Page 21 - CinemaRecord Edition 3-2003 #41

Prior to the war they were importing
German projectors but swapped to
promoting the French Pathe 1913
model, in advertisements in Australian
(5)
Kinematograph Journal in 1914.
Interestingly, their advertisements often
mentioned the ‘New, Australian 1914
model’- possibly the Garvie machine in
the planning stages.
It is understood that Garvie
subsequently received an order from
Australasian for 300 machines! These
were branded the New Austral
projector. Even by today’s standards,
these quantities seem very large,
especially considering the number of
imported projectors already in the
country! On the other hand, many of
the existing machines were quite basic,
some still using ‘beater’ movements for
Wondergraph Hindley Street 1913. This sylvan stage setting to cover the screen was
film frame advancement, so there was
probably still in place when Garvie projectors were installed. Ross Thorne Collection
quite an exploitable market for a good
quality, reliable machine.
The Garvie advertisement in the
South Australian Institutes Journal of
October 1922 claimed ‘over 450 picture
machines had been supplied throughout
Australia’, seems to confirm the
magnitude of his sales. A report in the
Omaru Times (New Zealand) states that
in the five years to 1920, 1,000
machines were manufactured by a
workforce reaching 20 men.
Following WWI, Australasian Films
mainly promoted American projectors,
so David Garvie sold direct to theatres
and showmen. He advertised for over
twelve months on the back cover of the
South Australian Institutes Journal
where he claimed ‘over 60% of the
projectors in use in the State (South
Australia) are Garvie Projectors as are
93% of those in the Adelaide
Metropolitan Area’ - many probably
under New Austral or Imperia label!
After Garvie dropped his
advertisement from the Institute
Journal, it was replaced from July 1924
by the Pathe Teaching Model Projector
inserted by Thomas’ Cinema and
Lantern Supply Store of Hindmarsh
Square Adelaide, with the statement
that ‘over 50,000 sold’ - fifty times
more than the local manufacturer could
possibly claim!
I have seen machines with serial
numbers in excess of 2,100. As most
manufactures would not start at serial
number one, I assume that the ‘over
The Ernemann Imperator, the inspiration for the Garvie Imperia.
1000’ figure is correct.
Australian Kinematograph Journal, March 1914

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