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97. ROYAL PRINCESS THEATRE BENDIGO by Fred Page

Royal Princess Theatre
(Courtesy of Bendigo & District Historical Society)

Opened on 31 August 1874, the Royal Princess was a much Gold was the life blood of the town and the dividends paid
needed facility for theatrical activity. by the mines enabled local shareholders to enjoy a high
The theatre cost pounds 12,000 to build and was on a scale standard of living in the last quarter of the nineteenth cen-
to rival capital city theatres being of three levels and able tury. Examples: New Chum United fl capital pounds 1,475
to accommodate 2000 theatregoers. ( I) paid dividends of pounds 64,900, Garden Gully ii capital
pounds 21,646 paid dividends of pounds 880,225, North
Sandhurst, as Benctigo was known until 190 I, was noth- Shenandoah u capital pounds I ,800 paid dividends of
ing more than the locality of large sheep stations until pounds 34.500. There were many more generating like
gold was discovered in 1851. results. (2)

By 1855 gold diggers, troops and traders were organising As well as the Royal Princess, that wealth was displayed
theatrical petformances held in tents and the saloons at- in many of the public and private buildings of the period,
tached to the large hotels. Among the organisations per- many of which can be seen today, but unfottunately not
forming were the Sandhurst Amateur Dramatic Club, the the theatre. (3)
Philanthropic Dramatic Club, the Pickwick Club and the
Volunteer Rifles Dramatic Club. (I) Tenders for the Royal Princess were called on 3 December
1873. It was designed by William Charles Vahland ( 1828-
Among the venues they used were St. James' Hall, Lyceum 1915) a local architect using Melbourne architect George
Theatre (site of Bendigo Advertiser office in Pall Mall), Johnson (architect of Melbourne's Prince of Wales Opera
Theatre Royal (on the site of a hotel that preceded the House, site of later Tivoli Theatre in Bourke Street) as a
Shamrock (corner of Pall Mall & Williamson Street) and consultant. (4)
the original Princess Theatre located in the Criterion Ho-
tel in Market Square. (l) The site was on the corner of View and McKenzie Streets
on a block measuring 135 ft in View Street by 80 ft in

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