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BEGA’S CINEMA STORIES

Adapted from “Screens and the Shire”

A Regional Historical Study By Michelle Gaddes

icture theatres have peppered the NSW Far
PSouth Coast landscape since the early
1900s. In 1908, parts of the Bega community
in NSW assembled to watch early
cinematographs at the local School of Arts
and, by 1935, many more people continued to
gather at three major theatres in Bega.

Movie houses in Bega have not only been
institutions for viewing film, but have also
served as sites for balls, war benefits, charity
and fundraising drives, talent quests, live
bands, roller rinks and even infamously homes
for possums!

But what about the leisure activity of cinema
going? Where are the cinemas? The nearest
picture theatres to Bega today are located in Bega School of Arts c. 1878 - Mitchell Library (Best available image)
Merimbula, Narooma and Canberra. These
centres are a significant distance from Bega. Bega School of Arts and Allert’s Picture The Bega Picture Palace
A cultural void has existed in Bega since Theatre
around the early 1990s, when the King’s Three days after opening on 11 November
Theatre finally closed and has sat silently In 1910, the Bega School of Arts was 1911, Allert’s became known as the Bega
since. The exhibition requirements by major advertised in The Bega Standard newspaper Picture Palace. The opening of the theatre was
film distributors, and the onset of videos and with Harry Chapman showing “electric described as the “talk of the town” and
home entertainment systems, contributed to pictures and vaudeville”. The advertisement “everyone [was] astonished”. The Bega
the cessation of a once popular pastime. announced programs which were shown on Picture Palace was described by The Bega
Wednesday and Thursday nights, costing 1/- Standard in 1911:
Bega’s Cinema Stories and 2/- (10 cents and 20 cents). Chapman also
claimed to be the “sole manager”. “Bega’s Picture Palace possesses equipment
Picture theatres are now a dormant feature in the equal to anything in the State, and the show
the town. However, in the past, Bega’s picture The second reference to the Bega School of which will be put on nightly with a complete
theatres were a rich source of social activity Arts showing films suggests that in 1911 there change of program each Saturday night
and bustling sites for community gatherings were “two moving picture shows operating” provides a cheap form of entertainment. The
and events. and one belonged to Harold F. Allert. Palace is easy of access from the street,
patrons having neither steps nor stairs to
There were three main picture theatres in Bega: Allert’s Picture Theatre may be found negotiate, and the enclosure is brilliantly
the Picture Palace which later became the advertised in the Bega Standard on lighted with electricity”.
Lyric Theatre, the Star Theatre and the 8 November 1911, with Allert’s grand opening
King’s Theatre. occurring on this day and films obtained by The Palace seated about 600 patrons who paid
arrangement with Spencer’s Theatrescope 3/- for a chair, 6d for the gallery and 3d to sit
Company in Sydney. in the pit. The theatre was located in Carp
Street on the now vacant block of land next to
The first film featured at Allert’s was Living Bloomfield’s Solicitors. In an article from the
London of To-Day [sic] and it began at eight Bega District News, 1946, the Palace was
o’clock. Admission
was shown at two
prices, 1/- and 6d (10
cents and 5 cents).

Allert’s was
described as being
“open every night of
the week – weather
and other
c i r c u m s t a n c e s
permitting”. The
weather was a factor
to be considered
because Allert’s was
an open-air theatre in
the beginning.

6 CINEMARECORD # 88