Page 27 - CR-94

by Earl Martell

uilt in just seven
Bweeks in 1867 from
locally sourced hardwood
for the pending visit to
Ballarat of Prince Alfred,
the Royal Prince Alfred
Hall was the largest hall
yet built in Victoria with
an official seating
capacity of 2,300 but with
the claim it could
accommodate 7000!
Designed by local
architect, Henry Richards
Caselli, who had earlier
minor success on the
Ballarat gold fields after
arriving in Geelong from
Cornwall in England, the
Alfred Hall was built in
East Ballarat in Grenville
Street, straddling the
Yarrawee Creek (which
later came in handy as
there was a trap door in
the floor of the hall from which rubbish could scenes of Ballarat in the newsreels and these In April 1932, at the height of the Great
be swept into the creek - very environmentally were shown Australia wide. Alfred Hall Depression, the Alfred Hall became a relief
friendly back then). audiences loved it, especially when they were centre for Ballarat and following the fire that
able to cast a vote in the local beauty pageant destroyed the Coliseum in 1936, the Royal
Until the Academy of Music (Her Majesty’s which featured 36 Ballarat girls under the age South Street Eisteddfods moved back there.
Theatre) opened in 1875, Alfred Hall was of 12! It was screened for three weeks and won
used for dramatic and lyric productions as by a Miss Elsie Talmage. By 1939, the Alfred Hall had become run
well as for meetings and lectures. From 1898 down, with the Health Department
until 1908, when the Coliseum Theatre was Australian films were the most popular, and condemning the building and demanding that
opened, it was also used for the annual Royal the profits made by Pathé resulted in the hall it be brought up to standard. In response, the
South Street Eisteddfod. showing an £800 rental surplus in under three Mayor of Ballarat promised a new “Civic
years and that paid for a well overdue re- Hall” would be built, but World War II put a
In 1909, Pathé Pictures started screening silent painting of the building. stop to that, and so the old hall was renovated
films on a regular basis at the Alfred Hall. The following an appeal to raise the funds, but it
program was changed twice a week with Pathé Sound was never installed at the Alfred Hall; still remained “dated”.
including Australian newsreels on the bill. The they stopped showing silent films there in the
Ballarat City Council paid Pathé £20 to feature 1920s. Several attempts were made to destroy the
Alfred Hall. In November 1940, the Horsham
Times reported that two small bombs were
thrown into the hall, causing damage to the
flooring, whilst in November 1953 an arson
attack damaged one room on the south side of
the building.
On 20 August 1956, the day of the opening of
Ballarat’s new Civic Hall in Mair Street, the
Mayor of Ballarat closed and locked the doors
of the Alfred Hall for the very last time,
describing the “dear old Alfred as tired and
dilapidated.” The building was demolished
not long after. All that remains now is the
“Alfred Walk” which runs between the Bridge
Street Mall and Curtiss Street, not far from
where the hall once stood. The site is now
occupied by a Big W store. ✶

Credits:
Back issues of the Ballarat Courier.
Royal South Street Society’s ‘First One Hundred
Years’.

CINEMARECORD # 94 27