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THU
THURSDAY 23 FEBRUARY:RSDAY 23 FEBRUARY: The rest of the morning was spent working our way up the High
THURSDAY 23 FEBRUARY:THURSDAY 23 FEBRUARY:
SU
Northcote Theatre Northcote Theatre
SUBURBAN TRAMS MORNIBURBAN TRAMS MORNING NG – –– – ARTS IN THE AFTERNOON ARTS IN THE AFTERNOON Street. Our first photo stop was the Northcote Theatre Northcote Theatre (1912-1960)
SUBURBAN TRAMS MORNISUBURBAN TRAMS MORNINGNG ARTS IN THE AFTERNOON ARTS IN THE AFTERNOON
WestgarthWestgarth
Our final full day in Melbourne and we travelled to the WestgarthWestgarth with a very similar style façade to the WestgarthWestgarth and now the Regent
WestgarthWestgarth
Plaza Cinema Plaza Cinema
Th
Theatreeatre, Northcote. This is the oldest purpose-built cinema operat- Reception Hall. Next was the Plaza Cinema Plaza Cinema (1934-1959), now the
TheatreTheatre
ing in Melbourne and opened in 1921 with 1,444 seats. The façade Elysée Reception & Conference Centre, painted a vivid pink colour.
Regent TheatreRegent Theatre
is based on a Renaissance Palazzo with three horizontal sections, a This was followed by the Regent TheatreRegent Theatre Thornbury (1926-1967)
street level base, the main central section and a parapet. The thea- with a pale and dark blue façade with a scene of a chariot and two
tre name is in raised lettering on a smooth rendered frieze as well horses, partly obscured by the Midas Reception Hall advertising fin.
as in the vertical stained-glass sign – WESTGARTH PICTURES. The
foyer has a terrazzo floor with diamond patterns and the ceiling con-
tains painted glass light fittings and a central staircase up to the
circle foyer. In the auditorium, the lighting in the ceiling and side
walls were in the form of coloured veiled lanterns. The red curtain is
lit by up-lighters and the proscenium and side columns are lit up in a
rainbow pattern. Up in the circle, the seats at the front are new-ish
with plenty of legroom, while those at the back are older with a lot
less legroom. In the bio-box we saw two Vic 8 projectors and a Hylite
carbon arc slide projector.

Regent Thornbury
RegentRegent
Regent
A short walk and we were outside the Rio CinemaRio Cinema Thornbury (1922-
Rio CinemaRio Cinema
1926) now a nightclub and then the Planet CinemaPlanet Cinema Preston (1939-
Planet CinemaPlanet Cinema
1959) now a motor accessories store and workshop. A tram took us
WestgarthWestgarth
Lyric CinemaLyric Cinema
back, past the WestgarthWestgarth, to the Lyric CinemaLyric Cinema Fitzroy (1922-1952),
which is now a furniture store. Inside we could see a painted white
screen on the back wall and part of the decorative proscenium
around it with S&T (for Star Theatre) intertwined at the top. Our last
stop for the morning was the Austral TheatreAustral Theatre Collingwood (1922-
Austral TheatreAustral Theatre
1964) now a flooring showroom. In a quick visit inside, we saw the
Westgarth TheatreWestgarth Theatre 1950s light fittings hanging from the ceiling and the intact decora-
Westgarth
Westgarth Theatre Theatre Northcote
tion on the front of the balcony.
From Michael Protopapa and Michael Yiannoudes, two of the thea- After lunch we visited the Victorian Performing Arts Centre, which
George FairfaxGeorge Fairfax
tre managers, we learned that in the 1970s this was a very popular opened in 1984 containing three theatres, the George FairfaxGeorge Fairfax, the
Hamer Concert HallHamer Concert Hall
Pl
PlayhousePlayhouse
StateState
Greek film cinema, with packed shows at weekends, and that it has Playhouseayhouse and the StateState as well as the Hamer Concert HallHamer Concert Hall. Our tour
Hamer HallHamer Hall
been showing The Blues Brothers regularly for about 20 years. It is took us to the Hamer HallHamer Hall, where we got a chance to walk onto the
now owned by Palace Pictures who have plans to convert the circle stage and look out at the 2,700 seats. It has a screen above the
into two screens, thus turning one of Melbourne’s last two single stage and a bio-box at the back of the auditorium which was re-
screen theatres into a triple. We were glad to have had the chance cently used to show TV clips during a live show by The Goodies. We
Playhouse TheatrePlayhouse Theatre
Playhouse Theatre
to see this unique theatre before this happened. got a glimpse inside the Playhouse Theatre during rehearsals as well
as going backstage to look at the vast hangar area and the lift, re-
quired to get all the scenery from street level down to stage level.
After the tour, Ian Williams thanked Ken for all his hard work in put-
ting together this leg of the trip, and presented him with a copy of
the History of the Arts Centre and Ken thanked everyone who had
helped him with cinema information. All that was left to do was to
prepare for the train journey to Sydney on Friday, and to remember
all the incredible places we had seen in the wonderful city of Mel-
bourne.
FRIDAY 24 FEBRUARY:AY 24 FEBRUARY:
FRID
FRIDAY 24 FEBRUARY:FRIDAY 24 FEBRUARY:
TRAIN JOURNEY, MELBOAIN JOURNEY, MELBOURNE TO SYDNEYURNE TO SYDNEY
TR
TRAIN JOURNEY, MELBOTRAIN JOURNEY, MELBOURNE TO SYDNEYURNE TO SYDNEY
We had got used to the idea of early starts with most of the days so
far commencing around 8am. Today we had to be checked out and
leave our hotel at 6:30am to get to Melbourne’s Southern Cross
(Spencer Street) station in order to check in our baggage at 7am.
After a quick break for breakfast, we joined the Countrylink XPT train
for the almost 12 hour trip north east to Sydney and second stage of
our amazing visit to Australia – to be continued in the next Bulletin.
Digital photography © 2006
Westgarth Theatre Theatre auditorium
Westgarth TheatreWestgarth Theatre
Westgarth by Kevin Gooding, Richard Norman and Neville C Taylor
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