150-2 ELIZABETH ST, 1

Australian Hall

150-2 Elizabeth St Sydney

150-2 ELIZABETH ST, SYDNEY HISTORY

Knights of the Southern Cross, a Statement of Significance Catholic fraternal lay group linked with the Catholic Right and,

The Australian Hall holds social  William Ferguson ultimately with the split in the significance for at least three  Tom Foster Labor Party in the 1950s. groups of people.  The building was initially built to  Helen Grosvenor Firstly, the building holds social be used as a meeting place for  Jack Johnson significance for the Aboriginal cultural and social activities and People for its role in the 1938  Jack Kinchela was continuously used for these "Day of Mourning" meeting.  Bert Marr events including cinema and  Pastor Doug Nicholls theatre. It is a rare example of a This event was the first protest by  Henry Noble purpose built building in Sydney Aboriginal people for equal  continuously used for its initial opportunities within Australian  Tom Pecham purpose. Society. It was attended by  Frank Roberts approximately 100 people of  The building holds architectural Aboriginal Blood and was the significance as it still contains beginning of the contemporary Secondly, it holds significance for some examples of original Aboriginal Political Movement. the German and Greek-Cypriot architecture. It is a good example Among those who contributed communities in Sydney as it of the Federation Romanesque significantly to the movement allowed visitors and migrants to style. The interior also contains generally and particularly to the enjoy cultural and social events. examples of certain features that event in Hall were: The building also has an could date from the original  Mrs Ardler association with Australian construction and also has features  J Connelly national and political history in its from each of the renovations  William Cooper ownership (1920-79) by the since. 150-2 ELIZABETH ST, SYDNEY 2

The Nithsdale Street Facade alterations, some wall sections walling is rendered and painted. appear to be original. The two windows at the second floor have segmental arched face Ground Floor brick heads. Two windows behind

the Mandolin cinema screen and The main entry to the former part of the opening which was Cyprus-Hellene Club opens into a probably a fire exit or receiving foyer and reception office. The dock have been bricked up. major part of the ground floor is

occupied by a large bar/club with The roof is corrugated asbestos games area and a above the western part of the restaurant/auditorium with a small Description building and corrugated iron stage and dance floor. Also above the hall. located on this floor is a kitchen,

Designer/Maker: G.L. Grant cool room, toilets, storeroom and Builder/Maker: J. Ptolemy Interior an exit passage to Nithsdale Street. Construction Year: 1912 The basement extends for half the The club premises were Exterior depth of the building. The ground completely refitted in the mid- along the northern and southern 1980s and most of the finishes The building was constructed on site boundaries is un-excavated at date from this latest alteration. the full site area, with three basement level. Original elements include the storeys above ground plus a plastered and painted side walls, basement. It has facades to The ground and first floors extend recessed alcoves and original Elizabeth Street and Nithsdale the full depth of the site with the ceiling panels. Street. former Australian Hall occupying the rear half of the first floor. The main spaces on the ground The Elizabeth Street facade has a Main access to the hall is from floor have carpeted floors while suspended steel awning with its Elizabeth Street. The second floor the cinema entrance foyer features fabric still intact. The facade has extends for half the depth of the black and white lino tile flooring, the characteristics of Federation site. papered wall and a decorative Free Style architecture. In plastered ceiling with cornice and consistency with the style, it Two isolated stairs and one lift brackets. features two contrasting materials, provide access to all levels of the face brick and rusticated building. The lift dates from the First Floor 1960s alteration. The stair has sandstone. The sandstone has all terrazzo steps. The other fire stair, been painted and the brick left The front part of the first floor located in the former light-well, unpainted. comprises the board room, was constructed in the mid-1980s snooker room, bar area, a small and has tiled steps. There are three entrances. The kitchen and toilets. Original cinema entrance has marble steps elements include the surviving and timber floors which are Basement timber floor structure, the arched glazed. The club entrance has and square timber windows to terrazzo steps with an aluminium The basement comprises of store Elizabeth Street and joinery such edge strip. The club doors are of rooms, cool rooms and toilets. as frames, shashes, architraves and solid timber. The fire exit, Cool rooms and store rooms have surviving skirtings. constructed during the 1980s, has cement floors and cement white terrazzo steps and a standard rendered walls. Although the The rear part of the first floor is fire door. spatial arrangement and much of occupied by the Mandolin the visible fabric date from later Cinema, the former Australian 150-2 ELIZABETH ST, SYDNEY 3

Hall. The cinema is accessible by building with twelve rooms and a a narrow foyer which is adjacent slate roof. to the northern wall of the building. The property was sold to William Chandler Eldridge in March 1885. The first floor cinema foyer and amenities retained much of their The property was purchased by original features such as the representatives of the German original floor structure, marble Concordia Club on 14 June 1905. stair and billboard frames. The The block bounded by Elizabeth, ceiling, cornice frieze and ceiling Nithsdale, Goulburn and roses appear to be original too. History Liverpool streets was the focus of the German Community in The former dance hall, which was The land was originally part of Sydney. The Concordia Club adapted to the use as a theatre in two grants. The Elizabeth Street (founded in 1883) was one of a 1961 and to the cinema use in end of the present property was number of German cultural and 1974, retains much of its original issued to John Wylde on 30 June social organisations that emerged fabrics. These are the wall fabric 1823 and the Nithsdale Street as German immigration and to the external walls, the surviving portion was part of a grant to economic activity expanded. original wall detailing such as the Thomas McVitie on 19 October blind arches and remaining wall 1831. 1905 saw the erection of a hall and decoration, hidden behind false club premises. The foundation walling and the suspended ceiling. First Occupancy: stone now located at 231 Other original elements include Stanmore Rd, Stanmore carries the the timber floor structure, date 29 July 1905. windows in the rear wall, Western Portion, Fronting mouldings, skirtings and Elizabeth Street With the outbreak of the plague in architraves. However, nothing The Rocks in 1900 there were remains of the original stage. Wylde built a house on his land calls for reform in Sydney. In facing what is today Liverpool St. 1908 there was the appointment of Second Floor The land was sold in 1829 to the a Royal Commission for the improvement of the City of Sergerson brothers and then re- Sydney and its Suburbs. The The second floor is occupied by a sold it to John Watson on 18 commission recommended the large function room, toilets at the September 1858. widening of Elizabeth Street. rear, a kitchen and an unused board room along the northern In 1856 a map of Sydney sketched Prior to the necessary demolition, boundary wall. Surviving original by Edward Burrow shows only a Milton Kent took photographs of fabric includes the timber floor fence around a property and no the property. Plans were prepared structure, original wall surfaces sign of the original house built by by G.L. Grant for the replacement along the southern and northern Wylde. of the German Club Concordia walls, timber windows, window and they were approved on 5 joinery, architraves and skirtings. An 1865 Trigonometrical Survey December 1910. The acoustic tiled suspended map shows a building and ceiling above the board room is outhouses on this portion of the ruined. Similarly to the first floor, site. The house was probably built Eastern Portion, Fronting the finishes and fit out of the around 1865 - because the name of Nithsdale Street toilets dates from an earlier John Watson first appears in the (1970s) alteration. Sands Directory in 1866. The Thomas McVitie arrived in house was described in the rates in 1816. When he died assessment books as 3-storey in 1833 his property was 150-2 ELIZABETH ST, SYDNEY 4

subdivided but only sold once his It is assumed that this second stage radio broadcasts from radio station widow died in 1875. was completed based on mutual 2UE. Also, the state lotteries were trust between the State and drawn each weekday morning in Two houses were built on this Concordia. This building would be Australian hall between 1933 and particular grant in the early years. known as Australian Hall. the 1940s. A three-storey mansion fronted Hyde Park and was probably built The club was influential to the 26th January 1938 - in the early 1830s. The other large German community in house was built on the southern Sydney and was the focal point for "Day of Mourning" half of the grant. Nithsdale St is local and visiting Germans. named after this Cottage 26 January 1938 was the 150th (Nithsdale Cottage) and was built In May 1915 the Club along with anniversary of the landing of the around the 1840s. Described in the several other German institutions . Australian Hall was 1845 rates assessment records, it was closed by the authorities as used by the Australian Aborigines' appears to have been a stone part of war time security and League and the NSE Aborigines' building with 12 rooms on three between 1917-1921, the building Progressive Association for the floors. These properties also was occupied by the Universal purpose of a meeting of featured a stable and coach house. Church with a cafe opened on the Aborigines known as the "Day of ground floor. Mourning" conference. The block continued as a subdivision until 1910 when the Knights of the The conference was the first Council resumed the block. national Aboriginal civil rights Southern Cross gathering, bringing together The Council sold this land to the around 100 Aboriginal men and German Club Concordia on 11 Following the war, the German women from all over New South February 1913. Concordia Club met in 1920 and Wales, and . found they could not pay back Erection of the interest on the large overdraft. The Although in 1938 the conference premises were sold to the brought about little change, it was German Concordia Southern Cross Hall Ltd, a a turning point in the evolution of Club, 1912 company of the Knights of the a national struggle by Aboriginal Southern Cross (KSC). people to gain full citizens’ rights.

According to the centenary history The KSC promoted Catholic The building is very important to of the Concordia Club, the new employment prospects, assisted the Aboriginal community's sense building at 150-152 Elizabeth major church functions and of its history and their struggle for Street was completed and maintained a large network of social justice. occupied by March 11, 1912. parish branches.

Alterations to the building were The buildings had rooms to be The Phillip Theatre made to accommodate an used for social functions and also additional entry and a more 1961-1974 encased a committee room, functional use of large room bedrooms, bathrooms, stewards previously built for the bar and The next significant change to the quarters, banquet room, and an billiards. site on Elizabeth Street was the area for a bar and billiards. Phillip St theatre. It remodelled

The hall on the property officially the interior of the building to turn A building on the Nithsdale had its name changed to it into a theatre capable of seating property was constructed Australian Hall in 1923 and it was 453 with a raised area at the back sometime toward the end of 1911, a site for a wide range of popular to give a balcony effect. although the property was not sold activities at the time including back to the Concordia until 1913. dancing, cinema shows and live The Phillip Theatre broke away 150-2 ELIZABETH ST, SYDNEY 5

from traditional Australian Theatre and became a significant Similarly to previous owners, the force in Australian theatrical Cyprus-Hellene Club used the history. premises for their cultural and social activities while still sub- The Cinema 1974 letting the old hall, which continued as a cinema with

various owners and names until In the early 1970s the theatre was 1988. the only exclusively live theatre remaining in the city, but it was Over the years, the building hard to find shows suitable for a accommodated a restaurant, dining venue of its size. and community facilities and the

interior of the building was altered The site became the Rivoli on a number of occasions. Cinema in 1974.

Changes were made to the Labor Party auditorium and foyer to make it Conferences more of a cinema rather than a live theatre venue. The earlier building was the site of

the first national conference of the With Haymarket being identified Australian Federal Labor Party, with the Chinese community, the called the "Inter-Colonial Rivoli was let to Chinese interests Conference of Labour" held in who reopened it in 1976 as the January 1900. The conference Mandolin Cinema, showing formally established a federal Chinese language films. party and platform, and adopted

the "maintenance of a White The Cyprus-Hellene Australia" and the "total exclusion Club of coloured and other undesireable races" as the first plank in the new

federal party's "fighting platform" In 1979 the Knights of the and its "general platform". Southern Cross sold the building to the Cyprus-Hellene Club Ltd. It In 1965, the current building was was a Greek organisation offering the site of the 26th national cultural and social links for its conference of the Australian Labor members. The club was, and still Party when it abolished the White is, instrumental in promoting and Australia policy from its platform. maintaining the Cypriot culture in Australia.

The Club have been directly involved with the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia in the support of charitable organisations, particularly those associated with the Greek Welfare Centre. The Cyprus Club owned the property until 1998.