Page 12 - CinemaRecord #21R.pdf

73. Woomelang - Victoria by Gerry Kennedy

The Memorial Hall is the third main hall built to service the small mallee town of Woomelang, situated on the
Sunraysia Highway, 385 kms. north-west of Melbourne, 200 kms. south of Mildura. District population is 250.

The first local hall was built in Brooke Stand it was burnt to the ground in February 1912, shortly after its opening.
Several other trading premises were also destroyed in this fire. The ladies of Woomelang formed an auxiliary to
raise funds to build a new hall in 1913. However, because of the 1914 drought and the First World War, it was not
until 1919 that a new weatherboard hall was completed on the site of the present Medical Centre in Proctor St.(1 )
In early 1928 the hall committee erected ticket boxes and a projection room over the front entrance to the hall. In
July 1928 tenders were called to erect dressing rooms and to paint the interior and exterior of the building(1)

The earliest reference to films being shown in the Woomelang Hall was on 10 November, 1923. The early
exhibitors were travelling picture showmen and the first on record were Morton Bros. They presented a pro-
gram including "Afraid to Fight, Cowpuncher's Comeback, Peg o' the Movies, and a New Film " Another exhibi-
tor Victory Pictures screened "Shaking Dice with Death and Shooting up the Movies" a fortnight later (1 ).

In the 1920's Hills and Holland's were the regular travelling exhibitors in both Lascelles and Woomelang. From
the late 1920's, Nulty Bros. from Ouyen, succeeded them and operated through to 1959. "It was the exception
to the rule if they got through the night without a breakdown, which would inevitably be greeted by ear-splitting
whistles and shrieks from the "youngsters", but no one seemed to mind. In the days of the silent films a pianist
was paid a pound a night ($2) to provide the atmosphere, with soft sweet music for the romantic scenes, fast
thunderous passages for the exciting chases, etc. Miss Celia Hogan, a music teacher in Woomelang, usually
accompanied the films here"(1 .1).

Up until1957 there was no reticulated electricity supply in Woomelang and the exhibitors had to bring portable
generators to the town. After the war Roy Wilcox acted as Nulty's assistant at Woomelang. Later Roy and Ron
Graham ran the business for Nulty. When Nulty decided to sell his operation the Woomelang Motion Picture
Co- Op. was formed. Community members purchased 10 pound ($20) debentures to the total of 600 pounds.
This was the amount Nulty was asking for the projection equipment and screen. Nulty ceased running the
business in February 1959.

Memorial Hall and R.S.L. Clubroom

The Co-Op intended to screen in order to raise funds for a badly needed new hall in the town. The Co-Op added
side panels to the existing screen to operate the Vista Vision format and later acquired a new Cinemascope
screen. Theatre seats were also acquired from the Moonee Ponds theatre (in Melbourne) which was being