Performing Arts History - Theatre
  Theatre 1

Performing Arts History
 Musical Theatre
Theatre
Dance
Music
Eisteddfod
 1869  Townsville's 1st Theatre Royal opened 7th July 1869       (ref: P.138 "Pattern of Pubs")
                                  opened 19th Aug 1869   (ref: P.85 "Gateway to a Golden Land")
 Located next to The Commercial Hotel (now Lang's Hotel, Flinders St East)
 Proprietor  Mr Bridge
 Manager  Mr Thomas Fawcett  (well known local actor)

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1869  The Exchange Hotel Assembly Rooms (pictured at right) was thought to be one of the first 'theatres' in Townsville and was thought to be located originally in Denham St. 
Exchange Assembly Rooms believed opened 17th July 1869
Also known as "Poole's Assembly Rooms"
Location  Flinders St (on site of present Exchange Hotel)
Proprietor   Mrs Poole 

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1874   Olympic Theatre opened attached to the Denham St Façade of the then Townsville Hotel.
Location on the corner of Denham St & Flinders St on the site of the present National Mutual Building. By 1878 it had become a restaurant.
Proprietor:  Augustus (A.F.) Low

Photo  c.1875 - Jubilee Carnival Program 1913  Ref: "A Pattern of Pubs" – B.Gibson-Wilde
 
1877  The first publicly owned performing arts centre in Townsville was attached to the rear of the original School of Arts in Cleveland Terrace (the old Supreme Court). Designed to hold an audience of a thousand people, it opened in 1877 with a grand Ethiopian Entertainment by the Townsville Orpheus Glee Club.
 
1891  27th May 1891   School of Arts with Her Majesty's Theatre opened
The building with the rounded (barrel-vaulted) roof is Her Majesty's Theatre

Photo: T.B. 19/8/96   from the W.J.Laurie Collection courtesy of the JCU History & Politics Department
 
During the succeeding years, amateur productions increased in number as groups of local performers formed a range of organisations. Within a decade, Townsville fostered a Music Union, the Town Band, the Townsville Liedertafel, the Garrick Dramatic Company and the Townsville Philharmonic Society.
 
1900   In November 1900, the new Theatre Royal was opened by the Governor of Queensland, Lord Lamington.
 
As Townsville continued to develop into a vibrant and cosmopolitan city with its busy port, strategically situated on the major shipping lines across the world and the Australian east coast, it also played host to an interesting range of international and national performers.
 
1905   At the Theatre Royal in 1905, in a performance by students of the local West End State School, local resident Gladys Moncrieff took a leading role in the Pirates of Penzance. It was the first appearance in light opera of a singer destined to become one of Australia’s most popular music stars.
 


1910  In 1910 Thomas Lowth and Associates opened Townsville’s first purpose built cinema.

Natural disasters and international conflicts have had their effect on the City’s cultural buildings and community organisations. While Townsville struggled in the immediate aftermath of World War Two to rebuild its cultural infrastructure, the renaissance of cultural activity emerged in the 1960s around music, dance and the performing arts.  

 
1978  Planning for a new air-conditioned Civic Theatre commenced in the 1960s and on 31 March 1978, the new theatre opened with a variety concert of local performers, which then led to the formation of professional and community based theatre companies, such as New Moon, Tropic Line, North Queensland Opera and Music Theatre Group, Hard Sun and the reformation of the One Act Play Festival.