Page 28 - CinemaRecord #83

CUMMINS THEATRE
MERREDIN WA.
By Ivan Maguire

he town of Merredin is located in the Cummins' daughter, Alice, was an Coolgardie, which was built in 1897. The
Twheat belt of Western Australia, accomplished cellist; so the family was theatre was dismantled and transported by
approximately 230km east of Perth, on the passionate about the performing arts, and train the 300km to Merredin.
Great Eastern Highway. recognised the need for a designated artistic
venue in Merredin. The walls of the original theatre were made of
The Cummins Theatre is one of the oldest timber, and the Department of Public Works
buildings in Merredin, and has a rich and The construction of Cummins Theatre, as we deemed the reconstruction of these wooden
fascinating history. The Theatre owes its know it today, began in the late 1920s. It was walls inappropriate, demanding that if the
existence in Merredin to James Hurtle built on the east side of Bates St, between theatre were to be rebuilt, it would need to be
Cummins, a promonent businessman who was Coronation and Mitchell Sts. of brick construction.
the Mayor of Kalgoorlie and owner of both
the Merredin and Kalgoorlie breweries. Cummins purchased the Tivoli Theatre in In order to secure enough bricks to rebuild the
theatre, Cummins purchased a number of
disused gold rush buildings and de-licensed
hotels in Coolgardie. He then had the buildings
demolished, and transported the bricks to
Merredin where they were used to construct
the walls of the new theatre. These are the very
same bricks which are here today, and it is
rumoured that, due to their gold rush
beginnings, they contain three penny-weights
(approximately 5 grams) of gold to the tonne!

The rest of the components of the original
1897 Tivoli Theatre were utilised in the
construction. These included the pressed metal
ceiling, the proscenium arch of the stage, the
red tiered seating and the fly tower. The fly
tower was made from imported Oregon timber
and utilised the original natural hemp fibre
ropes.
The Cummins Theatre, named after the man
who built it, opened its doors to the Merredin
community on 10 October 1928.
The theatre could seat 700 on the lower level,
and 300 in the circle, and was equipped with
a Krupp-Ernemann projector and with
Above: The Cummins today. Below: Centrex projector with Strong xenon lamp house. auditorium lighting capable of being dimmed
just like the big city theatres.
The Cummins Theatre is built in the
Edwardian style. It has also been loosely
labelled ‘Kalgoorlie Art Deco’, and has been
recognised and acknowledged by the Art Deco
Society of Western Australia. The wall
mounted decorative light features were
considered state of the art due to their dimming
ability at the time of their installation.

The Cummins Theatre was one of the first
Australian theatres to be equipped with sound
projection for ‘talking’ pictures. In fact, it was
the second in Western Australia, and the fifth
in the entire Commonwealth to show pictures
with sound.

Their first talkies were screened 4 November
1929, and these were so successful that they
increased screenings from three to five nights
each week until the novelty wore off.

28 CINEMARECORD # 83