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THE ASTOR SURAT, QLD. Mike Trickett

n common with many small communities, Surat, 450 km west of equipment, particularly after the advent of talkies, extensions and
IBrisbane, was established as a service township for the local area. The improvements to picture theatres were often made piecemeal as demand
site was selected in 1849 by surveyor James Burrowes for a township grew and money became available. The Astor Theatre, extended in
on the Balonne River. He called the township Surat, after his former home stages, provides a good illustration of this process.
in Madras, India. The main street, on which the theatre is situated, carries
his name. The first films shown at Surat were silent with piano accompaniment, a
generator providing power for the projector. Bill McKay Senior was the
Surat Pictures Limited was formed in 1925 when Mr. W Kitson sought first proprietor and ran the Astor until the 1930s, when it passed to Geoff
building approval for the construction of a picture theatre in the main Armstrong. Between 1938 and 1940 a Mrs. Crump leased it. It was
street. This was an open-air theatre comprising an earth-floored enclosure, operated during the Second World War by G O and R D Armstrong and
a canvas screen at the rear and a shallow building along the street frontage was acquired in 1945 by E J and V M Aldridge who ran it as a family
containing a foyer with a projection booth above it. This type of structure business, with their son acting as the projectionist.
was the cheapest and simplest kind of purpose built film venue and was
not uncommon at the time in the warmer parts of Australia, though many Country picture theatres provided an important service to people in the
of them were later roofed over. surrounding area. Coming into town for a night at the pictures provided
good family entertainment, a venue for courtship and an opportunity for
As Surat Pictures, open air. 1920s. Image: SLQ. people of all ages to meet. Picture theatres showed feature films,
newsreels, and cartoons and were often also used for live shows and
special events. They provided a stimulus for the imagination and a relief
from isolation and anxiety, particularly in the difficult years of
the Depression and of World War II. They were a link with the wider
community in Australia and with contemporary American culture as
presented by Hollywood. For all these reasons, picture going enjoyed
widespread popularity throughout rural Queensland between the 1920s
and 1950s.

The auditorium 1990s. Image: Thom Blake

The growing popularity of films led to the construction of many open-air
theatres or simple shed-like buildings as permanent venues for showing
film. Although theatre chains usually owned the large "picture palaces"
in cities, most small picture theatres in Queensland were independently
owned and Queensland eventually had more independently owned
theatres than any other state in Australia. These small ventures, frequently
family owned, did not have the capital to build lavish premises, nor did
they have a large client base in country areas and might screen movies
only once or twice a week. Having invested in expensive projection

14 CINEMARECORD # 100