ELITE PICTURE GARDENS (Wooloowin, Brisbane)

AUSTRALIAN VARIETY THEATRE ARCHIVE: RESEARCH NOTES See last page for citation, copyright and last updated details.

aka Elite Pictures • Elite Picture Pavilion

(1913- 1923) Dixon Street (near Wooloowin Railway Station).

Possibly owned and operated by William H. Healy from its opening in 1913 until its eventual sale in 1923, the Elite Picture Gardens was situated in a largely residential area. The open-air venue's big drawcard as a location, however, was its close proximity to Wooloowin railway station and its relatively short distance to the Lutwyche Road tramline. Although few details regarding the engagement of variety performers have been located to date, due in large part to its limited advertising and subsequent newspaper coverage, there is evidence available which suggests that this occurred at various times, and possibly on a more regular basis. The performances are believed to mostly involved Brisbane amateurs (or local residents) who availed themselves of the opportunity to appear as between films entertainers. No recognised professional entertainers have yet been linked to the picture house. Healy also allowed the Picture Gardens to be used for benefits and patriotic concerts, which often comprised films, live performers and music - invariably performed by the house band (or "orchestra"). The business was acquired by Wooloowin Amusements Ltd, possibly in early 1923. The company soon afterwards demolished the building and erected a new picture house its place.

► See also: Royal Picture Theatre (Wooloowin)

General location of the Elite Picture Gardens in Wooloowin train station Dickson Street

Map source: Harris' Street and Road Directory, 1916-1917 John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

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• The application for a proposed picture theatre to be situated in Dickson Street, near the Wooloowin railway station, was submitted to the Windsor Town Council in mid-1913. At the Council's monthly meeting in early October the Works Committee proposed that a decision be set aside for another month in order to make further inquires - especially as there was disagreement over the suitability of having an entertainment venue within a residential neighbourhood. Alderman William Jolly, for example, was quoted as saying that "it was ridiculous if the council could not prevent the establishment of a picture show" and that "it was not a fit place for such an enterprise." The Council was informed, on the other hand, that a furniture factory was being erected on a block of land which lay next to the proposed theatre site. Mayor, Alderman T. Gardner, concluded that whether or not a license was granted hinged on the attitude of the Wooloowin Progress Association. As the association was in favour of the development, a license was subsequently granted. According to the same Telegraph report, the applicant had already purchased furniture and was ready to "go straight away" ("Town of Windsor," 8).

Wooloowin Railway Station (1909) Source: John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

• Although an exact opening date for the Elite Picture Gardens is yet to be identified, a newspaper advertisement published in the 25 November edition of the Brisbane Courier calls for a "young lady cashier" to start immediately. This suggests that the business was ready to open around that same time. With virtually no newspaper advertising or reviews having been located for the period between late-November 1913 and August 1914, it is speculated that the open-air venue continued to exhibit films through to the end of summer, or perhaps until the weather became too cold. How many days a week and for how many sessions is also unknown at this time.

• With the late-winter period of 1914 being somewhat warmer than usual owner W.H. Healy reopened his picture house on 22 August. The premiere programme comprised an as yet unknown double bill. Less than four weeks later, on 14 September, Healy presented a grand patriotic concert in aid of the Red Cross. Opened by the Mayor of Windsor, the concert comprised the latest pictures with leading amateur and professional artists assisting in the entertainment. A full orchestral band also contributed to the programme. This event provides some insight into the possibility of an on-going relationship between his management and live entertainment.

• Throughout the remainder of the war years newspaper pars and venue publicity occasionally drew attention to live entertainment being presented in combination with films. Singers appear to have been the predominant form of entertainment (the 14 April 1915 Belgium Relief Fund benefit, being an example). However, during the Windsor Motor Ambulance Fund benefit held that same year (4 Aug.), a display of club-swinging was given by Mr Harry Lawson.1 When the war ended the Elite, as with many other local picture houses, provided a space for peace celebrations. At an event held on 21 November 1918, and in the presence of the then Windsor Mayor, Alderman Jolly, the programme comprised songs, speeches, recitations and war films.

• By 1917 William Healy had aligned his picture house with Paramount Films. This meant that he not only had access to some of the latest Hollywood films, but was also able to piggy-back his advertising with the US company's. Over the next couple of years the picture house enjoyed a much-increased profile in Brisbane courtesy of Paramount's regular advertising in the Truth newspaper. Unfortunately no space appears to have ever found to promote live stage performances during this period.

• The Elite Gardens also gained much unwanted attention in 1919 after a fire was deliberately started in the building on 9 November. Although an area of the building was extensively damaged by the arsonist, the estimated cost being £300-400, the quick response of the fire brigade managed to save the auditorium and thereby allowing William Healy to reopen relatively quickly. An eighteen year old man, John James Parker, was charged with the arson at the City Police Court ten days later and placed on remand. At his second court appearance on 26 November, Parker was committed to stand trial at the first criminal sittings in 1920. Surprisingly no reports of that trial have yet been have yet located.

1 A popular entertainment on the vaudeville stage during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, club swinging was also known as Indian Club Swinging. An entry devoted to this craze is currently being prepared for the "Physical Culture and Sporting Crazes" page in the AVTA's Fads and Fashion section. • In August 1920 Verne and Pears' Gaieties, a nine-member variety troupe, advertised its forthcoming appearances at Waterloo Pictures (Bulimba), and the Elite Pictures (Wooloowin). By 1920, too, William Healy, like many other entrepreneurs, was taking full advantage of the craze for jazz music, regularly publicising his house band as a feature of the nightly programmes. While there is currently no evidence indicating that the band accompanied vocalists, it would have been unusual if this never happened.

• In October 1921 the Daily Mail published an article about a proposed purchase of the Elite Picture Gardens by the newly-formed company Wooloowin Amusements Ltd. No further details have been located until the same newspaper announced on 5 June 1923 that a new theatre was to be erected shortly on the site of the old Elite Picture Gardens. While little information has been found relating to William Healy's venture during its final years, the theatre appears to have continued operating up until at least March 1923. The Brisbane Courier records, for example, that a lantern lecture was to be presented at the Wooloowin Picture House on 30 March. The new picture house, known as the Royal Picture Theatre, is believed to have opened for business in late-October or early November 1923.

• As this research notes biography notes, only a few live variety-style performances are recorded as having been presented at the Elite Picture Gardens during its ten years of operations. However, there is much evidence from other Brisbane and interstate pictures houses during the first three decades of the twentieth century which suggests that the venue's manager would have occasionally, if not more regularly, engaged performers from both the local community and further afield to entertain audiences between films. The problem in identifying these performances is that advertising by management was intermittent for much of the period 1913-1923. Even during periods of regular newspaper advertising, there was no real incentive to use up precious space promoting artists without high profile reputations, especially as this could be done for free within in the Wooloowin community - using posters in the venue, (letterbox) dodgers and on-stage promotion, for example.

Historical Notes and Corrections

1. When the Brisbane to Sandgate railway line opened in May 1882, there were three stations operating between Albion and Toombul - Lutwyche Station (positioned at the end of Chalk Street, opposite Lisson Grove), Thorold Street Station (adjacent to the corner of Dickson and Thorold streets), and Eagle Junction Station (in its present location). Wooloowin Station did not exist at that time. Eight trains began servicing the line, thereby providing eight daily services.

A poll of passenger numbers taken in 1888 revealed that Thorold Street Station2 was used by only 2% of passengers so it was closed down. By 1890, Lutwyche Station had been moved 300 yards north to its present location and renamed Wooloowin Station. This name was subsequently chosen for the suburb when it was declared a suburb in its own right. The first Wooloowin Station building was replaced in 1901 to better satisfy the needs of the gradually increasing local population.

John Oxley Library, State Library of Queensland

Wooloowin: A Brief History to World War II:

An inner-northern suburb of Brisbane, Wooloowin is located approximately five to six kilometres from the central business district. It is hemmed in on the south by Albion and Windsor, to the south-west by Lutwyche (including part of Lutwyche Road), to the north-west by Kedron, to the north by Eagle Junction and Kalinga, and to the east by Clayfield. The author of a 1931 Brisbane Courier article on the suburb writes: "old residents state that the name is of aboriginal origin, and means 'running water'."3

The Wooloowin area, which originally lay within the boundaries of Lutwyche, slowly developed a suburban identity from the 1880s, when the larger estates were subdivided, but was still considered an outlaying district for several decades to come.4 The main subdivisions of rural holdings (largely pineapple, banana and mango farms) occurred in the 1880s. This was due in large part to the extension of the Sandgate rail line in 1882.

2 At this time the area around the station was known as Thorold Town. 3 Other secondary sources also mention pigeon or fish as a possible origin for the word Wooloowin. 4 The area which is now known as Wooloowin was once the northern-most part of the Shire of Windsor (1887-1925). Windsor had itself been part of the Ithaca Division but was proclaimed a shire in 1887, and in 1904 became the Town of Windsor. It amalgamated into the City of Brisbane in 1925. Of major importance to Brisbane was the "Undue Subdivision of Land Prevention Act" of 1885 which prevented the building of terrace houses (with the exception of Petrie Terrace). The act also enforced a minimum property size of 16 perch (405m2), thereby allowing suburbs like Wooloowin to develop their own suburban identities through different styles of architecture and urban planning.

By the turn of the century Wooloowin had become burgeoning Catholic community. The Order of the Sisters of Mercy opened its Holy Cross Retreat in 1889 as a home for unmarried mothers, disabled girls and infants, and soon afterwards began operating the Magdalen Asylum of Holy Cross Laundry. The Anglican Church also played a strong part in the suburb during this period.5 When the tramline from the city was extended along Lutwyche Road to Kedron in 1914, Wooloowin really boomed as a residential working class suburb. Among the more significant developments in the Wooloowin area were a racecourse at Kedron Park6 and the building of the Diamantina orphanage. The Wooloowin Progress Association was formed in 1911, and the Wooloowin primary school in Lutwyche Road was opened the same year that the tram line was extended. Kedron Park Road (south from Norman Street) also emerged as Wooloowin's local shopping area. The post office directory recorded four stores, a grocer and a blacksmith in 1924. Most of the original houses in Wooloowin were interwar Queenslanders built on large allotments.

Brisbane Boys College was founded in 1902 on Old Sandgate Road, now Bonny Avenue. The were four students in the first intake. Two years later the school moved to the new Sandgate Road in Clayfield (where Clayfield College is now located). The boys relocated to Toowong in the early 1930s, and the Clayfield campus thereafter became a school for girls.

One of Wooloowin's most prominent residences was Alfred Lutwyche (1810-1880).7 He had been appointed resident judge in 1859 of was then the Moreton Bay district of New South Wales, and became sole Judge of the new Supreme Court of Queensland two years later. In this role he occupied the bench unaided until 1863, when the first Chief Justice, Sir James Cockle, arrived. Lutwyche owned vast tracts of land in the area. Kedron Lodge, his magnificent heritage-listed residence, still stands to this day in the neighbouring suburb of Kalinga. Lutwyche also donated land in Kedron Park Road for an Anglican church.

Portrait of Alfred Lutwyche by unknown painter. Held by the Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.

Source: Wikipedia

5 The Anglican Church later donated land where a shopping area (comprising a post office and local stores) was established by the 1920s. 6 The site is now home to Kedron State High School. 7 The adjacent suburb of Lutwyche is naturally named after the Judge.

Early aerial view of Wooloowin and Kedron Park, 1920. Source: Brisbane from the Air Illustrated, 1920