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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)

Quicklinks

NABAWA

NABAWAHALL, Nabawa

Ray Dean’s West Touring Talkies was listed in the Film Weekly Directory as visiting Nabawa between 1948/9 and 1951/2.
Sources: Film Weekly Directory, 1948/9 – 1951/2

NANNUP

NANNUP TOWN HALL, Warren Rd, Nannup

Nannup Town Hall 1997
The Agricultural Hall was built by the Farmers and Graziers Association in 1903, on the south-east corner of the intersection of Grange Rd and Warren Rd. In 1913 this became the Town Hall, and a supper room was added next door. Both buildings are of timber with corrugated iron roof. They were damaged in severe floods in 1982, and restored and reopened for the Australian bicentennial in 1988.
This hall was on Allan Jones’ circuit out of Capel at first, then Busselton, from the early forties to the late sixties. It is not clear when screenings ceased.
Sources: Film Weekly Directory , 1940/41 – 1967/8
Interview (Ina Bertrand & Irma Whitford): Allan Jones (1978)
Photo: 1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

NANSON

NANSON HALL, Nanson

Ray Dean’s West Touring Talkies was listed in the Film Weekly Directory as visiting Nanson between 1948/9 and 1951/2.
Sources: Film Weekly Directory, 1948/9 – 1951/2

NAREMBEEN

NAREMBEEN DRIVE-IN, Currall St, Narembeen

Narembeen Drive In 1987
Narembeen Drive-in opened in 1968, on Council land on the corner of Currall and Brown Streets. It was at first operated by Graham Ford and G.Negus, and held a hundred cars. It was one of Ford’s circuit of drive-ins that also included Beverly, Kondinin and Kulin, which was taken over by Brian Richard in about 1977, and closed in about 1980.
In 1997 the bio-box/concession building appeared to be in excellent repair but otherwise the site was used only as a Shire depot.
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.138
Informant: Brian Richard (1997)

Photos; 1 exterior, colour, 1987, Roy Mudge

NAREMBEEN HALL

Narenbeen Hall June 1996 after opening

Projection room 1996

Photos; Interior and exterior, 1994 and 1996, colour, Roy Mudge

NARROGIN BUSHALLA’S SKATING RINK/ AMUSU, Egerton St, Narrogin

Narrogin Amuzu 1980’s

Narrogin Amuzu Front 1986

Narrogin Amuzu rear view 1986
Syrian-born Nicholas Bushalla, the proprietor of the Duke of York Hotel, built a house for himself about 1900 on the north side of Egerton St, not far up from the hotel (which was on the corner of Egerton and Federal Sts). He then built a concrete-floored skating rink, also in Egerton St, just west of his house. It is not clear when this was first built, but it was early in the century. The skating rink was said to be used for pictures once a week with the bio-box located inside Bushalla’s house, but there are no advertisements for such screenings till the twenties. However, in 1913 Nicholas Bushalla paid rates on a Picture Gardens, also in Egerton St, which seems to have been further west still, next to the skating rink, but may have been the same location. The story is told of him, as it is of Jonathan Morris of Kalgoorlie, that he saved up the threepenny bits paid as the silver coin donation for entry to the Sunday pictures till a shortage of such coins in the town forced patrons to part with sixpence instead: this may have been at the National Hall.Neville Lukey rented the premises in the early twenties and from December 1923 renamed the venue the Amusu, operating it in competition with the citizens’ group at the Town Hall. In September 1925 the lease was taken over by a local, Oswald (Ossie) Saunders, who installed new seating and projection equipment and screened three nights each week. The Amusu was not a particularly impressive building, virtually an iron shed, but it served the purpose. Competition between it and the Town Hall screenings was sometimes fierce, but both managed to remain in business for the twenties and early thirties, both under the same management from at least December 1929. Then Frank Buxton bought both leases and from August 1930 closed the screenings at the Town Hall, leaving the Amusu as the only picture venue in town. The cement floor was covered with timber, and the hall lined to make it warmer.In 1944, L.F.Wilson’s lease of the Amusu was taken over by Goldfields Pictures, the company which had begun in the goldfields, but which had by now expanded into Perth and the South West as well. In 1962 they bought new equipment for the Amusu and shifted it with them to the Town Hall, intending to upgrade the facilities there, but when the Shire would only give them a five-year lease they bought out Joe Smith’s lease on the Amusu and returned to that venue in 1965. By this time, however, the drive-in had opened, and as Goldfields Pictures was not interested in competing with the drive-in they discontinued screenings, finally surrendered their lease in September 1973, and left the town.The last of the building was demolished in 1996 and Fosseys store now stands on the site.Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1971
Shire of Narrogin, Municipal Heritage Inventory
Post Office Directory 1928-1949
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lews, Sussex, 1986, p.117
O.E.Pustkuchen, The way through: the story of Narrogin, Town of Narrogin, 1981
Max Bell, ‘Amusing musings of the Amusu’, Kino no.83, Autumn 2003, p.42
Narrogin Observer 1908-1916, 5 September 1925, 3 October 1925
West Australian 9 September 1916
Informants: O.E.Pustkuchen (1986), Sam Pope (1986), James Thornton
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Ron Elsegood (1985)
Photo: 1 exterior, b&w, n.d., Shire of Narrogin, Municipal Heritage Inventory
1 exterior, b&w, n.d., Kino no.83, Autumn 2003, p.42 (Max Bell)1 exterior, sepia , 1980’s , Max Bell2 exterior, colour, 1986, Roy Mudge

CLAYTON DRIVE-IN, cnr Bannister & Fox Sts, Narrogin

Early in 1960 two rival companies received permits to build a drive-in at Narrogin, but in the end only one was built – the Clayton Drive-in, initiated by Brian Parker with the support of the Ace group. It opened on 7 June 1960, on the north-west corner of the intersection of Clayton and Narrakine Rds. It had provision for 250 cars. It was later leased by other operators, who had increasing difficulty in maintaining it as a viable proposition, but it was still in operation once a month in 1993. In 1991, the proprietor of Narrogin Drive-in took over screenings at two other country drive-ins – Merredin and Dowerin.In 1997 it was not in use, but all the elements of the business were still there, just looking a little the worse for wear.Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1960/61 – 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lews, Sussex, 1986, p.133
Film Weekly 28 January 1960, p.3; 11 February 1960, p.4; 25 February 1960, p.3, 3 March 1960, p.11
Kino, no.36, June 1991, p.24; no.46, December 1993, p.30; no.83, Autumn 2003, p.42
Narrogin Observer , 9 June 1960
West Australian, 1977 – 1986
O.E.Pustkuchen to Colleen Pead, June 1986Photos; 3 exterior, colour, 1987, Roy MudgeEMPIRE HALL, Doney St, NarroginAbout 1911, the Empire Hall was built on the north side of Doney St, between Gordon and Garfield Streets and opposite the Cornwall Hotel (which was on the corner of Heath St). It was built for William Cornwall by H. Hunt and managed by a local farmer, Mr S.J.Miller. It was a large structure, of corrugated iron over a timber frame, and was used occasionally for film screenings during World War 1, but not after that.Later it was used as a military training facility, then the hall was demolished and commercial premises built on the site, occupied in 1997 by the Salvation army.Sources: Shire of Narrogin, Municipal Heritage Inventory
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lews, Sussex, 1986, p.109
Narrogin Observer 1915-1916
O.E.Pustkuchen to Colleen Pead, June 1986

NATIONAL HALL, Lot 100, Federal St, Narrogin

Mr Bushalla, the proprietor of the Duke of York Hotel in Federal St, on the north west corner of Egerton St, built the National Hall on the north side of the hotel in 1906. It was intended for use as a performance venue, but was soon presenting pictures as well as live shows, for instance in September 1908 when Spencer’s Pictures brought films of the visit of the American fleet to Albany, and in January 1910 when West’s visited for one night only. But King’s Pictures had by December 1909 established a regular weekly screening in the National Hall, which they moved to the Town Hall in 1910 and in 1913 to the Empire Hall. Bushalla himself seems to have occasionally screened in the hall: he was reported to have introduced a Bio-megascope (a Singing and Talking machine) to the hall in 1910. National Pictures advertised intermittently from 1910 to 1915, and this may have been Bushalla’s own company as there was still an advertisement for Bushalla screening in the National Hall in September 1916. However, such references are scattered and confusing. The venue does not appear to have been used for film after 1916.In 1997, the building was completely gone and the site was the hotel car park.Sources: Shire of Narrogin, Municipal Heritage Inventory

Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.117
O.E.Pustkuchen, The way through: the story of Narrogin, Town of Narrogin, 1981
Narrogin Observer 1908-1916
West Australian 9 September 1916
Informants: O.E.Pustkuchen (Narrogin 1986), Sam Pope (1986), James Thornton

Interview (Ina Bertrand): Ron Elsegood (1985)TOWN HALL, Federal St, Narrogin

Narrogin Town Hall 1997

Narrogin Town Hall interior 1997

Narrogin Town Hall interior 1996

Narrogin Town Hall projection room 1996

The Narrogin Town Hall was officially opened with a ball on 9 December 1908. It was built on the south-west corner of the junction of Federal and Fortune Streets, and was soon used for occasional film screenings by visiting companies, such as the Corricks who performed for two nights in December 1909. From 1910 to 1913 King’s Pictures screened here intermittently on a Thursday. Alf Wheat (later of Geraldton) began his career in pictures operating a circuit which included Narrogin in 1913-14, before he went to the First World War. Empire Pictures screened in the hall briefly in late 1916, as did Repatriation Pictures (also known as Citizens Welfare Association Pictures) in 1918, in aid of the Returned Soldiers funds.Then no films were advertised for several years (from the end of 1918 to the middle of 1923), which means either that none were being screened, or that there was only one exhibitor and local people were so familiar with the cinema routine that no advertising was necessary.After the Amusu opened in 1923, competition between the Amusu and the Town Hall was sometimes fierce, but both venues managed to remain in business for the twenties and early thirties, both under the same management from at least December 1929. Then Frank Buxton bought both leases and from August 1930 closed the screenings at the Town Hall. In 1952/3, Goldfields Pictures moved from the Amusu to the Town Hall, intending to upgrade the facilities there, but when this proved impossible they bought out Smith and Jeffries who had taken over from them at the Amusu and returned to the Amusu.The building is still in use as a municipal facility, housing the hall and offices and an art gallery.Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1952/3
Shire of Narrogin, Municipal Heritage Inventory
Post Office Directory 1924-29
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lews, Sussex, 1986, p.123
Everyone’s 9 May 1928, p.34
Narrogin Observer 1908 – 1930
Informant: O.E.Pustkuchen (Narrogin, June 1986)
Photo: 1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand
1 interior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand2 interior, colour, 1996, Roy Mudge

NAVAL BASE

NAVAL BASE HALL AND GARDENS, Naval Base

This hall (or perhaps just a gardens), holding approximately 100, appears to have been run by A.E. and D. Briggs from 1950 till it closed in 1963.
Sources: Film Weekly Directory, 1950/51 – 1957/8

NEDLANDS

BROADWAY AND GARDENS, 110 Broadway, Nedlands

Nedlands Pictures were operating in this area at least as early as December 1914, though it is not clear where their first screenings were held.
In about 1930, Robert Hatfield purchased the lease of the Broadway Theatre and Gardens. The theatre was comparatively small, holding about 500 people. The biobox was located on the north wall of the theatre, and could be swung round to project through portholes onto the gardens. The gardens was considerably larger, holding probably one thousand, with tiered seating at the back, a fenced off section in the middle containing the most expensive seats (deckchairs on grass), and the cheapest seats being wooden ones on both sides and in front of the fenced area.
Hatfield sold the lease to Brewers in about 1938.
Sources: Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.21
Film Weekly Directory, 1943/4 – 1960/61
Post Office Directory, 1924 -1949
West Australian, 1914, 1924 – 1958
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Colin Hatfield (1997)

DALKEITH PICTURE GARDENS, 122 Stirling Hwy, Nedlands

Robert Hatfield bought a house on the south-west corner of the Stirling Highway/ Louise Street intersection, and began to build an open air picture theatre beside it in Stirling Highway. He constructed a brick facade, set back from the street: two sets of double gates in this wall flanked a small shop fronting onto the highway. But before he opened the gardens, Nelsons opened the Windsor just up the street, and Hatfield allowed himself to be bought out of the gardens, so it was never completed or opened. The shop was used for some time afterwards as a dressmaker’s shop by two of Robert Hatfield’s daughters. Then the site was sold and became a public rose garden.Sources: Post Office Directory, 1937/8 – 1942/3
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Colin Hatfield (1997)

WINDSOR AND GARDENS/ WINDSOR TWIN, 98 Stirling Hwy, Nedlands

Nedlands Windsor 1981

Windsor Gardens site 1981

Windsor interior 1981

Windsor interior 1981

The Windsor theatre and gardens opened in 1937. The theatre was of art deco design, and shared a biobox with the gardens next door. It was operated by Vince Lucas till it was taken over in the sixties by Lionel Hart’s company, Independent Film Distributors, which also ran the Savoy and the Liberty (later the Kimberley) in the city of Perth. Around 1968 the gardens were closed and extensive renovations were done to the theatre:

Current work includes the panelling of entrance and foyer in elm, erection of new entrance doors, repainting of the exterior, reseating (in gold deerhide) with additional room between rows, new carpeting, new and extended proscenium curtains, new chandeliers, repainting of interior, and improvements to the men’s room and the powder room.
All speakers have been hidden, and a private logue to seat eight has been positioned to the right of the entrance stairway.
The candy bar in the foyer has been moved to one side, thus enlarging the space for patrons who wish to smoke or chat prior to the performance or at interval. (Film Weekly, 5 December 1968)

The venue survived the crisis of the sixties by becoming an art-movie house, was restored after a fire in the seventies, and was closed for some time from 24 September 1983. I987 it was bought by Cyril Watson, who also owned the New Oxford Theatre in Leederville. He built the Windsor 2 next door, on the site of the former gardens, and the new twin cinema was officially opened on 17 November 1988. Alterations were done in 1991, though Cinema 1 continued to operate throughout. There was controversy between the theatre owners and the Art Deco Society of WA when the theatre was left off the Heritage Council register in 1995. In 1997, new air-conditioning was installed.

Sources: Public Health Department, building permits, Battye Fol.2, 1459
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, pp. 50-51, 67
Max Bell, ´Windsor Theatre’, Kino, no.13, September 1985, pp.8-9
Vyonne Geneve, ´William Leighton, architect’, Kino, no.25, September 1988, pp.7 – 15
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
Stage, Screen and Stars, West Australian, n.d. (1997?), p.41
Film Weekly, 5 December 1968
Film Weekly Directory, 1943/4 – 1971
Kino, no.21, September 1987, p.22; no.22, December 1987, p.23; no.23, March 1988, p.23; no.24, June 1988, p.23; no.25, September 1988, p.12; no.27, March 1989, p.23; no.38, December 1991, p.26; no.46, December 1993, p.30; no.52, June 1995, p.30; no.59, March 1997, p.31; no.63, Autumn 1998, p.35
West Australian, 1937 – 2000
Interview (Ina Bertrand): John Marsden (1997)

Photos: 2 exteriors, colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)
2 exteriors, colour, 1981 (Roy Mudge)
1 exterior (gardens site), colour, 1981 (Roy Mudge)
18 interiors, colour, 1981 (Roy Mudge)
1 exterior, b&w, 1983, Kino, no.13, p.9 (Max Bell)
1 exterior, b&w, 1986, Kino, no.25, p.15 (Byron Geneve)
1 exterior, b&w, n.d. (Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, p.50)

NEWDEGATE

HALL, Newdegate

There seem to be two halls in Newdegate.
A small brick hall stands on the north-east corner of the junction of Francis and Collier Sts. It has a separate cement-sheet toilet block behind it, and could be just a church or scout hall. It looks about 1930s or 40s vintage.
There is also a large cement-sheet hall with a biobox built out above the central entrance doors, at the southern edge of town on the road to Lake King. It is clearly named the Newdegate Hall, but it looks quite recent – maybe 60s or 70s?
Newdegate does not seem to have had a permanent exhibitor, but certainly hosted travelling picture shows at various times in the past fifty years. It was on Columbia Talkies circuit in 1940/41, on Charles Legg’s circuit when he began in 1941, but he dropped the town off when he consolidated the circuit soon after. Around 1943, J. A. (Jack) Wilson travelled in an ex-army ´pie truck’, in a circuit that included Kukerin and Newdegate, and around 1946 that circuit was taken over by Vince Lucas. About 1980, Lyn Parker of Lake Grace screened monthly for about 18 months in Newdegate Hall, showing the same film as he screened at Lake Grace.
Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41
Informant: Lyn Parker (Lake Grace, 21 August 1997)
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Charles legg (1997)

NEWMAN

DRIVE-IN, Newman Drive, Newman

N.J.Woods, who operated the open air theatre on behalf of Mount Newman Mining Co, built a drive-in for 400 cars, further up towards the mine but still on the north side of Newman Drive, set back from the road, past Fortescue Ave. This was operated for Woods by several different managers, including at one time Tony Clark and Ken Rowell. It seems to have been opened in 1972/3, was still advertising in the West Australian in 1981, and in 1981-2 was screening six nights a week (not Tuesday), with three changes of programme weekly. The kiosk was open from 6.30 p.m. till 10 p.m. every night except Tuesday, and seems to have been providing food to the general public as well as to cinema patrons. The venue closed around 1986.
The land was still vacant in mid-1997, and the remains of the drive-in could be clearly seen: the fence was standing, undulations indicated where the ramps were, and the bio-box was still there, but the site was derelict.
Sources: East Pilbara Shire Community Directory 1981-1982, pp.42, 51
West Australian 1981
Interview (Ina Bertrand): N.J.Woods (1985)
Informants: Terry (and Tora) McNamara (1997)

OPEN AIR THEATRE, Newman Drive, Newman

Around 1967 the Mount Newman Mining Co asked N.J.Woods to co-operate in the provision of a cinema for the company’s employees at Mount Newman. He put in a gardens first, adjacent to the Main Mess – a simple enclosure surrounded by a wire mesh fence, and screening twice a week (sometimes three times a week). It had provision for 150-200 patrons and was always full (listed as 350 in 1971 Film Weekly Directory). It is still clearly visible in a 1971 aerial photograph of the town, displayed on the wall of the office of the Shire of East Pilbara: it probably closed about 1972-3. By 1981, when the town became an open town (no longer a company town), there were also screenings in what was called the ‘Community Hall and Cinema’, provided on Saturday mornings for children, though the main films by then were provided in the drive-in.

Sources: East Pilbara Shire Community Directory 1981-1982, p.42
Film Weekly Directory 1969/70, 1971
Informants: Terry (and Tora) McNamara (1997)

NOLLAMARA

NOLLAMARA GARDENS, Cnr. Sylvia St and Hillsborough Drive, Nollamara

A simple open air theatre operated here from 1958 to 1966.
Sources: West Australian, 1958 – 1966

NORSEMAN

CINEMA CENTRE, Talbot St, Norseman

Pat Hogan was running the drive-in when it closed, and he went back into other pursuits.
Then he bought a deceased estate and decided to use the billiard hall behind the shop on the south-west corner of Talbot and Robert Sts as a picture show. He built a bio-box, put in tiered seats, and brought it up to government regulations in every way. He re-established contacts in the business and through them found out where equipment was available, and so he bought projectors and seats and a screen, mostly from demolished cinemas, all very old. The projector heads are vintage 1927 and 1928, fireboxes 1932 and 1934, and other parts were made up by technical people in Perth.

In 1997 he screened about once a month, more from love of the business than out of a desire for profit.

Sources: Informant: Pat Hogan (1997)
Photo: 1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand

KING’S HALL/ CRITERION THEATRE AND GARDENS, Prinsep St, Norseman

Tom Waters built the Criterion Hotel in Prinsep St, on the north-west corner of Ramsay St, and also the open air skating rink beside it in Prinsep St, and the King’s Hall beside that.e rink. This hall was a long shed, corrugated iron over a timber frame, unlined and without a ceiling under the gable roof. Seating was in deckchairs, except for one row of old padded seats at the very back, reserved for the Aborigines. Sweets could be bought at the shop across the road – there was no concession inside the building.

The hall and rink were used for many community purposes, including dances and meetings, and the occasional film screening by visiting showmen such as George Ilham, who travelled irregularly between Kalgoorlie and Esperance in the early silent days (from at least as early as 1915, till at least 1925, though there may also have been other showmen – either at different times, or in competition with Ilham). He drove a T-Model Ford, with a generator in the back for his plant. He had no music, but when he was in Norseman the local people supplied a gramophone (still proudly on display in the Historical Collection, and still in working order).

Deckchairs were used in both the hall and the skating rink – moved inside if there was a shower of rain, even in the middle of a performance. In the hall, the bio-box was above the door, accessed by stairs, and the film was projected onto a screen on the stage at the far end. A similar set-up was provided in the rink, with a similar bio-box. The floor of the rink was concrete – and a pair of the old skates used there also survive in the Historical Collection.

Mort Harslett, born in Norseman in 1910, vividly remembers one occasion when Ilham showed his pictures – not in the town itself, but some miles south:

We were working putting down the Bromus Dam at McPherson’s Rocks, twenty miles south of Norseman, on the old Esperance Road, the coach road… I was only a nipper. I didn’t have a man’s job, I had a gopher’s job – you know ‘Go fer this… go fer that…’ 1924 – it could have been late 24 or early 25, I remember I was 15 years of age… George Ilham came through there. He used to travel around with his old T-model Ford, and he showed silent pictures. He got his little old generator going in the back of the Ford and he’d start winding the handle – beautiful! Now, he was coming through where we were sinking the dam and there were quite a lot of men there – about 45 men working on that dam. Billy Ray he was the head concreter. And Armstrong was the blacksmith – you had to have a blacksmith because we had three teams of horses working there and there were scoops to be repaired. And Bill Devitt he had to look after the horses. Anyhow we all had jobs to do… George Ilham said to Sydney Walter Choate (he was the engineer there) ‘You’ve got a lot of men working here. Is there any chance of me showing a picture show on my way through to Esperance?’ – he went right through to Esperance, I believe he showed at Salmon Gums on the way through. The engineer said to me, to the gopher, ‘Mort, hook up a couple of horses and tow up two big salmon gum logs to in front of Long’un Graham’s boarding house. We’re having a picture show tonight!’ Long’un Graham was our cook and he had a building there with a concrete floor and hessian walls. So, I towed the logs up and then it was time for the screen – because the hessian was just a baggy colour. And Mr and Mrs McGill was the only married couple that was there, and she took out her double sheet and pinned it on the wall of Long’un’s boarding house. I can see this as if it only happened yesterday – great excitement, and we’re all perched up on these salmon gum logs waiting for the pictures to start and old George gets his generator going and he’s got the light and he starts winding the handle and the picture opened up and I can see it today – ‘The Mine with the Iron Door’, and there were two great big hills, and right up the gully was this great, big iron door. George is winding away and nobody gave a thought to Graham’s dog, a great big alsatian called Tiger, and he was sitting on the log right alongside me because I was always chucking him bits. In the movie, an Indian comes walking out of a little side gully and this Tiger – no warning – let out a roar and he flew off that log and he got the Indian’s dog fair in the throat. He was right up off the ground as the fight started, and old Tiger was hanging there, he couldn’t get a toe hold on the ground, and his fangs went right down through Long’un’s hessian wall, and there’s a great snarling going on and he ripped things round and broke loose and the last we seen of old Tiger (it was a bright moonlight night and there were a lot of wattles there) he was going through the wattles with bits of Mrs McGill’s sheet flying behind him. We patched up the torn sheet and we made some sort of a spare and we saw the rest of the picture.

Ray Dean was an electrician: he is particularly remembered as the tradesman who connected the homes of Norseman to the power when it was eventually put on. As so often happened in country areas, electrician Ray Dean became a film exhibitor: he opened Criterion Talkies in King’s Hall in 1934, renamed it the Criterion Theatre, and for a short time he screened film in the summer in the skating rink enclosure next door.

Jack Scholey bought Dean out in 1939, and Wally Churchill operated the theatre on Scholey’s behalf. Mort Harslett remembers how terribly cold the building was, until Wally Churchill and Jack Scholey had an idea: “They got an old boiler from down the mine and the hall was up on stumps about 2ft 6 ins off the ground, and they nailed up sheets of iron all round and blocked up underneath. They used to light a fire in the boiler and they had a fan and under all the seats there was a hole bored, and it was lovely – the fan was blowing the hot air under the building and it was coming up through these holes.”

By 1943, the Criterion was listed as owned by J.Scholey, A.Nulsen, W. Tooth and G.Tooth – the same group who owned the R.A.O.B. Pictures in Esperance. Later Scholey moved to Esperance, (Emil) Nulsen moved to Perth and became a member of parliament, and the Tooths also left Norseman to live somewhere south.

In the forties the theatre and gardens each had a capacity of 450, and were screening six nights a week. Mrs May can remember that the small roofed area in the front of the skating rink was used temporarily as a frock shop in 1938-40. She can also remember attending regularly twice a week in the thirties, and later sitting in seats that were permanently booked, a few rows behind her son who sat in ´P on the aisle’. Occasionally there would be a big function on a Saturday night that involved the whole town, such as a ball: this would be held in the RSL Hall, and the picture show would be closed for the night.

The gardens seem to have closed in 1952, but screenings in the hall continued to the late seventies, ceasing only when the drive-in was built. The building (along with the shop and the skating rink) was demolished and the materials were taken south to build sheds on a property near Salmon Gums. The new Town Hall was built on the site (in approx 1982?).

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1966/7
Post Office Directory 1944-47, 1949
Max Bell, Perth, a cinema history, The Book Guild Ltd, Lews, Sussex 1986, p.107, 117-8
Interviews (Colleen Pead): R.Yelland (1986), Ray Dean (1986)
Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Ray Dean (1997), Mort Harslett (1999)
Informants: Mrs May (1997)

Photos: 1 exterior (Criterion Talkies), colour, n.d. (late 1930s), Norseman Historical Museum

NORSEMAN DRIVE-IN/CRITERION DRIVE-IN, Roberts St, Norseman

This drive-in was built on Council land, south of the railway line, between Prinsep and Roberts Sts: all its fixtures (fencing, buildings and screen) were owned by the Council. When it was first built, in 1967, it was leased to Jack Scholey (who sold the Criterion Theatre, and installed Wally Churchill as his operator), then to Bill Hattah, then to Pat Hogan.

It was closed when video became popular in the town, about 1983. The land is now in use as a Council depot: all that is left is the screen which still dominates the skyline.

Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1968/9 – 1971
Public Health Department building permit, Battye 1459
Max Bell, Perth, a cinema history, The Book Guild Ltd, Lewes, Sussex 1986, p.132
Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Alan Larkin (1985), Mort Harslett (1999)
Informant: Pat Hogan (1997)
Photo: 1 colour exterior, January 1981 (Bill Turner)

NORTH BEACH

SEA VIEW HALL AND GARDENS, 30 North Beach Rd, North Beach

By the thirties, screenings were being held in the Sea View Hall, at 30 North Beach Rd, on the south side, just east of Cain St. The hall held 200, and a gardens was opened east of the hall, running down the hill, holding about 400. These venues were built by Mr Muller and operated by Avon Payne and Roy McClure, then by R.F.McClure alone (as was the Kookaburra/Orion at Osborne Park), until closed in 1961.
Sources: Maud Thomas ´Pictures at North Beach’, in Helen Weller (ed), Recollections from a shoreline, Nineclub & Artlook Books, Perth 1980, p.22
Film Weekly Directory, 1943/4 – 1960/61
Post Office Directory, 1938/9 – 1949
West Australian, 1951 – 1960

THE CASTLE GARDENS, Flora Terrace, North Beach

The Castle Hotel was owned by Mr Toby and located on the north-west corner of the intersection of Castle St and Flora Terrace. It had a Picture Gardens, on the south-west corner of Flora Terrace and Lawley St, behind the Tennis Courts, from 1938, and people would bring rugs to keep warm in colder weather. During the war, there were frequent blackouts, caused by power shortages and the policy of electricity rationing to one-hour-on one-hour-off. When the power went off during a show, people either went home and returned an hour later, or chatted till the time passed. Don Edwards remembers:

Some excitement could be expected when the canvas deck chairs, which were in lengths of four to six seats, suddenly collapsed with the occupants disappearing from view. (Recollections, p.108)

Sources: Maylands Historical Society, July 1997
Patricia MacKenzie, ´North Beach – a post-war teenager remembers’, in Helen Weller (ed), Recollections from a shoreline, Nineclub & Artlook Books, Perth 1980, p.105
Don Edwards, in Helen Weller (ed), Recollections from a shoreline, Nineclub & Artlook Books, Perth 1980, p.108

NORTH DANDALUPHALL, North DandalupIn 1941, Charlie Legg bought Roch Evans’ Modern Cinemas circuit, including Jarrahdale, Mundijong and Serpentine and added Chidlow, North Dandalup, Hakea, Wandering and Williams to this. He already had Boddington, so these towns made up a fortnightly circuit at the start, then a little later he dropped Hakea and North Dandalup and made it a ten-day circuit, He sold his circuit to Lew Punch in 1949, who continued to screen here till at least 1951.
Sources: Film Weekly Directory, 1948/9, 1950/51 – 1951/2
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Charles Legg (1997)
NORTH PERTHROSEMOUNT AND GARDENS, 464 Fitzgerald St, Perth North

Rosemount Theatre

Films were screened briefly in the North Perth Town Hall in 1912 and in McLeod’s Hall in 1910 and 1916. But the first continuing screenings in North Perth were at the Rosemount Gardens, opened on a site in Angove St, next to the Rosemount Hotel on the southern side of the intersection of Angove and Fitzgerald Streets, in 1920. This venue had a brick street frontage, containing the bio-box. Inside, the whole flat seating area was grassed, with hard seats along the left side and the front, and deckchairs inside a fenced area in the middle and to the right. Babies in prams would be parked along the aisles, next to their parents. There was no concession building: patrons went out to local shops if they wished to purchase refreshments. Male ushers showed patrons to their places, though seats were not numbered.In 1924, a theatre was built to operate in conjunction with the gardens, but not next door to it: the theatre was at 464 Fitzgerald St, on the opposite side of the road, facing the Angove St intersection. It had a lesser hall, hired out for meetings even while the films were going on in the theatre. Alan Crew describes the theatre as a ´shooting gallery’ – big and cavernous and ugly. However, it was certainly solid: the local fire brigade went in during construction and tried to knock the walls down with fire hoses, but failed. A novel feature of the design was the two rows of love seats at the front of the balcony.This was one of the larger suburban venues, with both the theatre and gardens holding over 1100 people. In 1928, the theatre closed for three months for extensive renovations, and in November 1929 Australtone sound equipment was installed, making this one of the first suburban theatres to have sound, only a few months after the first sound films were screened in the city centre. Seats were numbered in the circle but not in the stalls, and ticket sellers were on duty in the afternoon booking for the evening: in the thirties and forties, the venue sold out every Saturday and most Fridays.In the early forties the venues were operated by Carl During and (H.? or A.T.?) Parker, who also ran the Ritz at Mount Hawthorn. Then, in 1949, they were taken over by Goldfields Pictures. The gardens site was leased from the hotel, so, when they took it back to extend the bar, that was the end of the first Rosemount gardens. Goldfields built a new gardens further down Fitzgerald St, towards Perth, perhaps on the north-west corner of the intersection with Alma Rd.In 1960, after it closed, it was converted into the state’s first ten-pin bowling alley, and later still into shops.Sources: Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, pp.46-47, 65
Everyone’s, 8 February 1928, p.27; 1 August 1928, p.16; 28 November 1928, p.43; 16 January 1929, p.24; 9 October 1929, p.21; 23 October 1929, p.18-19; 12 February 1930, p.25
Post Office Directory, 1921 – 1949
Weekend News, 10 September 1960
West Australian, 1910, 1912, 1916, 1930 – 1960
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Ron Elsegood (1985)Photos: 1 exterior (theatre), b&w, n.d (Ron Elsegood)NORTHAMAVONWAY DRIVE-IN, Mitchell St, Northam

Avonway Drive In 1981

The first drive-in in the district was the Avonway built by Ace Theatres, from Perth. It was located on Shire land, south of the town and on the west side of the road, behind the municipal swimming-pool. It opened on 31 December 1959, with provision for 350 cars.
Much of this area was within reception of Perth television, and one of the first two country television licences was at Northam in 1964, covering much of the rest of the district. The drive-in survived, however, until 1983. By 1997 all traces of it had been completely obliterated.
Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1960/61 – 1971
Public Health Department, building permit, Battye 1459
Vyonne Geneve, ´William Leighton, architect’, Kino, no.25, September 1988, pp.7 – 15
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lews, Sussex 1986, p.130
Film Weekly, 7 Jan.1960, p.9
West Australian 1962, 1969 – 1983
Photo: 1 exterior, colour, 1981, Bill TurnerNORTHAM CINEMAS, 76 Wellington St, NorthamThis twin cinema was built by Dennis McKenna, in a disused squash court in the main shopping centre.OPEN AIR PICTURE GARDENS/ PALACE GARDENS/ CAPITOL THEATRE, Fitzgerald St, Northam

Northam Picture Gardens 1938

The Palace Gardens was on the north side of Fitzgerald St, in the middle of the block between Grey St and Gordon St. From June 1908, live musical entertainments were being advertised at the Palace Gardens occasionally. From 1910 it was used as a skating rink, and from 1911 (Max Bell says the rink was rebuilt in 1911 by A.W.Byfield) the skaters and the film fans shared the premises, films being screened on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and skating being available on Wednesdays and Saturdays.But then the Palace Gardens was roofed and became the Palace Theatre, so from 1912 it displaced the Town Hall as the main venue for films in the town. By early 1926 the Palace Theatre was owned by the Pearmine Bros, who also owned the outdoor entertainment centre further down the street, known as White City.The Palace closed for renovation in May 1929. It was intended that “extensive alterations” would take place:

The alterations comprise two new shops, and enlarged entrance, a dress circle which will accommodate 350 people, and a direct staircase leading there-to. The present seating capacity of the theatre is 1,200. This will be increased to 1,600. A splayed fibrous plaster proscenium stage front will be provided, and the entire seating of the stall floor will be re-arranged. Portion of the dress circle will be occupied with club chairs, and the remainder of the seating will be of the orthodox variety. A special enlarged projection room will be fitted with the latest cinema machinery, and space will be reserved for a possible installation of the “talkies”. In front of the orchestra will be elaborate ballustrading. (Northam Advertiser, 18 May 1929)

The venue re-opened in May 1930, but apparently without sound films, as the advertisements promised an orchestra of professional musicians for the benefit of music lovers. However, in 1931 Nelsons bought the Palace and re-opened it on 11 March 1931 as the Capitol Theatre, equipped with Raycophone sound equipment, though this was replaced with RCA Photophone just a little over a year later, in June 1932. In 1936, Goldfields Pictures bought the Capitol, and built a new gardens (on the White City/Coliseum site?) a little further up Fitzgerald St, with lawns, trees and shrubs. In 1942, the theatre held 950 and the gardens one thousand: one or the other was screening seven nights a week. The venue remained popular for many years, till the theatre was sold in 1969, and the gardens site two years later.The theatre site is now occupied by Woolworths arcade, north of the Commonwealth Banking Corporation (or was it on the south side of CBC?).Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1969/70
Post Office Directory 1912-1949
Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, p.103
Donald S.Garden, Northam: an Avon Valley history, OUP, Melbourne 1979, p.231
Everyone’s 7 March 1928, p.18
Northam Advertiser 1908-1932
Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Norman Cunningham (1981), Ron Elsegood (1985)
Informants (all 1986): Miss Broomhill, Bud Byfield, Dink Horsley, Ted Moore, Frank Mountney, Fred Perry, Harry Rewell, Miss Sylvia Whitnell, Mrs Williams, R. YellandPhotos: 1 exterior (Capitol theatre), 1938, b&w, Ron ElsegoodTOWN HALL, Wellington St, Northam

Northam Town Hall 1987

Northam Town Hall interior 1987

Northam Town Hall interior 1987

Northam Town Hall interior 1987

Northam Town Hall 1997

The Northam Town Hall was built on the south-east corner of the intersection of Wellington St with Gordon St, with the Lesser Hall beside it in Wellington St. The foundation stone was laid on 21 June 1897, it opened on 21 April 1898, the supper room was added in 1901, and an Italianate facade in 1904. Repairs in 1918 included the replacement of the pressed metal ceiling with jarrah boards. The description of the building in the Northam Heritage Inventory states:

This ornate two storey civic building together with the adjoining Lesser Hall, designed by Harry J. Prockter and constructed between 1897-98, has been called Northam’s most grandiose building. These Federation Free Classical style buildings are similar at ground level, with rusticated pier edging and round-arched windows. The single level hall has a large almost semi-circular opening with associated pediment and columns. The two storey building uses a pair of engaged piers to frame the central door on its main facade. The second floor has pediments above each window and a set of ´swag’ ornaments as a part of the decorative cornice. One unusual feature is a pair of ´lancet’ openings above the doorway on the Town Hall.

Northam, so close to the state capital, was a popular location for the touring companies that screened films in the first decade, and the Town Hall was the first venue used for this purpose. It was probably used for screenings by the Salvation Army Biograph Company, which visited the town in September 1900 and October 1902. Milner’s Pictures screened in Northam Town Hall in September 1906, en route to the goldfields. The Corrick family, with Leonard’s Beautiful Pictures, visited in July 1907, and again in September-October 1909. The British and American Biograph Company appeared in March 1907, and Edison’s Popular Pictures in July that year. The Taits showed Robbery under arms in January 1908, and the English and American Kinetoscope visited in August the same year.So the town also appeared early on the schedules of the permanent circuits operating out of Perth. King’s Pictures circuit gave their first screening on 14 April 1909, and continued regularly at the Town Hall every Wednesday for some time. Geo F.Todd managed the presentation, touring with seven staff including an orchestra and effects technician, and proudly advertising that the programmes they would present were the same as those being offered in Perth. In May 1909, West’s began screening at Northam every Friday, moving to the Palace Gardens in the summer months of 1909-10, but permanently at the Town Hall from December 1910 to February 1912.In August 1914, Marden’s Popular Pictures were screening at the Town Hall, but by then the Palace had become the town’s main picture venue, and screenings at the Town Hall seem to have become irregular. In May 1929 the Palace closed for rebuilding and for a year films returned to the Town Hall, so this was where, in July 1929, patrons were invited to “SEE & HEAR…” Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer. After the Palace reopened in May 1930, regular film screenings ceased at the Town Hall.Sources: The Heritage of Western Australia: the Illustrated Register of the National Estate , Macmillan 1989, p.107
Shire of Northam,Heritage Inventory, T35
http://www.abc.net.au/limelight/docs/tours Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lews, Sussex 1986, p.111, 117
Northam Advertiser , 10 April 1909
West Australian 1906 – 1914
Photo: 1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand
1 exterior, b&w, n.d., The Heritage of Western Australia: the Illustrated Register of the National Estate, Macmillan 1989, p.1071 exterior, 1987, colour, Roy Mudge3 interior, 1987, colour, Roy MudgeWHITE CITY/ COLISEUM GARDENS/ CAPITOL GARDENS, Fitzgerald St, Northam

Northam White City 1938

Northam White City bio box 1938

Northam White City screen and seating 1938

In 1926, the Pearmine Bros, who owned the Palace Theatre, also owned the outdoor entertainment centre known as White City. They sold the latter, with a permit for conversion to an outdoor cinema, to Mr Buxton later that year. From 1927, the White City premises became known as the Coliseum Gardens, and they continued under this name till late 1931.It is likely that it was bought by Nelsons in 1931, when they bought the Palace Theatre – but it is not clear what happened on the site from 1931-36. In 1936, Goldfields Pictures bought the Palace Theatre from Nelsons and built the Capitol Gardens on the north side of the Northam Advertiser building (now the Avon Valley Advocate): this location is quite clear from photos of the gardens. What is not certain (although it seems likely) is whether this was also the site of the earlier White City or Coliseum Gardens. (It is possible that White City OR the Coliseum Gardens was on the other side of the road, opposite the Northam Advertiser – some old residents remember a short-lived gardens there, but disagree about what it was called)The Capitol Gardens had a substantial brick wall on the street frontage and an imposing entrance, and inside the deckchairs were laid out on lawns, and trees and shrubs planted around the walls.In 1942, the theatre held 950 and the gardens one thousand: one or the other was screening seven nights a week. The venue remained popular for many years, till the theatre was sold in 1969, and the gardens site two years later.Sources: Post Office Directory 1927-1934/5
Public Works Department, files 1656/26, 1950/26, Battye AN 7/10 AC 1004
Informants (all 1986): Miss Broomhill, Bud Byfield, Dink Horsley, Ted Moore, Frank Mountney, Fred Perry, Harry Rewell, Miss Sylvia Whitnell, Mrs Williams, R. YellandPhotos: 1 exterior (Capitol gardens), 1938, b&w, Ron Elsegood
1 interior (Capitol gardens, seating and screen), 1938, b&w, Ron Elsegood
1 interior (Capitol gardens, seating and biobox), 1938, b&w, Ron Elsegood
NORTHAMPTONDRIVE-IN, Wanerenooka Rd, NorthamptonRay Dean built this drive-in in 1965, on land leased from the Shire. It was located on the south side of Wanerenooka Rd, behind the bowling club which was on the corner of the highway. It held 120 cars, and at its peak, in the late sixties and early seventies, it screened only two or three times a week. After it closed, some of the equipment was sold to Broome. The land is now vacant – the screen and concession building demolished, the ramps slowly decaying and becoming overgrown with weeds.
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.138
Interviews (Ina Bertrand): Ray Dean (1997), Alan Larkin
NORTHBRIDGECINEMA ABERDEEN, 59 Aberdeen St, Northbridge

New cinema screening travel films 3 times daily called Cinema Aberdeen’ (Max Bell, Kino, no.53, p.31). This cinema seems to have been in operation for a short time only, around 1995.

Sources: Kino, no.53, September 1995, p.31
West Australian, 1995CINEMA PARADISO, The Galleria, 164 James St, Northbridge

Northbridge Cinema Paradiso 1997

In December 1992, the first two screens of the three-screen Cinema Paradiso opened in the Northbridge Galleria building. The third opened on 22 July 1993. Cinema 1 held 183, Cinema 2 held 208, Cinema 3 held 300 – typical of the smaller cinemas, with more specialised programming, that competed with other forms of entertainment in the nineties. It seems to have been owned at first by Showcase Cinemas, the company which also owned the Astor, Mount Lawley:

then in 1997 both cinemas were operated by Palace Cinemas, which joined Ace by the end of the year. In 1999 this complex was operating as a Palace Cinemas venue

Sources: Kino, no.41, September 1992, p.27; no.43, March 1993, p.31; no.46, December 1993, p.30; no.62, Summer 1997, p.35.
Jack Honnibal, ´The theatres of Perth 1939 – 1993′, Kino no.45, September 1993, p.28
West Australian, 1993 – 1997Photos: 1 exterior, colour, 1997 (Graeme Bertrand)IMAX, Lake St, NorthbridgeKino reported in 1999:

A 300 seat theatre with a giant screen is the result of a multi-million dollar deal between the City of Perth and the firm, Multiplex Constructions. The Council’s car park in Lake Street, Perth, will be redeveloped, incorporating an IMAX Cinema.

It was later reported that Cinema Plus had won the contract for this venue, and then that it had opened on 7 December 2000. In March 2002 it was advertised for sale at $3.95 milliion but failed to sell. The final screening was 9 June 2002, and rumours circulated that the site would be redeveloped as a commercial complex.However, in 2004 it was reported that ‘The Imax Cinema has reopened under the Regent banner showing 35mm films on the Imax screen without masking. It is now known as the Regent R Max, Perths biggest screen.’ (Kino, no.87, p.38)Refs: Kino, no.67, Autumn 1999, p.31; no.69, p.35; no 75, Autumn 2001, p.35; no.80, Winter 2002, p.21; no.81, Spring 2002, p.89; no.87, Autumn 2004, p.38.PIERROT PAVILION, cnr William and James Streets, PerthLittle information is available about this venue, which opened on Monday 20 December 1910. It was advertised as located on the corner of William and James Streets, but in the post Office Directories there is no listing for a theatre on any of the four corners: it could, however, have been located behind one of the listed shops.It was described as an ´open air continental theatre’ (West Australian, 4 January 1911), a description also applied to the Star Skating Rink. The first pictures presented there were Southwood’s, which had previously been exhibited on Sundays at the King’s Picture Gardens (where Sudholz refused on principle to screen on Sunday). But the theatre took its name from the company which presented the live section of the programme – the Pierrots. Sometimes the two were combined, as when Florence Wilkins sang Alive in the Deep, apparently to accompany a film:…’during these scenes of the wildest excitement Miss Wilkins’s rich contralto voice comes as through the very storm itself to the ears of the spellbound onlookers’ (West Australian, 7 January 1911). The Pierrots presented their farewell programme on 28 January 1911, and on Monday 6 February the Leader Picture Company was advertised to begin a season. No further mention was found, however, of this season, or indeed of any further use of the premises as a venue for films.Sources: West Australian, 1910 – 1911RIALTO CINEMA GARDENS, 390-396 Newcastle St, PerthOn the outskirts of the central business district, but still technically within the inner city of Perth, was this short-lived gardens, on the northern side of Newcastle St, west of the junction with Fitzgerald St (it would now be called Northbridge). It was opened in 1926 by Bill (Bunger) Bellion, who in 1927 opened the Oxford Theatre at the corner of Oxford and Vincent Streets in Leederville. For a time, the two operated concurrently, but the Rialto was closed in 1928 and some time later the New Oxford Garden Beautiful was built to operate in conjunction with the theatre, in Newcastle Street again, but this time at the Leederville end.Sources: Post Office Directory, 1928, 1929
West Australian, 1926 – 1928
Interview (Ina Bertrand & Bill Turner): Jack Gynn (1981)
NORTHCLIFFELARSSONS HALL/ NORTHCLIFFE HALL, Zamia St, Northcliffe

Northcliffe Hall 1997

This large timber hall was built along Zamia St, near the intersection with Banksia St, not long after the group settlement scheme in the area began. It was built in late 1924 by the Larsson brothers, who operated the general store. Local historian J.P.,Gabbedy describes the building of the hall like this:

…Larrson Brothers asked builder Bill Lunt to construct on Lot 2 a 24.4 m x 10.9 m hall, to be made available for community use. The hall was little more than a large shed with a dressed tongue and groove floor – unlined, without ceiling, stage or supper room. Because of the width of the hall, the roof was M-shaped: two simple pitched roofs with a valley between them. To cut the scantling and weatherboards, the Larssons paid Dick White’s mill hands to work weekends. Jack Carrigg had planned to locate his timber yards and storeroom on adjoining Lots 3 and 4. He saw certain advantages which could rub off on him and supplied the tongue and grooved flooring at cost – a tremendous saving to Larssons. In return, the owners gave Carrigg the privilege of holding his stocks of plasterboard sheets in the hall. Once it was completed, Carrigg, with right of entry, used it also to store bags of chaff for his horse teams.

The local people, enthused by the prospect of dances and picture shows in the hall, volunteered their assistance. Lunt framed the four walls on the ground and passed the word for all hands to be available at 3 p.m. on a particular afternoon to lift them into place. There was no lack of volunteers, as ‘Gundy’ Gordon had made and donated a keg of special brew to be disposed of as soon as the job was finished. His action was not entirely disinterested – he foresaw correctly there would be an increased demand for his home brew and sly grog sidelines among the dance nights and picture show crowds.

The time was late November, with the usual wind and rain, but with ‘heaves and hoes’ the four walls were in place by early dusk. It was all to no avail. Possibly, in the hurry to get to the grog, the ends were not tied in securely, or perhaps there were insufficient ‘toms’, piece of scantling angled at approximately 45 degrees with one end bedded in the ground and the other nailed to the studs. During the night the walls collapsed. It was a week or more before repairs were effected to studs and bearers, and enough helpers could be dragooned to get the walls in place again. On the second occasion there was no free grog. (Gabbedy, p.21)

When West’s Pictures let it be known that they would visit the town if a suitable venue could be provided, Larssons were persuaded to make the hall available, provided that a local committee took charge of raising the money for alterations, and the cleaning of the venue afterwards. The alterations (a supper room and stage for dance bands) were made and screenings began soon after the hall was completed. It was officially opened on Saturday 14 February 1925, the day of the first Northcliffe District Show. Alan Betts played the piano for both the dances and the picture shows.Soon after it opened, the Public Works Department insisted on strengthening the roof by the addition of pillars, which could be a nuisance:

The new pillars imposed their only real inconvenience on picture nights which burst upon the town fortnightly when Allan Jones’ travelling van set up outside the hall and aimed the projector through the main door. The pillars made viewing from the sides difficult, but the problem was easily solved by the spectators dragging into advantageous positions bags of chaff belonging to Carrigg.

Picture nights were attended by the entire town’s population and the few groupies prepared to walk, often for kilometres, for the treat; one suspects that the sixpenny entrance fee might have been a bit of a hurdle for many of them.

The operating team might well arrive late, particularly in winter with bogs and breakdowns to contend with. Even when they got going there were enforced intermissions while films were changed or repaired. Breakdowns of engine and generator were frequent – but who cared? A few hurricane lamps would be lit (too much trouble to light the pressure lamps) while the audience joked and smoked. Dog fights which broke out during the filming were instantly quelled with a well-applied kick, but in an interval – compelled or otherwise – the donneybrook was usually urged as a means of entertainment. One particular night the filming didn’t finish till two in the morning, but not a soul thought of leaving before the end. (Gabbedy, pp.106-7)

During World War 2, Allan Jones screened in the hall once a fortnight, but this reduced to once a month after television arrived. There was no power in the town, so Jones brought his own generator in his van: if it broke down he would give the audience the choice of having to wait for up to an hour while it was fixed or continuing with the picture without sound (Mrs Jones explained that their Delco power plant was very reliable, but not powerful enough after sound arrived, so they had to supplement it with a generator from an old Buick truck: this must have been the one that was unreliable, so the pictures could continue – but without sound).Patrons sat uncomfortably on long wooden benches with hard backs, but they did not mind: the hall was always full, because there was so little else to do in the town, and it was an ideal place to do your courting. Not many people owned vehicles in the early days, so the cream carters would pick people up in their vans on the way to town, and if the carters didn’t want to go to the pictures then others could not go. There were no refreshments sold, so if you wanted any you took them with you.Screenings ceased in the mid-sixties, after television became popular. The hall is still in good repair, but no longer used for pictures.Sources: J.P.Gabbedy, Group Settlement Part 2: its people: their life and time – an inside view, UWA Press, Nedlands 1988
Film Weekly Directory 1940/41 – 1967/8
Informants: Mrs D. Jones (Busselton, September 1997), Johan Flannagan (Northcliffe, September 1997)
Photo: 1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand
NUNGARINARMY AMENITIES BUILDING/ OPEN AIR THEATRE, South Rd, NungarinDuring World War 2, an army ordnance depot was built in Nungarin, with a large workforce, housed in its own camp. Among the provisions made for this workforce was an amenities block in which were held dances, sports such as badminton, and regular picture shows two or three times a week. These were at first only for the residents, but later the locals were also able to attend. An outdoor theatre was constructed at the west end of the amenities block, with projectors operated from inside the hall. The area was screened along both sides, but not fully-enclosed.
The screenings stopped by about 1950, the last disposal sale of the camp equipment and buildings was in 1961, the community took over the camp swimming pool in 1963, and the amenities block no longer exists.
Sources: Olga Joukovsky-Vaisvila, Around the rock: a history of the Shire of Nungarin, Western Australia, Nungarin Shire Council 1978
Informants: ´Aunty Jim’ Farrell (1997), Bert Waterhouse (1997)TOWN HALL, Railway Ave, Nungarin

Nungarin Town Hall 1997

The first hall in Nungarin was the Agricultural Hall, built in about 1912. The Town Hall was built later, but I have been unable to find out just when.Harry Delavale started screening pictures in Nungarin after World War 1, touring in his van, showing about fortnightly in the Agricultural Hall. Seating was on wooden forms, then later on deckchairs, and the pianist was Jack McCorry. Paddy Baker travelled with Delavale, learning the business, till he took over from Delavale and carried on till the Second World War. ´Aunty Jim’ Farrell remembers Baker as ´a happy, cheery chap’ who always wore a boater and a flower in his buttonhole.It is possible that Rupert Morris was screening in the hall in competition with the army screenings during the war, and he was definitely screening in the hall straight after the war – he had a circuit in Nungarin, Mukinbudin and Chandler. McDougall took over from him in the mid-fifties, and was showing twice a week in Nungarin till the seventies.Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1940/41, 1942/3 – 1953/4
Olga Joukovsky-Vaisvila, Around the rock: a history of the Shire of Nungarin, Western Australia , Nungarin Shire Council 1978
Informants: ´Aunty Jim’ Farrell (1997), Bert Waterhouse (1997)
Photo: 1 exterior, colour, 1997, Graeme Bertrand
NYABINGHALL, NyabingCharles Legg visited here regularly in the early forties, before he consolidated and reduced his circuit. Then local people set up permanent facilities in the hall and took over the monthly screenings. The hall was smaller then than it is in the nineties, but was usually well attended.
Sources: Informants: Autumn Club, Katanning, 20 August 1997
Interview (Ina Bertrand): Charles Legg (1997)NYAMUPHALL, NyamupAllan Jones was listed in the Film Weekly Directory as screening here from 1948/9 to 1963/4.
Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1948/9 – 1963/4
ONGERUPONGERUP PUBLIC HALL, Eldridge St, OngerupThe first hall in Ongerup was built in the early thirties, and used as a school until the Ongerup School was opened in 1950. That hall stood where the Ongerup/Needilup District Co-op now stands, and there are no records of films being shown there.The new Ongerup Public Hall was built in Eldridge St in 1953, of asbestos and brick with an iron roof. This hall was on Frank Terry’s occasional circuit in the late seventies and early eighties.Sources: Shire of Gnowangerup, Municipal Heritage Inventory
Gnowangerup Star, 30 March 1995, p.3
Informants: Lyn Parker (1997), Frank Terry (1997)
ONSLOWOPEN AIR CINEMA, OnslowIn the early twenties, the port of Onslow was moved from the mouth of the Ashburton River to Beadon Point, and over the course of several years the township was also moved. One building transferred to the new site was the Mechanics Institute Hall, opened in the old town in February 1912 and relocated to the new town in 1926. It was a simple building, with large shutters covering the windows. It survived several fierce storms, but was completely demolished in the cyclone of 28 March 1934, and was rebuilt substantially the same as before, but with a supper room extension on one side. It is not clear whether films were screened there, but it seems likely, as I was told in Roebourne that Onslow had a picture gardens too…
Responsibility for the Mechanics Institute Hall was taken over by the Ashburton Road Board in 1932, and in 1972 new offices for what was now the West Pilbara Shire were constructed, as a new facade of the Mechanics Institute Hall.
Sources: Martyn & Audrey Webb, Edge of Empire, Artlook Books, Perth 1983
Photo: Martyn & Audrey Webb, Edge of Empire, Artlook Books, Perth 1983, p.131
ORA BANDAHALL, Johnson St, Ora BandaOra Banda was one of the boom towns of the eastern goldfields. Photos of the main street in 1913 show a bustling commercial centre, with modern facilities including (in the words of a 1990s tourist brochure): ‘ dining halls, a post office and a police station, churches, boarding houses and billiard saloons, with picture shows twice weekly, dances every Saturday night and badminton played every-other night of the week.’ Unfortunately, it does not give the dates when these picture shows took place, or any other details concerning them.The first hall was corrugated iron over an oregon frame, but it was burned down in 1932? (rumour that this was caused by the picture operator). It was rebuilt, again of corrugated iron over timber. Silent pictures were regularly screened by touring showmen, including possibly George Ilham (see Esperance).Sullivans Pictures are listed in the Film Weekly Directory as screening here between 1948/9 and 1950/51. Maureen Hill remembers breaks for reel changes and frequent interruptions for mending the film, which suggests that there was only one projector in use. At the time, in the early fifties, the town had only about 50 inhabitants, so it probably became commercially unviable for pictures.As the population declined further, the buildings deteriorated, till the hall simply fell over… In the 1990s, Ora Banda was virtually a ghost town – deserted except that the hotel had been restored as a tourist destination, and some people had returned to the few houses in the town. There are plans to improve facilities to draw more tourists, but there is no sign of the old hall.Sources: Film Weekly Directory 1948/9 – 1950/51
Interview: Maureen & Peter Hill (1999)
OSBORNE PARK ESQUIRE AND GARDENS, Scarborough Beach Rd, Osborne Park. Though this was advertised as being near the Scarborough Bus depot, Mount Hawthorn, it appears to have operated concurrently with Parker’s larger Ritz and Gardens, and to be quite separate from that venue. It opened in 1951 as just a small gardens, holding only 225, and operated by G.M. & L.E.Blinco. Later a theatre was added, holding 250, and the gardens extended to accommodate about 400. It closed about 1960.
Sources: Film Weekly Directory, 1951/2 – 1960/61
West Australian, 1953 – 1960 HALL AND GARDENS/ KOOKABURRA AND GARDENS/ ORION AND GARDENS, 204 Main St, Osborne Park.In 1935 the Kookaburra Picture Gardens seating 350-450 people opened in Main St, Osborne Park. This was apparently in a local hall with adjacent gardens built specifically for films. This venue was operated at first by Payne and McClure, then by R.F.McClure alone (as was the SeaView at North Beach), and was renamed the Orion in the early fifties. In the late fifties (unlike North Beach) it was taken over by A & E Gionotti, and it continued to screen till 1965.
Sources: Max Bell, Perth – a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, Sussex, 1986, pp.36, 61
Film Weekly Directory, 1943/4 – 1964/5
Post Office Directory, 1935/6 – 1949
West Australian, 1953 – 1965
Max Bell, Perth: a cinema history, The Book Guild, Lewes, 1986 pp.48-9
Interview (Mark Turton): James McKerchar (1978)
Interview (Heather McRae?): Gladys Locke (1987)                                                                                                                                                                                                    Footnote: A reader has requested clarification. The Osborne Park Esquire and Gardens Picture Theatre was at 4-6 Main St Joondanna (2020 Harold Coppock)