gardens and drive-in, with provision for 104 cars, and 250 seated in the gardens. After television reduced the audience even here, Woods left (in around 1978-9) and the site was sold to a developer.

Jack Valli remembers the end of the drive-in like this:

As was the case around the nation, the Exmouth drive-in suffered a major blow when television came to the area, with the advent of the video striking a deathblow.
The property was sold to a developer in 1983.

For a while it was used as a storage yard for boats.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1968/9 – 1971
Public health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth: a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.135
Max Bell, Kino, no.15, March 1986, p.22
Jack Valli unpublished reminiscences
Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Colin Hatfield (1997), Alan Larkin (1985), N.J.Woods (1985)

HALL/NAVAL BASE THEATRE, Exmouth

Around 1965, at the peak of construction of the US Naval Communication Station at North West Cape, the work force exceeded two thousand. In the absence of any community facilities in the nearby town of Exmouth, this isolated community had no opportunities for social gatherings except in their own homes. Jack Valli (in unpublished reminiscences) remembers it like this:

Two supervisors, Australian Jack Valli and US civilian Harrison Waite, enlisted the support of the Resident Officer in Charge of Construction, Commander R.E.Dunnells, C.E.C, U.S.N., to introduce movies to the area.
Permission was received from the US Naval Motion Picture Exchange in Hawaii to have films shipped to the base on the weekly Military Airlift Command plane which serviced the base from Honolulu. An unused navy warehouse became a temporary theatre, and for the first time in Australia, pre-release Hollywood movies were shown on a nightly basis to an invited audience.
A single Bell and Howell 35mm projector was used, and the audiences quickly became used to periodic intervals as the reels were changed. The audience supplied their own seating, which ranged from empty fuel drums to reclining chairs.
Due to animosity from hundreds of uninvited workers, the management of second prime contractors Koppers-Clough made arrangements to provide their own theatre. Mr Jack Poon, principal of the catering contractors Poon Bros. set up a second theatre in the outdoor area adjacent to the camp, and movies were shown at both locations until the base was commissioned on 16th September 1967.
The N.M.P.X. movies were then taken over for use at the base theatre and entry was restricted to US citizens, to the chagrin of other nationalities. The then Civil Commissioner of Exmouth, Colonel J.P.K.Murdoch made a successful approach to Greater Union Theatres, and in late 1967 the Exmouth Drive-in Theatre opened for business in Murat road.
The commercial enterprise enjoyed considerable success over the years, with the “House Full” sign being a common sight. For several years the youth of Exmouth were also catered for due to the enterprise of the local Catholic priest Fr. Noel Tobin. His Saturday afternoon matinees at the Exmouth community hall were welcomed by the children and parents alike.
As was the case around the nation, the Exmouth drive-in suffered a major blow when television came to the area, with the advent of the video striking a deathblow.
The property was sold to a developer in 1983. Only the US Naval theatre remains as a film venue at North West Cape.

Sources: Jack Valli, Unpublished reminiscences

FINUCANE ISLAND

OPEN AIR CINEMA, Finucane Island

Jim Woods set up a venue here for the mining company, and when the company closed its operations Eddie Wheeler moved the projectors to the PCYC in Collie.

Sources: Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Eddie Wheeler (1997), Noel Wright & Diane Lockett (1997)

Photos: 2 exterior , Roy Mudge, 1978 and 1980

1 interior, Roy Mudge

FLOREAT PARK

SKYLINE DRIVE-IN THEATRE, Bold Park, Floreat Park

On 17 November 1955, less than a month after the Highway Drive-in introduced the drive-in concept to Perth, Hoyts opened the city’s second such venue – the Skyline. It was designed by Hobbs, Winning and Leighton, and was built on public land inside Bold Park, leased by Hoyts from the Perth City Council. Like the Highway, this offered a playground for the children and a snack bar and barbecues for the evening meal before the programme began, with the added attraction of a valet service for delivery of food direct to the car. It could accommodate 753 cars on opening, and this was later increased to 790. In July 1959, the lease was taken over by City Theatres, and the cinema became the first of their chain of drive-ins. The lease was not renewed on expiry in April 1986, but the cinema had a short reprieve while it was used as a viewing point for Halley’s Comet. It was then left dark till demolished in 1988, and the City of Cambridge Shire Offices now occupy the site.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory, 1955/6 – 1971
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, pp.128-9
Kino, no.16, June 1986, p.23; no.24, June 1988, p.23; no.49, September 1994, p.25
West Australian, 1955 – 1985, 2 June 1966, 20 July 1966

Photos: 5 exteriors, b&w, 1950s (Arthur Stiles)
5 exteriors, b&w, 1970 (Roy Mudge)
1 exterior, colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)
2 exteriors, b&w, 1986 Kino no.49, September 1994, p.25 (Max Bell)

FORRESTFIELD

PARKLINE DRIVE-IN THEATRE, Hale Rd, Forrestfield

The Parkline was built for City Theatres, at a cost of £60,000, and was opened on 20 February 1964. Like the Skyline, it was designed by Hobbs, Winning and Leighton. It had provision for 400 cars:

The Parkline is in a beautiful setting with a background of pine trees and orchards and with nurseries nearby.
A creek runs through the property.
The drive-in itself occupies 15 acres but it has been set in an area of 40 acres to protect its surroundings and outlook….
It has been built to serve the hills districts and the foothills, new areas which are growing rapidly….
The Parkline has its cafe, projector unit and ticket bureau all in salmon bricks.
The cafe has modern equipment, special cooking appliances and a cool room.
It will serve a varied menu from 6.30 p.m.
Car attendants and cafe assistants will be drawn largely from nearby districts…
A modern sit-in area is adjacent to the cafe. (Sunday Times, 16 February, 1964)

In 1988, Hoyts took over City Theatres and immediately closed all six drive-ins: the Parkline was then sold for $950,000. In 1997 the land was used for a housing estate and shops.

Sources:Film Weekly Directory 1963/4 – 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, p.128
Vyonne Geneve, ´William Leighton, architect’, Kino, no.25, September 1988, pp.7 – 15
Kino, no.25, September 1988, p.23
Sunday Times, 16 February 1964
West Australian, 1965 – 1988

Photos: 3 exterior, Max Bell 1980’s

FREMANTLE

BEACON AND GARDENS, 91 Hampton Rd, Fremantle (Beaconsfield )

After successes at the North Fremantle Town Hall and the Swan Picture Theatre and Gardens in Palmyra, Swan Suburban Pictures (James McKerchar and J. Veryard) built a new theatre and gardens in Hampton Rd at a cost of nearly £5,000. Designed by Samuel Rosenthal, it opened 17 August 1937 with Small Turn. The building permit was for ‘a stadium type theatre seating approx. 800’, and the gardens seating 500 were beside the theatre. Alterations were made in 1958, but it still closed in 1961 and was converted into a supermarket for Stammers Foodstores, its cinema origins still visible in the facade. In 1993 it was put on the market, and eventually sold, but, despite rumours of demolition and redevelopment, the gutted building remained on the site and was renovated in 1996-7, with parts of the frontage used for a chemist shop and then a video store. In 1999 a rumour was circulating that it was to be re-opened as a live entertainment centre, but in 2000 that had changed to a health and community centre.

Sources: Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, pp.20, 55
Vyonne Geneve, Significant buildings of the 1930s in Western Australia, Vyonne Geneve, June 1994, National Trust of Australia (WA)/ National Estate Grants Programme, vol.1
Public Works Department, Building approval 11 March 1937 (Battye Library 1459)
Kino, No.10, December 1984, p.10; no.45, September 1993, p.31; no.50, December 1994, p.35; no.53, September 1995, p.31; no.57, September 1996, p.31; no.62, Summer 1997, p.35; no.67, Autumn 1999, p.31; no.73, Spring 2000, p.35.
Max Bell, Perth: a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, 1986 pp.20, 55
Vyonne Geneve, ‘The vulnerability of our Art Deco theatres’, Kino, no.28, June 1989, p.6
Interview (Mark Turton): James McKerchar (1978)

Photos: 1 exterior, Kino, No.10, December 1984, p.10 (Max Bell); no.28, June 1989, p.10 (Byron Geneve); no.32, June 1990, p.19 (Byron Geneve)
1 exterior, colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)

CINE 2, 6 Elders Place, Fremantle

Opened in 1983, this was one of two cinemas operated by Club Adult Cinemas (the other being in Barrack St, Perth), screening non-stop adult movies. It was still operating in 1997.

Sources: West Australian 1985, 1988

EAST FREMANTLE TOWN HALL, Canning Highway, Fremantle East

In 1899, Sir John Forrest laid the foundation stone for this building designed by architect J.F.Allen, and additions housing the Library and Mechanics Institute opened in 1902. Many different educational and entertainment programmes took place in the hall, occasionally including moving pictures, but it was never used as a regular film screening venue.

ESSEX CINEMAS 1 & 2/ LUNA ON SX, Essex St, Fremantle

Two big showrooms had been built in the car park behind the food hall in Essex St, Fremantle – with access from a laneway running between Essex and Norfolk Sts. Peter Thomson, then operating the Capri in Perth, took on the lease to these buildings, and remodelled the premises into the Essex twin cinemas, which opened in September 1987. The two separate buildings were joined by what is now the entrance and foyer, and the showrooms converted to cinemas, the whole costing £250,000. Seating was provided for 330 in Essex 1 and 192 in Essex 2, and they were very successful. This was Thomson’s first venture into Fremantle, and he went on to establish Coastal Cinemas, with a monopoly in Fremantle and Rockingham.

In 1994, Coastal Cinemas bought the premises outright and in 1997 plans were announced to demolish the two cinemas and build a four-plex on the site, but (after zoning problems) the Millenium cinemas were built instead and the Essex continued as a twin, operated by the Luna company (which had begun in Oxford St, Leederville). They were reported to have opened two new screens on the site in February 2004.

Sources: Kino no.21, September 1987, p.22; no.22, December 1987, p.22; no.59, March 1997 p.26; no.87, Autumn 2004, p.38
Interview (Margaret Howroyd): Peter Thomson (1994)
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Peter Thomson (1997)
West Australian 1988 – 1997

Photo: Kino no.22, December 1987 (Max Bell)

HOYTS FREMANTLE/ ORIANA, 177 High St, Fremantle

On the site of the old ‘Rose and Crown’ Hotel (and later also the Fremantle Grammar School), on the corner of High St and Queen St, Hoyts built a new theatre which they considered calling the ‘Crown’, but finally named simply Hoyts Fremantle. The architects were H. Vivian Taylor and Soilleux, in conjunction with Messrs. Oldham, Boas and Ednie-Brown. The Gala Opening (a screening of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Love on a Budget) was held on 4 August 1938:

Convenience for patrons has been the keynote in the construction of the new theatre, and the quaintly shaped ticket office allows easy access from all sides. The circular foyer is spacious and is designed to prevent any overcrowding. One moves naturally towards the various stalls entrances and cloakrooms and to the ample staircase leading to the dress circle and lounge. The various fittings have been carried out to harmonise with the decoration scheme, in which pastel shades of green predominate. Entrances and all floors of the theatre have been richly carpeted, and noteworthy features of the theatre include a crying room, in which mothers may take recalcitrant children without spoiling their own entertainment and without interfering with the pleasure of other patrons.

Special attention in the theatre has been paid to the acoustics and an unusual (and attractive) ‘ripple’ roof aids the sound equipment. Streamlined ‘fins’ extending from the proscenium to the circle railing also play their part in giving faithful sound recording. The interior decoration of the theatre is carried out in toning pastel shades and curtains, lighting and other fittings have been made to conform. The ‘floating screen’ is a new departure in screen entertainment which adds to the enjoyment of programmes. During intermissions patrons will enjoy the quiet luxury of the lounge, in which comfortable furniture harmonises with the decorative scheme. (West Australian, 5 August, 1938)

Among congratulations received on the opening night were messages from Samuel Goldwyn, Gary Cooper, Walt Disney and Shirley Temple, quite overshadowing the local dignitaries. When it opened, the theatre had provision for 1376 patrons, and was controlled by the Board of Hoyts, Fremantle Ltd, chaired by S. (Stan) W. Perry.

But not all patrons appreciated the luxurious surroundings. In September 1939, two teenagers were convicted of ‘rowdyism’ in the cinema, and fined for disrupting the screening. Mr W.F.Samson, then Secretary of Hoyts Fremantle, brought the charges, saying that:

These young people come armed with whistles and other contraptions to make hideous noises for the sole purpose of spoiling other people’s amusement. They come like lambs, and as soon as the lights go out they become jackals. (West Australian? Fremantle Gazette? 1 Sept. 1939)

The cinema continued to be known as Hoyts Fremantle till 1961, when it was taken over by City Theatres and renamed the Oriana. Renovations in 1967 reduced the seating capacity to approx.1000, and a new 70mm screen was installed as late as May 1968. But the cinema closed 4 December 1971, was demolished in March 1972, and the new building on the site used by Walsh’s Menswear.

Sources: Fremantle Library, cuttings collection
Max Bell, Perth: a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, 1986 pp.38-9
Max Bell, ‘Fremantle’s Theatre of Distinction’, Kino, no.65, Spring 1998, pp.30-31; no.66, Summer 1998, p.7.
Vyonne Geneve, ‘William Leighton, architect’, Kino no.25, September 1988, p.7.
Vyonne Geneve, ‘The theatres of the 30s in Western Australia’, Kino no.32, June 1990, p.18
Australasian Exhibitor, 16 May 1968 p.8
Film Weekly, 13 Aug. 1959, p.6
Film Weekly Directory, 1943/4 – 1971
Fremantle Advocate, 4 Aug. 1938
Post Office Directory, 1938/9 – 1949
West Australian, 5 Aug. 1938 p.4, 1938 – 1971
Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Ken Booth (1978), Chris Spivey (1978), Arthur Stiles (1978)
Interview (Ina Bertrand & Bill Turner): Jack Gynbn (1981)

Photos: 1 exterior (Oriana), b&w, 1969 (Roy Mudge)

Interiors (Oriana auditorium, foyers, staff , bio box ) b&w, various dates (Roy Mudge)
1 exterior (Hoyts), colour n.d.

MAJESTIC, 115 (formerly 137) High St, Fremantle

The Connolly syndicate built and ran the Majestic theatres, opening first in Perth, then in Fremantle and Kalgoorlie. The Fremantle Majestic seated 1000, and was described as ‘a fine, imposing structure of generous proportions’ (West Australian, 9 December 1916), when it opened on 23 December 1916, after the official ceremony had been postponed for a day because of a power failure. In August 1918 the lease was taken over by J.C.W. Films, and in 1927 it became a Hoyts theatre, which it remained till it closed on 25 July 1938, in anticipation of the opening of Hoyts Fremantle. In fear that the Majestic lease would be taken over by another company who might operate in competition with their new theatre, Hoyts employees destroyed the fixtures and fittings on the day they vacated the premises, and opened the next day in the new theatre. The site was then occupied by a Homecrafts store, but the logo (MT) was still (at least to 1997) visible in the wrought iron of the balcony railings.

Sources:City of Fremantle, Rate Books
Fremantle Library, collection of cuttings
Public Works Department (Battye 1459)
Max Bell, Perth: a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, 1986 p.32
Hoyts Screen News, 1931 – 2
Post Office Directory, 1917 – 1938/9
West Australian, 2 Jan.1920 – 20 June 1920
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Ken Booth (1978)
Interview (Ina Bertrand & Bill Turner): Jack Gynn (1981)

Photos: 2 exteriors (different angles), colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)

1 exterior ( Majestic) , b&w, date unknown, from the AMMPT archives

MILLENIUM CINEMAS, Essex Lane (off Collie St), Fremantle

The size of audiences at the Queensgate complex was noticeably affected by the opening of the Booragoon multiplex in the middle of 1997. The attraction was the megascreens, so fashionable in the mid-nineties, but the Queensgate complex could not be remodelled to include these. In anticipation of this problem, plans were developed in 1996 to convert the Essex St cinemas for such presentations, but Council approval was withheld because of the effect on the old mill site nearby. So Coastal Cinemas took an option on another site, on the southern side of Essex Lane, between Collie and Essex Sts.

Approval was obtained for a complex including four screens, of which two would be Megascreens. It was planned to open in June 1999, but building problems delayed opening till September 1999. In 21 December 2001, Hoyts took over this venue.

Sources: Interview (Ina Bertrand): Peter Thomson (1997)
Kino, no.63, Autumn 1998, p.34; no.66, Summer 1998, p.30; no.69, Spring 1999, p.35; no.70, Summer 1999, p.35; no.75, Autumn 2001, p.35.
West Australian 1999 – 2000

Photos: 2 exteriors, colour, 2001 (Graeme Bertrand)

ODDFELLOWS HALL/GAIETY/BIJOU, William St, Fremantle

The Oddfellows Hall in William St was described in 1889 as ‘a miserable place without convenience of any kind and for which extortionate terms were asked’ (Lt M.Rose, Inquirer and Commercial News 21 August 1889). It was renovated in 1890 and became known first as the Gaiety Theatre and then from 1898 to 1910 as the Bijou. The building was demolished around 1925 and the site was not again used as a theatre.

As the Oddfellows Hall, it was a multi-purpose building, and as the Gaiety or the Bijou usually a live theatre, but occasionally films were screened there. It is significant for this database because it was the site for a season of Harper’s Biograph Vaudeville Co, from 8 – 13 November 1897, that is, one of the earliest film screenings in Fremantle.

Sources: Fremantle City Council rate books 1867 – 1925
Inquirer and Commercial News, 21 August 1889
West Australian, 13 November 1897

Photos: 1 interior (Bijou Theatre), b&w, John Corrick?

OLYMPIA, Leake St (off 110 High St), Fremantle

The Olympia Roller Skating Rink on Lots 403-405 Leake St, was converted into a moving picture venue by the Star Amusement Co, and opened under the direction of C.Sudholz on 11 December 1909. The building was huge and cavernous, and in the conversion attempts were made to soften this effect:

The roof is being taken off the building in order to make the auditorium as cool as possible. Another feature is the new complete electric lighting plant which the company are installing to provide especially powerful light for their new machines. The Olympia Orchestral Band is rehearsing for the opening. (West Australian, 4 December 1909)

…the building has been structurally altered and the seating accommodation so arranged as to enable patrons to obtain a clear and uninterrupted view of the concert platform and screen. (West Australian, 15 January 1910)

The films were the same as those screened by the company at the Star Rink in Perth the previous week. Renovations further expanded the capacity of the building in March 1910, and for several years it presented films from August to the end of March, and skating for the rest of the year.In August 1913 an experiment was tried (advertised as ‘The very latest craze from London’, West Australian 2 Aug. 1913) of combining films and skating, but that does not seem to have lasted long. The advertisement for the ‘Grand Re-opening’ of Cecil’s Y.A.L.Pictures on Saturday 4 October 1913 was also the last advertisement for films in the venue. Later, the premises were used as a warehouse and offices.

During that part of the year when films were not shown at the rink, Olympia Pictures presented their programmes in the Victoria Hall.

Sources: Post Office Directory, 1913 – 1917
West Australian, 4 Dec. 1909 – 4 Oct. 1913

Photos: 1 exterior (Victoria Hall), colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)

P.I.F.T./F.T.I., 92 Adelaide St, Fremantle

Perth Institute of Film and Television was formed in April 1971 when a group of people involved in film, television, education, the arts and the professions came together at a meeting held at the University of Western Australia to develop film and television as an art, an industry and as an educational tool.

Projects were subsequently initiated in West Australian Schools and at the University of Western Australia and work began on raising finance to develop the Film Institute in the Old Boys School in Fremantle as a centre. (Gateway, Spring, 1974)

In July 1974 PIFT moved into the school on a 20-year lease from Fremantle City Council, and converted the premises into offices and a 142-seat theatrette with the £400,000 raised for the purpose.

The building also housed the Community Education Centre, until the Princess May School renovations were completed, and the Centre moved in next door. After that, the Old Boys School building was shared with the W.A. Film Makers’ Co-operative, the W.A. branch of the Australian Council for Children’s Film and Television, and Community Radio. By March 1975, regular programmes of children’s films were being offered twice a week – after school on Fridays, and on Saturday afternoon. Adult seasons were at first provided only for members of the Co-op, but in October 1975 these were opened to the general public. The building became the W.A. home of the National Film Theatre of Australia, and later still of the Australian Film Institute. But as well as these institutional activities, the cinema operated as a commercial exhibitor of specialist programmes, particularly of local Western Australian productions, and other programmes unlikely to gain exposure through the normal commercial circuits.

During 1976 the Tavern opened on the site, independent of the cinema, but providing a congenial social focus for the complex.

On 14 October, 1977, Cinema 16 opened in a section of the downstairs hall, as ‘a new venue for the screening of innovative 16mm films’ (West Australian 14 Oct.1977), the opening programme being Pure S and Red Nightmare. Cinema 16 used canvas deck-chairs, of the type popular in the open air theatres of earlier days.

In 1984, the organisation was renamed the Film and Television Institute (FTI), and they later moved their films screenings to Perth, taking over the Entertainment Centre cinemas (the old Academy Cinemas) and renaming these the Lumiere.

Sources: Daily News, 5 Mar. 1975
Gateway, Spring 1974, vol.3, no.2, n.p.
West Australian, 27 Nov. 1975, p.24; 6 Apr. 1976, p.5; 17 Dec. 1976; 9 July 1977, p.28; 2 Nov. 1978, p.28,

Photos: 1 exterior, colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)
1 interior (during renovations), b&w, Daily News 5 Mar. 1975

PALLADIUM 73 Market St, Fremantle

PORT CINEMA/ PORT CINEASTE, 86 Adelaide St, Fremantle

On this site, a service station was demolished to build a £978,000 complex comprising offices, shops and undercover parking facilities. It was financed by the Fremantle City Council, from trust funds, so the Council were able to assure ratepayers that they would not have to carry any financial burden for the cinema within this complex. This cinema was named the Port, was leased to City Theatres, and opened on 17 December 1976:

In line with Council policy on new buildings, the building has been designed to blend with existing buildings, in this case the restored schools which are now PIFT and the Community Education Centre.

The Port Cinema is a plushly appointed, 400-seat theatre with the most modern and efficient projection equipment available.

The big first floor foyer overlooks the Princess May Park and a coffee shop on the ground floor actually spills into the park….

City Theatres plan to make the Port Cinema an important part of the life of Fremantle – and they have started with a policy of using new releases of films with a wide entertainment appeal.

The Fremantle City Council built the cinema after the constant demand by people in the city for a commercial cinema showing general films. (Daily News, 16 December 1976)

City Theatres was later taken over by a consortium, which sold all their theatre interests to Hoyts in 1988. In the rationalisation of Hoyts cinemas which followed, the lease of the Port was taken over by Peter Thomson of Coastal Cinemas, who also operated the Essex St cinemas and those in Queens Gate. It was then called the Port Cineaste, and new seating was installed in 1993. In 1997, after the FTI cinema moved to the Lumiere in Perth, it was the nearest thing Fremantle had to an arthouse cinema. However, when the Millenium Cinema opened in September 1999, the Cineaste was closed for conventional screenings, and used for previews and trade screenings only, until the lease expired in 2001, when the cinema went dark permanently.

Sources: Public Works Department, Building approval 29 Mar. 1976 (Battye Library 1459)
Max Bell, Perth: a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, 1986 p.39-40
Daily News, 16 Dec. 1976
Fremantle Gazette, (10 Dec. 1975?), 2 Dec. 1977
Kino, no.33, September 1990, p.23; no.43, March 1993, p.31; no.69, Spring 1999, p.35; no.78, Summer 2001, p.55
West Australian 1977 – 1997
Interview (Margaret Howroyd): Peter Thomson (1994)
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Peter Thomson (1997)

Photos: 25 interiors/exteriors, colour, 1981 (Roy Mudge)
1 exterior, colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)

2 interior, colour, bio box, 1987, Roy Mudge
1 exterior, b&w, Max Bell, Perth: a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, 1986 p.39

PRINCESS, 32 Leake St, Fremantle

On the corner of Market St – next to the Terminus Hotel on the corner of Pakenham St, and opposite the Olympia skating rink – an old warehouse was demolished, to make way for West’s Princess theatre, opened on 21 December 1912, the first purpose-built hardtop in the suburban area. Seating 1850 persons, the new theatre was managed by T. M. (later Sir Thomas) Coombe till August 1914, when West’s opened another cinema at Subiaco and transferred their suburban operations there. Fullers vaudeville then operated the Princess for some time, till in March 1917 Coombe took over the theatre in his own right and brought it with him into the Union Theatres chain. Sound was introduced to the theatre in August 1929, and in 1935 it was taken over by the Grand Theatre Co, which employed William Leighton to design extensive renovations, including reducing the seating to 1540. This had been further reduced to 1200 by the time the theatre closed on 26 June 1969, a victim of the television boom. Peter Thomson describes how the cinema was showing four times a day Monday to Saturday and once on Sunday night before television: then screenings were reduced to twice a day and eventually closed altogether. The building was sold to a car repairer and gutted for use as a workshop, retaining the basic structure, including the balcony, and the entrance into Market St. In 1985 it was used as a market, and in 1989 by an icecream manufacturing company.

Sources: Fremantle City Council ratebooks 1910/11 – 1913/14
Max Bell, Perth: a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, 1986 p.41-2
Rodney I. Francis, ´The Coombe family of Perth’, Kino no.34, December 1990, pp.12-17
Rodney I.Francis, ‘Thomas Melrose Coombe: a pioneer from vaudeville to talkies in Western Australia’, Kino no.80, Winter 2002, pp.46-48
Vyonne Geneve, ‘William Leighton, architect’, Kino no.25, September 1988, p.7
Vyonne Geneve, Significant buildings of the 1930s in Western Australia, Vyonne Geneve, June 1994, National Trust of Australia (WA)/ National Estate Grants Programme, vol.1
Daily News, 27 July 1967; 2 July 1969
Everyone’s, 4 September 1929, p.32
Film Weekly Directory, 1943/4 – 1968/9
Grand Gazette, nos. 9-11 (3-17 Aug. 1918)
Post Office Directory, 1912 – 1949
West Australian, 10 Mar. 1961, 1912 – 1969
Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Ken Booth (1978), Lou Starr (1985), Arthur Stiles (1985)
Interview (Margaret Howroyd): Peter Thomson (1994)

Photos: 1 exterior, b&w, 1969 (Roy Mudge)
10 interior, b&w, 1969 (Roy Mudge)
1 b&w reproduction of cover of programme for gala re-opening 29 March 1941 (Arthur Stiles)
1 publicity stunt, b&w, Everyone’s 29 January 1930 p.18
Daily News took photos of Princess when it was opened as markets in 1983
Fremantle Library prints 964 – 967
1 exterior, b&w, Max Bell, Perth: a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, 1986 p.41

QUEENSGATE, William St, Fremantle

A sixplex was planned here, within the Queensgate shopping complex, built by Fremantle City Council. Negotiations for the lease of the cinema complex fell through, first with Hoyts in 1989, then with Greater Union, and construction was delayed by industrial disputes. By the time it finally opened, on 29 May 1990, the lease had been taken on by Peter Thomson’s Coastal Cinemas, which was already operating the Essex St twin.

This was the first suburban multiplex, and has had to be remodelled several times to keep up with the competition as more such complexes were built. For instance, in 1995 the sloping floors were replaced by stadium seating, and further remodelling is planned. But the structure cannot be remodelled to accommodate the megascreens of the later nineties, so the Millenium complex was built nearby for this kind of presentation.

Coastal Cinemas went on to acquire a monopoly of cinema in Fremantle and Rockingham, operating the business out of Queensgate, until Hoyts took over their venues on 21 December 2001.

Sources: Kino no.25, September 1988, p.23; no.27 March 1989, p.23; no.31, March 1990, p.23; no.33, September 1990, p.23; no.75, Autumn 2001, p.35.
West Australian 1990 – 2000
Interview (Margaret Howroyd): Peter Thomson (1994)
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Peter Thomson (1997)

RICHMOND AND GARDENS, 149 Canning Rd, Fremantle East

There is some suggestion that the Richmond started as a gardens on the north side of Canning Rd, opposite the Swan gardens. However, a building permit was issued for the Silas St corner on 21 May 1934, and records state that the theatre and gardens was completed on this site in December 1934 and operated by the Richmond Theatre and Gardens Co, which also operated the Swan\Mayfair (Palmyra). In the forties, the Richmond theatre and gardens each held approx 800, though in the latter years of its history this was reduced slightly to 750 each. It closed in 1961 and was demolished in 1979 to make way for a shopping complex.

In 1973 Jack Lee reminisced:

My father built the Richmond theatre and shopping centre in Silas St and a similar complex at the corner of Petra St and Canning Rd. The Richmond theatre and the open air section alongside it were later converted into a grocery supermarket. The Mayfair theatre is now a bingo centre and store. (Jack Lee, This is East Fremantle, Perth 1973, p.143)

Sources:Film Weekly Directory, 1943/4 – 1960/61
Post Office Directory, 1935/6 – 1949
Max Bell, Perth: a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, 1986 pp. 46,66
Jack Lee, This is East Fremantle, Perth 1973, p.143

SHARPE’S PENNY PICTURES, Holland St, Fremantle East

George Sharpe began a penny picture show in the backyard of his shop in January 1930. Attendance grew from 70 at the first show to as many as 250 for a Chaplin movie. The fire brigade forced the closure of the show as a fire hazard in 1933.

Ref: Sunday Times 21 March 1976

TOWN HALL/VIC´S PICTURES, High St, Fremantle

The Fremantle Town Hall was opened 22 June 1887. It was the location for the first screening of moving pictures in Fremantle, when Frank St Hill presented a programme on an Edison machine for one night only – Wednesday 16 December 1896. After that, touring companies presented occasional film programmes or short seasons there irregularly, and there were also occasional Sunday Rational Concerts presented, till West’s moved there from the King’s Theatre on 24 April 1909, to start the first permanent season. Irate citizens protested at their hall being leased in this fashion:

Money may be scarce with the civic fathers but that fact surely does not justify the ratepayers and many societies in Fremantle being deprived of the right to use the Town Hall on reasonable notice…

Apparently even the Mayor cannot have the Town Hall to convene a public meeting in. (letter to the editor, from Reuben Bailey, Baptist Manse, Fremantle, West Australian, 26 April 1909)

West’s continued to screen in the Town Hall, however, till the lease was taken over by Vic’s Pictures, a local company named after Victor Newton, one of the four partners in the business. They opened on 24 October 1910, and continued to screen there till 7 January 1919, by which time the company had expanded into the central business district of Perth and into other suburbs.

For many years, in the boom days of cinema in the district, when there were plenty of purpose-built venues available, the hall was used only occasionally for films. In the seventies, when there was no other venue available, it was revived by Peter Thomson and then taken over by local film-maker Daryl Binnings, who conducted mainly children’s matinees on Saturdays and special school holiday seasons. These screenings were sufficiently successful to persuade the Council that renovation to improve acoustics was justifiable, but the film screenings did not become permanent, and faded out in the eighties.

Sources: Fremantle Library, Collection of programmes and cuttings
Max Bell, ‘Fremantle Town Hall’, Kino no.51, March 1995, p.17
Max Bell, Perth: a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, 1986 pp.26-28
John K.Ewers, The Western Gateway: a history of Fremantle, Fremantle City Council 1971
J.K.Hitchcock, The History of Fremantle: the front gate of Australia 1829-1929, Fremantle City Council n.d.
Post Office Directory, 1912 – 14, 1918
West Australian, 14 Dec. 1896 – 1 Mar. 1919; 22 Aug. 1973
Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Ken Booth (1978), Peter Thomson (1997)
Interview (Margaret Howroyd): Peter Thomson (1994)
Limelight Picture Show Tours, http//:www.abc.net.au/limelight/docs/tours

Photos: 1 exterior, colour, 1981
1 exterior, b&w, circa 1910 (from Fremantle Library collection)
1 exterior, b&w, J.K.Hitchcock, The History of Fremantle: the front gate of Australia 1829-1929, Fremantle City Council n.d. Hitchcock p.9
1 exterior, b&w, John K.Ewers, The Western Gateway: a history of Fremantle, Fremantle City Council 1971, opp. p.145
1 exterior, b&w, Kino no.51, March 1995, p.17

TOWN HALL/ARCADIA, 222 Queen Victoria Rd (Stirling Highway), Fremantle North

This imposing bluestone building holding around 400 patrons was constructed in 1902, and was used by touring film companies from at least 1906, when Bartlett’s Electric Biograph performed there. Permanent seasons appear to have started there during World War 1, under several different managements, none of which were particularly successful. James McKerchar had been employed by the BB Picture Co in Scotland (‘BB Pictures are Beautiful and Bright’), and by the railways in Western Australia before signing up for active service during World War 1. When he returned from the front in 1918 he spent his demobilisation pay to buy the plant and goodwill of the Town Hall picture show from a Mr Jones, and worked hard to build the business up. The patronage of the children was assured by screening serials, and of community groups by arranging fund-raising nights. As McKerchar only screened twice a day on Fridays and Saturdays, he was often able to obtain the services of Mrs Anderson on the piano, on her days off from the Palladium. Special competitions and entry prizes also helped, so that by the time he left in 1922 (for other venues in Palmyra and Fremantle East) the North Fremantle Town Hall venue was thriving.

There may have followed a period without a permanent management, until the Arcadia Pictures opened in September 1936, under the management of partners F. L. Martin, W. Sweeney and A. L. Cooper. It was operated by Martin and M.Corkhill (Corkell?) for some years, until Martin died in 1946. His (son/wife?) F. H. J. Martin continued briefly, then the business changed hands several times. Around 1951, Jimmy Barton was the operator when Peter Thomson worked as a tray-boy for a shop across the highway from the hall: working on commission, on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, he was able to earn about £1 a week – big money for an eleven year-old at that time!

The venue reverted in 1952 to the name North Fremantle Pictures, a name which remained till 1961 when film screenings ceased because the requirements of the Health Department for major renovations of the toilets could not be met. After a period of use by a local ballet group, the hall was taken over by the Fremantle Town Council (which had merged with North Fremantle Town Council) and sold to an antique company, which completely renovated the premises. In 1995 the hall was again put on the market.

Sources:The Heritage of Western Australia: the Illustrated Register of the National Estate, Macmillan 1989, pp.28-9
Max Bell, ‘North Fremantle Town Hall’, Kino no.50, December 1994 p.15; no.51, March 1995, p.31.
Letter from Mrs K. Melancon (daughter of Mr Martin), 16 April 1978, held in Fremantle Library
West Australian, 30 October 1975
Interview (Mark Turton): James McKerchar (1978)
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Peter Thomson (1997)

Photos:1 exterior, colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)
1 exterior (foundation stone), colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)
1 exterior, b&w, Kino no.50, December 1994 p.15 (Max Bell)
1 exterior, b&w, n.d. The Heritage of Western Australia: the Illustrated Register of the National Estate, Macmillan 1989, p.29

YE OLDE ENGLISHE FAYRE/PAVILION/DALKEITH OPERA HOUSE/KING�S/ TIVOLI/KING�S, 66 South Terrace, Fremantle

Ye Olde Englishe Fayre was a summer pleasure gardens in South Terrace, beside the Freemasons Hotel. Fremantle rate records list the Pavilion Theatre in 1899 – 1903 as on the same site, but it is not clear whether the Pavilion was within the Fayre or the two names were alternatives for the same enterprise. The Fayre was opened by Court and Butcher in October for the 1897 season, was apparently dark the next summer and was re-opened by Jones and Lawrence for the summers of 1899-1900 and 1900-1901. Jones and Lawrence introduced films to the site, as an occasional part of their vaudeville programmes in both summer seasons, but their programmes did not feature films as was done at the similarly-named site in Perth itself.

In 1904 the Dalkeith Opera House, later known as the King’s Theatre, was built on the site. It was designed by F.W.Burwell and built by Mr James Brownlie for entrepreneur James Gallop. At that time this was the most prestigious theatre in Fremantle. In 1909 The Official Guide to Western Australia (p.202) described it thus:

A handsome structure, built for the proprietor, Mr James Gallop, was opened on September 27, 1904. The theatre is situated in South Terrace, and adjoins the Freemason’s Hotel. The building, which is in the Renaissance style of architecture, has a neatly designed facade, and can accommodate about 1,200 persons, apart from the gallery. The building consists of one gallery only, viz. the dress circle, with accommodation for 300 persons; the auditorium is 68 ft. 6 ins. by 57 feet, with a height of 33 feet. The ceiling is furnished with ornamental ventilators, which can be rolled away; the sliding roof is also sufficient to leave an open space of about 10 feet square. The stage is 60 feet by 40 feet, with fly galleries at 26 feet and gridiron at 52 feet from the floor. The whole of the building is well provided in case of fire, there being 13 escape doors scattered throughout the theatre.

Later, architectural historian Warren Kerr (p.90) explained:

The main entry to the theatre was between shops at street level. This opened into a foyer through which the audience passed to the stalls in the auditorium. A staircase also led from the entry to supper rooms situated over the shops. From this on one side, the dress circle was accessible, while on the other, doors opened onto a balcony situated over the pavement, from which views of the ocean were possible. This promenade was 90 feet in length and lighted with �handsome’ gas lights.

It was, however, not without its critics, including Sydney-based entrepreneur Geo. Musgrove, who, while visiting the West damned the new theatre with faint praise, saying that it had three faults:

…the floor has been constructed without any slope at all, the second is that you are lighting it with gas, and the third is the horseshoe construction of the gallery. Never mind it is a really good theatre. (West Australian, 16 September 1904)

Almost at once, films were included in many of the programmes presented at the theatre, though it remained a predominantly live venue. Cozens Spencer, for a three-night films season in September 1905, advertised that he would instal:

a 220 volt 60 Ampere Dynamo, driven by 35 Horse power steam engine, which will supply a 3,000 Candle-power arc – a light that will enable Senora Spencer to reproduce and project the Company’s selection of the World’s ACME OF ANIMATED ART. (West Australian 21 September 1905)

Local Fremantle subjects were occasionally shown here, including film of the Perth versus East Fremantle football match on 29 September 1906. Leonard Davis introduced regular film screenings by various companies on Sunday evenings from 10 November 1906, the first such shows in Fremantle. These continued, with other screenings irregularly on weeknights, till West’s opened their permanent Fremantle season there on 31 October 1908. They shifted to the Town Hall in April 1909, but returned to the King’s in October 1910. In both sites, these ‘permanent’ seasons were occasionally interrupted for other uses of the premises, so the company must have been relieved when they took over the newly-constructed Princess in December 1912. After this, the Young Australia League conducted the regular screenings in the King’s theatre, but only on Saturday and Monday, while Davis continued to present the Sunday concerts. For a short time from April 1914 it was called the Tivoli, but soon reverted to the name ‘King’s’. The rash of purpose-built cinemas during and after World War 1 brought too much competition to the King’s: it returned to its original policy, and from 1919 presented only vaudeville till it was closed permanently in the late twenties.

In February 1921, the following news report appeared in the West Australian:

A PEANUT STRIKE
The latest body to be affected by industrial unrest is that of the boys employed to sell peanuts at the King’s Theatre, Fremantle. An altercation arose among the boys as to the method of working the theatre, and authority in the person of their employer descended upon them and “sacked” two of their number. A stop work meeting was held immediately, and the extreme element gaining control a strike was called. It was not long however before the familiar cry of “Peanuts, lollies, and chocolate” was heard ringing through the hall, and the extremists were informed that they “could have the strike all on their own.”

The building was converted for use as a panel beating shop. A plan by Sir Benjamin Fuller to reopen the theatre as a vaudeville venue after World War 2 fell through. In 1979 the building was converted into an ice skating rink, and in 1984 it was in use as an unlicensed disco. Another plan to renovate the building as a cinema in the late eighties also fell through, and in 1997 it was in use as shops and offices, though the facade was still impressive. After renovation, which earned a heritage award from Fremantle City Council, it became the Metropolis nightclub, which was the venue for a celebration of the centenary of the building, on 8 October 2004.

Sources: Fremantle City Council ratebooks 1898 – 1928
The Heritage of Western Australia: the Illustrated Register of the National Estate, Macmillan 1989, p.21
Max Bell, �Fremantle Opera House/ Kings Theate’, Kino no.59, March 1997, p.26
Louise Dumas, �Fremantle’s seaside opera house’, Fremantle Gazette, 26 October 1978, p.3
Jack Honniball, ‘Two theatres fit for a king’ Kino, no. 90, Summer 2004, pp.8-9
Warren Kerr, Architecture in Fremantle 1875 – 1915, the author, 1973, pp.89-92
Everyone’s, 20 March 1929, p.37
Mail, vol.1, no.164, 9 July 1904
Official Guide to Western Australia, Wigg & Sons, December 1909
Post Office Directory, 1899 – 1937/8
West Australian, 22 February 1904; 16 September 1904; 21 September 1905; 21 February 1920; 20 March 1920
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Ken Booth (1978)

Photos: 1 exterior, colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)
1 exterior (Dalkeith Opera House), The Heritage of Western Australia: the Illustrated Register of the National Estate, Macmillan 1989, p21
2 exteriors (sketch 2004, photo undated), Kino, no.90, Summer 2004, p.8

Quicklinks

GABBIN

GABBIN HALL, Gabbin

Local historian F.H.Broomhall credits Paddy Baker with being the first to show films in Gabbin, probably in the town’s first small hall, certainly on 21 August 1922. He screened again later that year, and irregularly for some time after that.
Sources: F.H.Broomhall, Mount Marshall: a history of its people from earliest times to 1942 , Shire of Mount Marshall, 1983, pp.212, 244.

GERALDTON

BLUFF POINT DRIVE-IN/ GERALDTON DRIVE-IN, Strickland & Mitchell Sts, Bluff Point (Geraldton)

The third drive-in built in Geraldton was the Bluff Point Drive-in, on the south-east corner of the Strickland St and Mitchell St intersection, built by Jim Cook for a company in which Goldfields Pictures had a 25% interest, but run by Alan Larkin. It was opened soon after the Ozone (about 1965?) and was the only one still operating in 1986, closed in 1988. In 1997, the screen was still standing in an overgrown wilderness, still surrounded by a cyclone fence, and the land was advertised for sale.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1968/9 – 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Kino, no.24, June 1988, p.23
A.G.Wheat correspondence with Colleen Pead 1986
West Australian 1973 – 1985
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Alan Larkin

Photos: 1 exterior, colour, 1981, Bill Turner
2 exterior, 1989, Roy Mudge

KING’S HALL/ SOLDIER’S PICTURES/ KING’S PICTURES/ RADIO PICTURES, 15 Fitzgerald St, Geraldton

The King’s Hall had been built in 1911 by Dick Cordelier, next door to the Shamrock Hotel, on the north of Fitzgerald St, just up from the corner of Marine Terrace. By 1913 there were occasional film screenings or weekly seasons in the hall, and after the war a syndicate of local businessmen set up “Soldiers Pictures” in King’s Hall, now called the King’s Theatre, using the proceeds to assist the rehabilitation of returned servicemen.

In 1921 Alfred Wheat arrived in Geraldton to manage this business, and some time later (before 1930) he bought out the syndicate and renamed the enterprise “Radio Pictures”, though still operating from the King’s Theatre. He then consolidated the screenings (which had been in both the King’s Theatre and Queen’s Hall), and he had a monopoly in the town by 1930 when the changeover to sound occurred. Raycophone sound gear was installed, additional seating was provided, and “flowing curtains… were suspended at vantage points around the hall” (Geraldton Guardian 23 Dec.1930) for the inaugural presentation, on Saturday 20 December 1930. The Guardian reporter explained the delay in the arrival of the new technology as a result of the proprietor’s desire to provide the very best equipment, and the full house which enjoyed Bulldog Drummond and Tanned Legs on the opening night seemed well pleased with the result.

In fact, the business prospered sufficiently for a new Radio Theatre to be included in a major development on the corner of Fitzgerald St and Marine Terrace. When this opened in April 1937, the old theatre building was absorbed into the motor vehicle business of the Wheat family, the interior stripped and modified as a workshop. The building was still standing when it was sold in April 1986, and in 1997 was in use as an indoor archery centre. The entrance was once down a lane off Marine Tce, but is now in Fitzgerald St, behind shops.

Sources: A.G.Wheat correspondence with Colleen Pead 1986
Geraldton Express, 27 September 1924
Geraldton Guardian and Express, 10 April 1937
Geraldton Guardian, 23 December 1930

Photos: 1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

OASIS DRIVE-IN, 175 North-West Coastal Highway, Wonthella (Geraldton)

The Oasis was the first country drive-in in the state. It opened on 13 May 1957, on twelve acres on the west side of the North West Coastal Highway, opposite Place St and First Ave, in Wonthella, a northern suburb of Geraldton. The land cost £1,500, and all the planning and surveying for the site was done by the owners, brothers Noel and John Glass, who then employed contractors to do the earth moving and construction. The aspect of the venue most vulnerable to the weather, and particularly the high winds that had prevented earlier open air premises in this district, was the screen:

The screen, designed to permit the showing of Cinemascope films, measures 38ft x 80ft and is supported on a frame 58 feet in height. The frame is composed of 6-inch and 5-inch tubular steel pipes, with 1 1/2 inch braces. To it have been attached timber girts which hold the sheets of zinc anneal forming the screen itself. These have been given four coats of paint on the theatre side, the final one being “screen white”. The whole structure weighs in the vicinity of twenty tons and supports are anchored in 100 tons of concrete. (Geraldton Guardian, 11 May 1957)

But it was also necessary to explain to potential patrons, who could not be expected to have ever seen a drive-in theatre before, just what the experience might be like. Noel Glass addressed the Rotarians on the subject, and the local paper explained further:

There are two entrance roads to the theatre, these passing on either side of the ticket box and leading to the terraces. These terraces are so constructed that the cars occupying them have the front section slightly elevated so that occupants have a direct view of the screen which, incidentally, leans forward to the extent of two feet. From any portion on the terraces, those in the cars will have a completely uninterrupted view of the films and this will not be marred either by cars or pedestrians that may move between them and the screen.

Each vehicle will be provided with its individual in-car speaker, which can be adjusted by the users. The only sound that will be heard from the theatre when it is in operation will be from the speakers provided for patrons sitting in the lounge and those within the concession building. (Geraldton Guardian 11 May 1957)

The locals, however, found the presence of the drive-in an unexpected asset. In the Geraldton Guardian of 17 April 1958, the President of the Wonthella Progress Association (G.K.Allen) was reported to have said that “without the theatre not so much work would have been done on the roads at Wonthella”. He may not have been so pleased on the first anniversary of the opening of the venue, when the crowd for the birthday celebrations caused a traffic jam in surrounding streets.

The Oasis had a permit for 450 cars and 200 seated patrons. It opened with a capacity for 289 cars, on seven ramps, and seating for about sixty walk-in patrons in the downstairs section of the concession building. However, it was so successful that that capacity was increased – to 354, to 450 and finally to 615 on twelve ramps by the end of 1963. It was completely filled to capacity only once – for Shenandoah, with James Stewart.

The venue closed on 15 May 1985, and the land was sold to Bunnings who built a hardware and garden store there.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1957/8 – 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes Sussex 1986, p.138
Max Bell, ´Drive-ins of Western Australia’, Kino, no.46, December 1993, p.28
Film Weekly 28 May 1959, p.11
Geraldton Guardian 2 March 1957; 11 May 1957; 14 May 1957, p.8; 16 May 1957, p.10; 17 May 1957, p.2; 15 May 1958, p.10; 17 April 1958, 17 September 1964; 3 June 1977, p.5; 5 February 1985, p.1, 14 February 1985, p.1
Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Ron Elsegood, John Glass (1997)

Photos: interior, biobox, b&w, Max Bell, ´Drive-ins of Western Australia’, Kino, no.46, date, p.28
1 exterior, b&w, Geraldton Guardian 11 May 1957, p.1
exterior, b&w, approx.1958 (colour copy taken from photo held by John Glass)

OZONE DRIVE-IN, Blencoe Rd, Utakarra (Geraldton)

The Glass brothers opened Geraldton’s second drive-in, the Ozone, on the south-east corner of the intersection of Blencowe Rd and Utakarra Rd, on 21 September 1964. There was room for 245 cars on the ten-acre block, which was beautified with trees and shrubs, providing some wind protection. The block had a slight slope and the screen was four feet wider than that at the Oasis. The opening night was offered as a benefit to two local groups – St John Ambulance, and the Men’s Hockey Association. The Ozone was the first of Geraldton’s three drive-ins to close, in (1977?). In 1997, the concession building and screen were still standing in a wilderness of grass and overgrown shrubs, and the land, which was still owned by the Glass family, was for sale.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1964/5 – 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes Sussex 1986, p.138
Max Bell, ´Drive-ins of Western Australia’, Kino, no.46, December 1993, p.28
A.G.Wheat correspondence with Colleen Pead 1986
Geraldton Guardian 17 September 1964
West Australian Magazine, January 1996
Interview (Ina Bertrand): John Glass (1997)

Photos: interior, biobox (date?), b&w, Max Bell, ´Drive-ins of Western Australia’, Kino, no.46, p.28
exterior, biobox (date?), b&w, Max Bell, ´Drive-ins of Western Australia’, Kino, no.46, p.28

1 exterior , colour, Roy Mudge

QUEEN’S HALL, Cathedral Ave, Geraldton

This hall was built/owned by Dan Marsh who operated a woodyard on the corner. By 1913 there were occasional screenings or weekly seasons of films in this hall and by the middle of the year regular screenings were being provided by Perth exhibitor H. E. Seguy. Live shows and skating were also presented in the hall at this time. By the end of World War 1, Seguy’s business had been taken over by the Marsh family, who were in turn bought out by Alfred Wheat who amalgamated the screenings with those in the King’s Theatre.

In later years, Queen’s Hall had a reputation as a ´flea pit’. When the building was sold, Bennett’s Elite drapery built there, and no trace of the original building now remains.

Sources: Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.118
A.G.Wheat, correspondence with Colleen Pead, 1986
Geraldton Guardian 1913 – 1919

QUEEN’S PARK THEATRE, Cathedral Ave, Geraldton

The Queen’s Park Theatre was built on the northern corner of Maitland St, for the City of Geraldton, with some financial support from the State government and the Shire of Greenough. It was designed by architects Hill, Parkinson and Harris to seat 660 patrons, and opened with a spectacular season of live musical and theatrical performances from 27 March to 4 April 1982.

Films were at first screened irregularly, then regular seasons began, interrupted whenever a live performance required the venue. In early 1996 it was reported that the management proposed the addition of a 250-seat cinema and 150-seat theatrette on the Maitland St side of the existing building.

Sources: Max Bell, Kino, no.34, December 1990, p.24; ´Dongara-Geraldton trip: Western Australia’, No.56, June 1996, p.30
Souvenir programme, opening season, March 1982
Queen’s Park Theatre file, Geraldton Library, Local History Collection
West Australian, 27 March 1982
MWT, 24 January 1996

Photos: 1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

RADIO THEATRE, 207 Marine Terrace, Geraldton

Radio Pictures, in the old King’s Theatre, prospered sufficiently for Alfred Wheat to decide it was time for new premises. He persuaded the trustees of the T.G.Kitching Estate (which owned the land on which both the old and new theatres stood) to include a cinema in a major development on the north-east corner of the intersection of Fitzgerald St and Marine Terrace:

The new block of buildings with its two storied frontage, finished in plaster, presents an attractive appearance. It comprises the theatre, a service station, motor show rooms, and two shops, whilst on the upper storey there are four modern flats. (Geraldton Guardian and Express, 10 April 1937)

The old theatre was gutted and used for a motor vehicle business. The new Radio Theatre, designed by S. Rosenthal and built by Richard Cardilini, cost £12,500, and was leased to Wheat. It opened on Friday 9 April 1937:

The vestibule is wide and is fitted with swing doors as a protection from the weather. Within the vestibule is the glass-enclosed ticket office, and flanking the vestibule there is the office on one side and on the other a ladies rest room and a room for parking perambulators, a convenience which will be greatly appreciated by mothers. The circle is reached by a wide staircase, and at the top on either side there are lounges, comfortably furnished with chairs and couches, whilst there is also a retiring room for ladies. The interior of the theatre has been designed to afford the maximum comfort possible, and it will provide accommodation for nine hundred people…The seats are all of the tip up variety, nicely upholstered in leather. A facility that will be much appreciated will be the marked slope, both of the auditorium and the circle, which will enable everyone to obtain a good view, which was not always possible in the old building. In addition, much greater space has been provided between the rows of seats, a consideration which will also be viewed with favour, whilst the seats are also wider. The lighting has received special attention, and is afforded by lights in the ceiling of the auditorium and circle. The walls and ceilings have been enriched with fibrous plaster, the general effect being very striking and cool looking. The ventilation…is effected by means of roller shutters, which will meet summer as well as winter requirements, whilst carpets in the lounges, staircases, aisles and other floor furnishings all combine to add an air of comfort to the building. (Geraldton Guardian and Express, 10 April 1937)

The theatre also had full stage facilities to enable use for live shows, both local productions and visiting companies. The red neon sign was not only the first such sign in Geraldton, but was considered by some to be a danger to shipping – though it was regarded affectionately by others as a landmark. After World War 2, when the building was again renovated, it was the first to introduce fluorescent lighting to the district. By the time Wheat sold out the business to Goldfields Pictures in 1951 he was recognised as one of the pioneers of the film industry in the state.

At the same time as they bought the goodwill of the Radio Theatre, Goldfields bought land next door with the intention of constructing a picture gardens. The locals advised against it, but it was not till W.R.Clemenger himself spent a week in the town, and felt at first hand the strength of the southwesterly winds, that he agreed that a gardens was impractical and Goldfields sold the land. They continued screening in the theatre till 29 October 1971. About 1983?/6? plans were made to re-open the theatre, installing seats from the old Cremorne Theatre in Kalgoorlie, and this was done under a syndicate headed by Dan Cunningham. However, in 1988 it closed again soon after its fiftieth birthday, and was sold for conversion into a pool parlour, which entailed demolition of the gallery. In 1990 it was classified by the National Trust, and in 1996 it was used by Potter’s House Christian Community.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1971
Post Office Directory 1930-1949
Max Bell, Kino, no.24, June 1988, p.23; ´Dongara-Geraldton trip: Western Australia’, no.56, June 1996, p.30
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes Sussex 1986, p.119-120
Vyonne Geneve, Significant buildings of the 1930s in Western Australia, Vyonne Geneve, June 1994, National Trust of Australia (WA)/ National Estate Grants Programme 2 vols
A.G.Wheat correspondence with Colleen Pead 1986
Geraldton Guardian, 3 April 1971, 28 October 1971, 16 June 1988, 12 April 1990, 1 May 1990
Geraldton Guardian and Express, 10 April 1937, October 1971 (check October 1971 – not seen)
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Ron Elsegood

Photos: 2 exteriors, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

TOWN HALL, Chapman Rd, Geraldton

Geraldton was visited by the Salvation Army Biorama Company (September 1900, August-September 1902, February 1904, December 1904) and by Heller’s Mahatma Company in February 1901, but it is not known where these screenings took place. They were not in the Town Hall, which was built in 1907, in time to be the venue for the Musical All-Blacks and Page’s Supreme Pictures in July 1908, and the Corricks in October 1909. In June 1913, the Municipality of Geraldton were calling for tenders for the lease of the hall for picture shows or vaudeville three nights a week, and there were certainly films there for some time in 1915. Soldiers Pictures began at the Town Hall in October 1919, but moved almost immediately to the King’s Hall.

In 1951/2, Paddy Baker was registered in the Film Weekly Directory as the exhibitor in the Town Hall, and from 1951/2 to 1961/2 Goldfields Pictures were listed at the Town Hall. In the fifties, the hall held around 650, and was operating in competition with Alfred Wheat’s Radio Theatre. Then Goldfields announced plans to develop a drive-in (which may have been the Bluff Point Drive-in). Screenings in the Town Hall ceased once the third drive-in was open. In the nineties, the old Town Hall was used as an art gallery.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1951/2 – 1960/61
A.G.Wheat correspondence with Colleen Pead 1986
West Australian 1901-1909
Photo: 1 interior, set up for Corricks 1909, b&w, John Corrick

GINGIN

HALL, Gingin

The Gingin Agricultural Hall was built in the 1890s, as a simple timber-framed corrugated iron building, with a stage at one end. Improvements and additions (including a Supper Room) were made in 1912, and the venue was administered by a local committee.

Local historian, Hazel Udell, explains:

Moving picture shows were also very popular; the Star Picture Co, Hazell’s Pictures and Spencer’s Picture Co. all made regular visits to Gingin. The Committee decided that a fireproof cabinet was a necessity, so that the projectors could be housed with safety in a permanent position in the hall and Mr W.R.Turner was engaged to erect this projection room. During 1914, the Committee also agreed that an acetylene gas plant should be installed at the hall though nothing was done immediately. Several years later Mr Pearse Herbert purchased a gas plant from the Church of Christ in West Guildford. A shed had to be erected to protect the gasometer – the total cost was £14 including installation. (pp.236-7)

But the cost of maintenance of the hall became too much for the committee. They sold the gas plant, and in 1925 gave up responsibility for the hall to the Road Board, which made substantial repairs in 1933 and 1938. By the thirties, Gingin had a lesser hall and a main hall, with the bio-box on pillars outside – in winter the wind would make the whole structure sway. Alan Larkin was listed as the exhibitor in the late fifties, followed briefly by W.G.Wyles.

In the middle sixties, John Marsden was working at the Windsor, Nedlands, and screening on his night off on his own behalf. He had tried Brunswick Junction, Dwellingup and Lancelin, before he closed all these and moved his Sunday night screenings to Gingin, where he stayed for about thirteen months.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1958/9 – 1960/61, 1968/9 – 1969/70
Hazel Udell, A history of Gingin, 1830 to 1960, Gingin Shire Council 1979
Interview (Ina Bertrand): John Marsden (1997)

GNOWANGERUP

AGRICULTURAL HALL, Gnowangerup

The foundation stone of this hall was laid on 28 March 1910 and it was completed by 20 May 1910. It was used for all community activities until the Memorial Hall was opened in 1923, so this was probably the location for the screening of the Tivoli Picture Co of Katanning, which visited the town in 1915-16.

Sources: Patricia Penfold, ´’Public halls: a display of settlers’ optimism’, Gnowangerup Star, 30 March 1995 Gnowangerup Star 1915-16

GNOWANGERUP/AYLEMORE? DRIVE-IN

This drive-in was built on the north side of the highway, opposite the junction with Walsh Rd.

The first advertisements for Gnowangerup Drive-in appear in August 1964, but without any notice of an official opening date. It seems to have been built by Les Kanzler, operated by him, by his wife after his death and by various lessees. It was run in conjunction with Katanning Pictures – films were shown first at Katanning, then the next day at Gnowangerup. It opened and closed several times in the seventies, when Jack Tilka leased it from Ramsays of Subiaco. After it closed, the property was sold, and in 1997 the site was used for a house, with no sign that a drive-in ever existed there.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1964/5 – 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.135
Max Bell, Kino, no.13, September 1985, p.14
Great Southern Herald 14 August 1964
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Roy Mudge (1997)

Photos: 8 interiors (biobox, concession), b&w, 1977, Roy Mudge
12 exteriors, b&w, 1977, Roy Mudge,

1 exterior, b&w, 1980s, Max Bell

MEMORIAL HALL, Yougenup Rd, Gnowangerup

The Memorial Hall was built in 1923, funded by local donations as a memorial for the veterans of World War 1. It is located in the main street, flanked by the Post Office on one side and the Lesser Hall on the other. It was opened in August 1923 and the Municipal Heritage Directory describes it as constructed of ´sandstone blocks with brick batts around the doors, front is bricked with iron roof, timber floor and stage inside’.

In the twenties Pratt’s Pictures (operated by Albert Pratt) presented weekly screenings, in the thirties the town was on Bart Mott’s Star Entertainments circuit, and by the forties, P.J.(Joe) Rourke’s circuit operating out of Kojonup, visited Gnowangerup for a short time, before Rourke sold the business to D.C.Thornton. From the early fifties to the mid-sixties, it was on the Kanzlers’ circuit out of Albany, and screenings in the hall ceased when the Kanzlers opened the drive-in.

In the eighties, first Roy Mudge of Perth, then Frank Terry of Wagin occasionally visited the town, but these screenings also ceased.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1964/5
Shire of Gnowangerup, Municipal Heritage Directory
Post Office Directory 1929-1944
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.110
Pearl Marshall, Gnowangerup – the town: my story, Pearl Marshall 1993, p.41
Everyone’s 9 May 1928, p.34
Gnowangerup Star, 30 March 1995, p.3
Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Charles Legg (1997), Roy Mudge (1997), Brian Rourke (1997), Frank Terry (1997)
Informant: Mrs Rourke (Bullcreek 1997)

Photos: 4 exteriors, b&w, 1923 and later, Shire of Gnowangerup, Municipal Heritage Directory
1 interior, b&w, 1930, Shire of Gnowangerup, Municipal Heritage Directory
1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand
1 exterior, b&w, n.d. Merle Bignell, The fruit of the country: a history of the Shire of Gnowangerup, Western Australia, Shire of Gnowangerup, 1977, opp. p.231.

GOLDSWORTHY

GOLDSWORTHY GARDENS /DRIVE IN

The town of Goldsworthy was the first of the new closed mining towns in the Pilbara, built by Goldsworthy Mining Ltd/ Hammersley Iron Ore Co. In 1967 the company built an open air picture venue, and N.J.Woods, who specialised in providing film screenings in the isolated communities of the north, contracted to supply the programming. 250 people could sit on canvas deckchairs, and cars could park behind the seats. Sound for both the cars and the seated audience was provided by loudspeakers. Screenings thrived, despite the provision of closed-circuit television to the town from as early as 1969. In 1980, Woods was supplying film to the Tom Price circuit which included Finucane Island and Shay Gap, as well as Goldsworthy. All these screenings were provided free to company employees.

Sources: East Pilbara Shire Community Directory 1981-1982, p.37
Film Weekly Directory 1968/9 – 1971
Max Bell, Perth: a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.110
Showman, 15 June 1967, p.16
Interview (Ina Bertrand): N.J.Woods (1985)
Photos: 2 exterior, sepia, 1980, Max Bell,
1 interior, sepia, 1980, Max Bell

GOOMALLING

MECHANICS INSTITUTE/ GOOMALLING WAR MEMORIAL HALL, Hoddy St, Goomalling

The Mechanics Institute Hall was opened on the corner of Hoddy and Quinlan Sts in 1911 and the War Memorial Hall replaced it on the same site in 1922. The new hall had a built-in bio-box, and Reg Mee showed films there every Saturday night: he opened the power station in 1922 and put in a special 80 volt power line for the films.

From 1926 to the end of 1929 Mee had competition from the open air pictures behind Turner’s garage. Both screened on Saturday night because that was late night shopping – till 9 p.m., so the film programme did not start till 9 p.m. either. People came in to town for shopping, ate in town, went on to the pictures: at that time there were many contractors in the district as well as the farming people. Reg Mee screened a two-night season of For the Term of his Natural Life in Goomalling in 1928, with great success. After the open air venue closed, Mee continued in the Town Hall till his death in 1934.

For some years, there were no films screened in the town, then Paddy Baker screened weekly in 1943, till the regular screenings were taken over by two local men – Pitman and Brewerton.

Ray Pitman was a power station engineer, who had bought the power station from Mee. Pat Brewerton was a farmer. From 1943 they went into the pictures together, at the Town Hall. They made improvements to the hall, such as metal frame deckchairs to replace the wooden seats (deckchairs were placed down the middle of the hall, wooden seats on either side). Rowdy teenagers used to gather in the permanent seats in a back corner. In 1946 it was usual to book seats at Garnet Royal’s chemist shop, and some people had permanent bookings, such as Charlie Johnson who sat on the aisle with his peanuts.

Pitman and Brewerton considered putting in a drive-in beside the hall, modifying the bio-box to be able to screen out through the side wall – but did not proceed with this idea.

Screenings in the hall ended in the early sixties: Roy Mudge purchased the projectors and installed them in turn in Boddington, Albany, Bridgetown, Midland, Waroona and back to Boddington (the most travelled projectors in the West?).

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1961/2
Public Works Department, correspondence over building permit, Battye AN 7/10 AC 1004 2069/26
Post Office Directory 1947, 1949
Everyone’s 28 March 1928, p.28
Informants: Col Eaton (Goomalling, 25 August 1997), Frank Schell (Goomalling, 25 August 1997) , Roy Mudge (1997)
Photos: 1 exterior, sepia, 1996, Max Bell, 3 interior, sepia, 1996, Max Bell

OPEN AIR PICTURES, Throssell St, Goomalling

Goomalling Open Air Pictures opened behind Turner’s garage in Throssell St on 22 December 1926 in spite of the fact that Health Department requirements had not been met. Negotiations continued over the summer over the lining and ventilation of the biobox, then the cinema stopped operating for the winter and the inspector reported that it may not be re-opened because the premises might be used for another purpose. Final approval was granted 14 December 1927, and it was indeed re-opened for the next two summers.

The venue had the usual high corrugated iron wall and deckchairs, and it screened on Saturday night in competition with the Town Hall. Because that was late night shopping which closed at 9 p.m., the screening did not start till 9 p.m. either, after the contractors and farmers had completed their shopping and had their dinner in town.

The open air venue closed about the end of 1929 – though the screenings in the Town Hall continued.

Sources: Public Works Department, correspondence over building permit, Battye AN 7/10 AC 1004 2069/26
Informants: Col Eaton (1997), Frank Schell (1997)

GOSNELLS

GOSNELLS HALL AND GARDENS, Wheatley St/Dorothy St, Gosnells

Gosnells hall was built in Wheatley St – a timber and galvanised iron boatshed, moved in 1912 from Mongers Lake. A local committee had raised £200 by debentures to cover the cost of building materials, and local people contributed the labour for re-erection in a ´Busy Bee’. It was a 40ft by 80ft unlined building lit by kerosene lamps hung from oregon beams. Mr Griffiths (secretary of the committee) sat behind the screen providing sound effects for the silent movies, and power for the projector was provided by a 20hp kerosene engine. The first seating was planks on milk crates. The screenings were used to raise money for the cost of the hall and for improvements. In 1917, Curtis and Co. bought the iron cladding and replaced it with weatherboards. Later the hall was lined and a supper room built, and still later a ´lesser hall’ was added.

In December 1926, G. Devereux screened in Armadale and Gosnells on alternate Friday and Saturday nights. In January 1927 a second operator, brothers L.L and E.F.Mackey tried to establish a rival show in Gosnells, on alternate Saturday and Friday nights, and in February they took over from Devereux, their first screening in the hall being White Sister on 5 February 1927.

Cyril Mackey remembers the construction of the gardens:

My father and my older brothers Len and Eric constructed a large picture screen and control room at each end of what was then the side lawn approximately 34 metres long by 18 metres wide, furnished with deck chairs. It became the first open air movies in Gosnells and opened in the Spring of 1928. With the innovation of talking films, the cost of amplification was prohibitive for open air movies and the entire unit was moved to the Public Hall in Wheatley Street and was later taken over and managed by Mr Len Martin.

Before 1943, R.R.Perrie, who had a small chain of venues in the southern suburbs, started screening in the hall, which by then held 250 people. In 1953 the management passed to Consolidated Pictures, who upgraded the building to hold 400 and redecorated, including new seating, carpets and neon lighting. Usherettes in blue and gold uniforms showed patrons to their seats on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights, and there was a matinee on Saturday afternoons. Around the corner, behind the hall, a gardens holding a further 400 was opened by the end of 1954, with its entrance in Dorothy St.

In February 1960, the Roads Board agreed to waive rental on the gardens site for two years because income had declined dramatically over the previous five years: in addition to television, the impact of the drive-in was noted and also the move towards hire purchase which had altered families’ financial commitments. By December 1962, Consolidated Theatres wanted to pull out of the lease altogether, and further negotiations allowed them to do this without paying back rental. The lease was terminated and Consolidated vacated the premises by March 1964.

In 1997, there was no sign of where the hall had stood.

Sources: Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, pp.58, 66
Coastal Districts Star 18 June 1953, 25 June 1953, 2 July 1953
Film Weekly, 2 July 1953, p.3
Film Weekly Directory, 1943/4 – 1961/2
South Western Advertiser 6 October 1949
Swan and Canning Times 3 December 1926, 7 January 1927, 21 January 1927, 4 February 1927, 4 March 1927, 11 March 1927, 6 January 1928, 14 March 1930
West Australian, 1953 – 1962
Informant: Cyril Mackey (letter to Gosnells City Council, 4 June 1997)

OPEN AIR CINEMA, Albany Hwy, Gosnells

From the early fifties, Bart Mott had a picture gardens in Albany Hwy. In January 1955 he opened a drive-in beside the gardens: patrons drove their cars onto the site and the sound was broadcast. Westrex installed amplifiers for this, and later also car speakers, but the venue never had properly-built ramps and Mott was constantly in dispute with the local council over building regulations. There were some seats under cover as well, so the cinema was able to open winter and summer. Parking problems resulted from the proximity of this venue to the screenings in the hall.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1951/2 – 1957/8
Coastal Districts Star, 27 January 1955
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Alan Crew (1997)

GRANT’S PATCH

HALL, Grant’s Patch

Grant’s Patch is another of the boom towns of the eastern goldfields. It was founded after the discovery of gold there in 1893, but by 1933 the population had shrunk to only 65, nearly doubling to 125 in 1947, then slowly disappearing by the 1960s, till in the 1990s there was no sign that the town ever existed. Tourists still visit it as one of the district’s ghost towns, and to fossick for gemstones in a rich area nearby.

Don Hancock (in the 1990s, publican at Ora Banda) grew up in Grant’s Patch, and can remember that the hall there was built of corrugated iron over an oregon timber frame, and that it had a bio-box. He can remember regular screenings there, and himself saw Lassie Come Home there. Eileen Moroney remembers hearing that ‘an Afghan’ (probably George Ilham – see also Esperance) occasionally visited in the days of silent films – perhaps every six months. The building was pulled down in the mid-1950s.

Sources: Tourist brochure
Informants: Don Hancock (1999), Eileen Moroney (1999)
Photo: not shown (Goldfields Historical Society?)

GRAYLANDS

GRAYLANDS GARDENS, Graylands

This simple gardens opened in 1952 and was closed by the early sixties.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory, 1953/4 – 1960/61
West Australian, 1952 – 1956

GREENBUSHES

MINERS INSTITUTE HALL/ GREENBUSHES DISTRICT HALL, Blackwood Rd, Greenbushes

The Miners Institute Hall was built at the far end of Blackwood Rd, on the east side, in 1897. The Municipal Heritage Inventory describes it like this:

..It was constructed of jarrah weatherboards on a timber frame with a corrugated iron roof. The building had a new brick front section added in 1959 and also steel portal frame structure added to the rear section for additional structural support. The building shows evidence of a bio-box and stairs added at the front and was probably used for showing movies from the 1920s or 30s.

In fact, there is evidence that movies were screened there much earlier. The Salvation Army screened in the town in October 1900 and again in October 1904. Heller’s Mahatma Company (from India, but screening mostly Boer War films) screened in the hall in 1906, and the Corricks brought Leonard’s Beautiful Pictures in August 1907 and again in 1909.

Greenbushes hall was on the fortnightly circuit of Modern Photoplays in the thirties. In 1939 Goldfields Pictures (founded in 1933 in Kalgoorlie) bought out the Greenbushes operator and included the town on their circuit, which also included Harvey, Donneybrook, Bridgetown, and Boyup Brook, using a program sent out from Bunbury by manager Ron Elsegood and switched among the five venues. Mrs Elsegood travelled out from Bunbury with an operator from Harvey one night per week. In 1947-8 Goldfields sold to Allan Jones, and the town became part of his second Manjimup circuit. But the locals decided they could do it themselves, and asked Jones to leave. They continued screening, but with such poor equipment that the distributors became reluctant to supply them with films. When they realised they needed expert advice they asked Jones to resume, but he refused. From 1948 to 1965, the town is listed in the Film Weekly Directory as part of the circuit of A.H.Jeffries, known as South West Picture Co., but it is not clear just when screenings ceased.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1945/6, 1948/9 – 1964/5
Shire of Bridgetown/ Greenbushes, Municipal Heritage Inventory, HCWA no.12 0269
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Ron Elsegood (1985)
Interview (Ina Bertrand & Irma Whitford): Allan Jones (1978)
Informant: Ken Alexander (1986)
Limelight Picture Show Tours, http//:www.abc.net.au/limelight/docs/tours
Photo: 1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

GREENOUGH

ST CATHERINE’S HALL ,Old Highway, Greenough

Greenough Historical Hamlet was opened to the public on 19 May 1979. It is a collection of carefully-restored buildings on either side of what was once the highway, but is now a cul-de-sac running beside the Brand highway. In the nineties, services were still held in the churches, and some of the buildings were rented for weddings and other activities, but it was virtually a ghost town, operated as a tourist attraction by the National Trust.

The earliest screening in the town seems to have been a presentation of the Salvation Army Biorama Company, which visited in September 1902, but it is not clear which venue was used for this screening. St Catherine’s Hall is close to St Catherine’s Anglican Church. It was built in 1914, and in the mid-nineties was the venue for a monthly dance. It has a sprung timber floor, a kitchen and toilets, and no stage now (though it did have one in the early days). It was used occasionally for silent film screenings, though it did not have a built-in bio-box. After sound arrived, screenings ceased, and the local people travelled in to Geraldton for pictures. During World War 2 occasional films were screened there by the army.

Sources: The Heritage of Western Australia: the Illustrated Register of the National Estate, Macmillan 1989, pp.118-121
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.110
Informants: Joy Freytag-Clinch, Ian Clinch (1997)
Limelight Picture Show Tours, http//:www.abc.net.au/limelight/docs/tours

Photos: 1 exterior, b&w, n.d., The Heritage of Western Australia: the Illustrated Register of the National Estate, Macmillan 1989, p.120
1 interior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand
1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

GUILDFORD

GUILDFORD TOWN HALL, James St, Guildford

This hall was built on the south-east corner of the intersection of Johnson and James Sts and opened in 1936. In the early years it was only occasionally used for film screenings because of the competition of the Regent Theatre.

In 1986, Max Bell opened it as a film venue on behalf of Family Films WA, which had unsuccessfully tried to run the Lakeway drive-in as a venue for G-rated films. Max Bell described the hall as:

unusual and quite nostalgic, with a large stage, oval shaped proscenium, and a ceiling with very interesting plaster design, seating 200 people. It is also fitted with a large catering area, has a proper biobox, with 102 foot throw to the screen. (Kino no.16, p.23)

The screenings were successful for a short time, then ceased.

Sources: Max Bell, ´Looking back’, Kino, no.41, September 1992, p.17
Kino, no.15, March 1986, p.22; no.16, June 1986, p.23

REGENT THEATRE AND GARDENS, 131 James St, Guildford

Regent Open Air Pictures opened in the twenties beside the Vaudeville Theatre: taking into account the buildings that were already there, this may have been either at the rear of the theatre (facing onto Meadow St, where the hotel car park now is), or between the hotel and the theatre (on James St, where a narrow garden now is).

In 1927 when the Vaudeville was closed, the owner (George Hall) built the Regent Theatre, designed by Rosenthal, further along the street, near the south-west corner of Johnson St, and continued to operate the gardens in conjunction with the new hard-top. The latter was a simple building, with a balcony accessed from stairs on either side of the ground floor foyer. Margaret Tanner remembers that upstairs seats were more expensive and more prestigious, but, as she never sat downstairs, does not know whether they were any more comfortable than the stalls. Australtone sound equipment was installed in 1929. In 1937, the business was taken over, as was Bassendean Town Hall and Gardens, by Greater X-L Tone Amusements. The theatre held 450 when it was built, and this capacity was increased to 617 in 1945.

A small shop next door, built at the same time as the theatre, was used as a confectioner’s shop, opened during regular business hours but also for the theatre patrons. During World War 2, this shop was let to the Red Cross on Thursdays, and, under the direction of the wife of Mayor Devenish, sold pies and other goodies for the war effort: it may have been used by other groups on other days of the week.

Margaret Tanner can remember one dramatic incident during World War 2, when members of her family were attending a screening with the Johnson children. A message appeared on the screen: ´Would the Johnson family please go home’. They all knew immediately that something was wrong, so all hurried to the Johnson home to find that one son had gone missing over the British channel.

The Regent theatre closed in 1966, and in the nineties the building was the Slovenian Club.

Sources: Public Health Department, building permits, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, pp.45-46
Vyonne Geneve, Significant buildings of the 1930s in Western Australia, Vyonne Geneve, June 1994, National Trust of Australia (WA)/ National Estate Grants Programme, vol.1
Everyone’s, 9 May 1928, p.34; 23 October 1929, pp.18-19
Film Weekly Directory, 1943/4 – 1964/5
Post Office Directory, 1937/8 – 1949
West Australian, 1937 – 1966
Informant: Margaret Tanner (Guildford, September 1997)Photo: 1 exterior (Garne Hall), colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)
1 exterior, b&w, n.d. (Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, p.45)
1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

VAUDEVILLE THEATRE, 161 James St, Guildford

This was one of the few legitimate theatres outside the metropolitan areas of Fremantle and Perth, and held about 500 patrons. It opened on 28 December 1897, well before films were important to the entertainment scene, and was, as its name suggests, a vaudeville theatre primarily, but used for most social events in the district. Local historian Geoff Peel describes it as ´the heart of the town’.

So it was also used for occasional film screenings, including a performance of the multi-media event Soldiers of the Cross, by Commandant Booth of the Salvation Army on 11 October 1901, as well as other visits by the Biorama Company (October 1900, September 1902, February 1904). It was a huge barn-like ‘tin shed’ beside the Guildford Hotel, cold in winter and hot in summer, and not comfortable at any time. Ownership of the building changed whenever the hotel was sold, however the management of the film screenings changed independently of this. When Arthur Nielsen ran the picture business from about 1908, screening one or two nights each week, the hotel (and therefore also the Vaudeville Theatre) was owned by George Hiscock, who also owned the Freemasons Hotel in Midland Junction and the theatre connected with that. From at least December 1910, the films were run by Wilson’s Pictures, and eventually by George Hall, who closed the Vaudeville in 1927 when he opened the Regent Theatre further up the street.

The building remained, however, used at first as a social centre for clubs like the United Kingdom Natives Association and later the Bohemian Club, then as a billiard hall. The slide down-market continued: in 1947 it became a furniture factory, then stood empty for some time before in 1966 being used as a panel beater’s workshop, which continued into the nineties. The corrugated iron construction, including the flytower at the rear, was intact except for a brick facade built after the front wall was weakened by a fire in the seventies. Inside, the bio-box was removed when the front wall was rebuilt, but much of the original sprung timber floor that was so much admired by dancers remained, and part of the proscenium arch (also damaged by the fire) was still visible.

Sources: West Australian, April 1920
Max B. Grace, “Ercildoune”: Guildford reflections 1906-1925, Access Press, Northbridge 1992, pp.52,58
Barrie E. King, ´The Vaudeville Theatre, Guildford, WA’, Kino no.63, Autumn 1998, pp.16-17
Interviews (I. Bertrand): Arthur Nielsen (1978), R. Yelland (1985)
Informants: Geoff Peel (Guildford, September 1997), Margaret Tanner (Guildford, September 1997)
Limelight Picture Show Tours, http//:www.abc.net.au/limelight/docs/tours

Photos: 2 exteriors, colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)
2 exteriors (rear), colour, 1997 (Graeme Bertrand)
1 exterior (runners lining up for start of a race in front of the Vaudeville), b&w, 27 June 1914, Guildford Historical Society
1 exterior, 1897, b&w, Barrie E. King, ´The Vaudeville Theatre, Guildford, WA’, Kino no.63, Autumn 1998, p.16
1 exterior, 1970, b&w, Barrie E. King, ´The Vaudeville Theatre, Guildford, WA’, Kino no.63, Autumn 1998, p.17
1 exterior, 1997, b&w, Barrie E. King, ´The Vaudeville Theatre, Guildford, WA’, Kino no.63, Autumn 1998, p.17

GWALIA

A.W.U. HALL AND SUMMER GARDENS, Kane St, Gwalia

The township of Gwalia grew up around the Sons of Gwalia mine, quite close to the township of Leonora, with a steam tramway linking the two from 1903. Gwalia was mainly a dormitory town for the mine, while Leonora was the commercial centre, but there were times when the population of Gwalia was higher than that of Leonora.

Films were screened in both towns very early. The earliest recorded is a visit of the Salvation Army Biorama Company in October 1902. In November 1910, the King of the West Picture Show was screening regularly (probably weekly) in the Summer Gardens, next to Gwalia’s A.W.U.Hall. In December 1910, a local man (Harry Bradshaw) announced that he had bought a projector and would be screening regularly in both Gwalia (at the A.W.U. Hall) and Leonora, with W.Fletcher as his operator. By January 1911 the Excelsior and the Olympia pictures were in competition – apparently Excelsior (Bradshaw) in Gwalia and Olympia in Leonora, but by January 1913 it seemed that the Excelsior group had won the contest by putting on additional screenings in Gwalia.

Bradshaw continued to dominate in Gwalia, till in 1920 he relinquished ownership and operation of his picture shows in both Gwalia and Leonora to Peoples Pictures, a local committee which purchased Bradshaw’s projector, and announced that profits would be paid into a Distress Fund for needy local people. They continued to screen as usual on Saturday nights in Gwalia, but also screened on Tuesday nights at the Glideaway Skating Rink in Leonora. The first sound films were screened in Gwalia in early 1929, and on Saturday, 31 August 1929, Gwalia saw The Jazz Singer, very soon after the film was seen in Perth. By 1930, Bert Harris was Manager, Secretary and Box Office man for the group, and George Turnbull was Machine Operator and Programme Organiser. By 1936 films were screened twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and in 1948 Gwalia Co-operative Pictures sold the business to Consolidated Theatres, who sold it to Alf Peterson, who had moved to Leonora from Agnew after World War II. The venues remained fairly stable throughout all these changes of management.

The AWU hall stood beside the Co-operative Stores, and was constructed of corrugated iron over a timber frame, with a gable roof, no lining, and no ceiling. There may not have been a stage, or a bio-box: the screen probably hung on the end wall. There was no heating: patrons would bring rugs and cushions, and mothers brought their babies in prams and parked them in the aisles. Volunteer fire brigade members were on duty every night: they would walk up and down the aisles, which incidentally also kept the children in order. Different young girls in the town sold the tickets: there was no usher to show patrons to their seats. In the fifties, Alf Peterson or Ken Winter would be the projectionist (while the other was operating at Leonora), and films were switched between the two venues. Refreshments were provided from the café run by Beryl Demasson in Leonora at each interval, and patrons would go over to the cafe after the show for coffee or hamburgers.

Gwalia Gardens was built on the south side of the hall, sharing side walls with the hall and with a shop. There was a high corrugated iron wall across the front of the site, and a lower one across the back. The iron-clad bio-box was free-standing in the middle of the block, and seating was all in deckchairs. As the photo shows, this venue was more an open air show than a true ‘gardens’. In the first week in April the show moved into the hall, because after that the weather was judged too cold for open air presentations.

The show closed in 1960, when the Leonora drive-in opened. By 1966, the population of the town of Gwalia had shrunk to 47.

Sources: C.W.F.Turnbull (compiler), Gwalia-Leonora, Western Australia, 1895-1963, Leonora Tourist Committee 1990
Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1960/61
Interview (Colleen Pead): Alf Peterson (1986)
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Beryl Demasson (1999)
Limelight Picture Show Tours, http//:www.abc.net.au/limelight/docs/tours
Photo: 1 exterior (Gwalia Picture Gardens bio-box, in disrepair), b&w, n.d. (1970s?), Beryl Demasson

GWELUP

ODIN DRIVE IN THEATRE, Odin Rd, Gwelup (Stirling)

This was the first drive-in to be built for Northland Developments. It was built on the west side of Odin Rd, between Corr Place and Amelia St. It had provision for 500 cars when it opened on 31 December 1964, and this was increased to 677 in 1965. By this time, drive-in design was fairly standardised, but there were refinements available which could be presented as progress:

The drive-in has car speakers featuring a new design and cushioned in sponge rubber to completely eliminate any vibration in sound.
The speakers also have rubber protectors to stop windows from being damaged.
In the operating box, the big arc lamps will project a bright, clear picture onto a screen that towers 63ft into the air and is 90 ft wide. (Sunday Times, 27 December 1964)

The usual cafe and playground facilities were also available.

The cinema was purchased by the City Theatres/TVW group in 1979. Around 1985, they considered putting a hard-top on the site (as had been done at the Metro), but a feasibility study showed it would have been uneconomic so they dropped the idea. In 1988, Hoyts took over City Theatres and immediately closed all six drive-ins: the Odin was then sold for $1.34 million, and presented its last screening in July 1988. It was demolished and the land used for a housing estate.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1960/1 – 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, p.128
Kino, no.25, September 1988, p.23; no.26, December 1988, p.23
Sunday Times, 27 December 1964
West Australian, 3 April 1964, 4 August 1965, 20 July 1966, 1965 – 1988
Interviews (Bill Turner): Ray Cooper (1985), Alan Chester (1985)
Photos: 2 exteriors, colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)

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