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THE MANY FACES OF THE STATE

By Niall Maurici
Elizabeth Street extends, on its
unbowed journey, through the very
heart of North Hobart, Tasmania. Along
the way it is dotted with a collection of
restaurants, cafes and shops. Some are
old, in ageing, sandstone buildings.
Others are more modern structures.
One in particular stands out. In between
the Swan Street alleyway and a
sandstone office block is a respectable
brick building. The contours of its
façade edge up like steps to a large
overhanging sign that reads State
Cinema. The cinema’s appearance may
not allude to anything special, but a
glance at the collection of posters that
line the windows is the first suggestion
that this is no ordinary movie theatre.
There are no big budget Hollywood
blockbusters here. The names Closed for renovations, 1990.
‘Stallone’, ‘Jolie’, or ‘Pitt’ seldom
make an appearance. the belief of the upper classes was that Cowboy films were also shown in the
vagrancy and poverty were caused by Saturday matinee to attract school
The State Cinema has witnessed 3
‘individual character defects’, and as children to the cinema.
many significant turning points and
president of the Social Purity By 1920 the cinema was no longer
survived many changes, but through the
Committee, Emily Dobson attempted to a sustainable business and the premises
hard times and the good, this historic
rectify this. The committee called for became vacant.
moving picture house has remained one
strong censorship of moving pictures,
of a kind. The foundations of the In 1921 the building was purchased
for that was what they saw to be
Cinema were laid on the remains of by Leo Williams. Williams converted
1 corrupting the poor. The cinema was a
Badcock's Fuel Depot in 1913. Over the premises into the Broad B Billiard
cheap form of entertainment; even 1
the following months, construction Saloon. The theatre area was turned
those with lowest incomes could afford
continued, until eventually, in February into a gymnasium and boxing arena. It
to indulge in it. In 1916, a bill was
1914, the North Hobart Picture is believed that that the building
presented to parliament calling for a
Palace was opened. remained a saloon under a succesion of
ban of picture shows on a Sunday; 6
Alf Channell and Edward Morris, different owners for fourteen years.
Tasmania was the only state that had
brothers in-law and proprietors of the 4 In 1935, Hobart Lord Mayor J.J.
not yet outlawed this. The House of
new cinema, ran a steady program of Wignall opened a new cinema in the
Assembly voted down the bill, and the
silent films, capitalising on their building, with a new name - the
North Hobart Picture Palace lived to 7
popular Saturday matinee and Sunday Liberty Picture Theatre. The floor of
fight another day.
evening shows. The period leading up the cinema had been lowered, new seats
Famous silent era comics Charlie
to the First World War saw the installed and parts of the entrance
Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Jimmy
increasing popularity of cinema in sublet for shop space.
Finlayson and Ben Turpin were often
Australia. In Tasmania, films were first It was while the cinema was known
shown on the Picture Palace’s Pathé
shown on a portable projector and 8ft 5 as the Liberty, that a pivitol figure of
2 projector. Sometimes an orchestra
(2.4m.) screen, at the Town Hall. By the Tasmanian film industry became
would accompany the film, or, behind
1914, small cinemas, including the associated with it. Olaf ‘Ollie’ Jacobson
the stage, sound effects would be
North Hobart Picture Palace, had was a film pioneer. Along with George
created by banging wet mattresses and
sprung up all over the state. Nearly Bullock he built the first sound
rolling metal drums full of dried peas. 8
every town in Tasmania had its own projector in Tasmania, and throughout
Miss Rankin’s cinema candy store also
cinema. For all of those who enjoyed his lifetime, he worked in and managed
ran a profitable trade. Edward Morris’s
the new medium of entertainment, there many Tasmanian movie theatres.
son Edgar fondly remembered paying
were those who despised it as well. Jacobson was the projectionist at the
threepence to order a pie served at a
Picture shows on a Sunday were 5 Liberty for a brief period before he left
table. After the war ended, audience
fervently opposed by the church. to manage a number of cinemas around
numbers began to drop. The cinema’s
Catholic archbishop Patrick Delany Hobart. Jacobson would return to the
2 owners had to find new ways to attract
described them as “a vicious practice”. Liberty and the cinema would become
people to see their films. One solution
The unrelenting altruist Emily Dobson a family affair, stretching over five
was to run vaudeville variety shows.
supported Delany. During this period, decades.
6 2007 CINEMARECORD