Original post 24 April 2020
The second #cinemainterior I’m helping trying to save – this lattice ceiling is now hidden above shop partitions of the BBQ galore next to the Richmond Town Hall- it’s simpler than your average old cinema interior, but has a fascinating history. First built in 1888 as a #SkatingRink, when the craze first appeared, it was a huge corrugated iron clad hall with exposed trusses, also used for dances (2nd last photo is c1900). then in 1916 they just filled it with benches and put up a screen and called it a cinema – which fit 3000 people on a flat floor peering at a tiny screen in the distance – the crowd photo is of the smaller Lyric Theatre Brunswick in 1914 to give you an idea.
Then in 1927 it got a makeover as per 1st pic to compete with the new more comfortable cinemas being built, with proper seats, an elaborate proscenium, and the 1888 trusses just had lattice and plaster attached to the underside, and the walls were rebuilt in brick (clearly they didn’t want to spend too much !), a little balcony inserted and a new facade (in rather retro style). It lasted like this till 1960, when it lost the facade completely and became Kevin Dennis car showroom, then furniture, then BBQs; the proscenium was still there in the 90s. In very recent times the big space got walls and a lowered ceiling inserted but it’s all still there, minus the proscenium.
No cinema interiors have been protected by a local council in Victoria, and the City of Yarra has only been half hearted, doing a study and proposing 3, then knocking 2 off at a Council meeting, this and the Burnley now destroyed, and their consultant at the hearing didn’t even support the last one. And in 2016 they also lost the Lyric Fitzroy (the one painted by Rone) so they might go from 4 to none.
Something I’m trying to help save- this is the interior of the #AustralTheatre in #JohnstonStreetCollingwood, near Hoddle, currently Inner City Floorworld.
It’s a bit broken and battered and was more intact in the 2nd pic from 2016, but the 1921 interior is mostly intact, with the balcony and even with the lobby ceiling and its chandelier. The proscenium is gone though (or possibly is inside an apartment built in that spot).
My argument is that even though it’s not intact, any kind of old cinema interior is now rare, and even some of those on the Victorian Heritage Register arnt intact (eg the National in St Kilda has lost its proscenium too, though the remaining bits are very nice). I counted them up and there’s only about 35 left of the 350 purpose-built cinemas that once existed, including not completely intact ones like this (there’s only 22 fully intact, of which 8 are really just very plain halls). This compares well with the VHR listed, intact and operating 1926 #HorshamTheatre (2nd last pic) and the 1926 #ThornburyTheatre, only upper ceiling left, and not listed. So it’s important even though it doesn’t look great, and if we draw the line at mostly intact, then there’s only a few more than the 16 currently on the State list.
all
25 April 2024
Yarra employed a second heritage consultant Anita Brady to review them the cinema interiors, and she found that none were worth listing, as none were intact enough, but Council voted to go ahead with the Austral. But she also represented them at a Panel hearing, which unsurprisingly found none of them should be listed. There’s now proposals for apartments at the Austral, keeping only the facade.
28 September 2026
Sad to learn the Austral has been destroyed, by fire this time, but it was going to be destroyed anyway – though just discovered it had recently had theatre use by @lovelustlosttheshow.
The Austral Theatre in Johnson Street Collingwood opened in 1921, and was fairly simple design, catering to a very local audience. The facade is just simple piers and pilasters, while the interior was an arched roof with spare plaster decoration. It closed in 1959 and has been various shops somce then, lastly rugs. The proscenium was simple too, but removed some time in the 2000s, and only a ceiling of the lobby was left. Surprisingly there’s no good photos of the interior.
In 2021 an apartment project on the Austral site that would have just retained the facade got a permit – but in 2023-4 it was used for an immersive theatrical experience @lovelustlosttheshow – goes to show special places do attract special uses. It’s been empty since then I think, and the fire is ‘suspicious’ in that there were probably squatters in there. All photos Cinema Treasures, the Herald, ABC, heritage reports.
