Theatrical traditions: stage and screen in Bendigo

20
Henderson Sweets
Limited
‘Sweetacres’ (Sydney
1918 – 1968)
Fantales box
1950s
printed card
Collection John
Casey
PICTURE THEATRES IN DECLINE
The impact that television (and later
VHS) has had on cinema has been
well documented. Despite people still
enjoying films on the big screen and the
novelty of the Drive-In, it cannot be
denied that the ubiquitous adoption of
home entertainment technologies has
changed the habits of the movie-going
public forever. Bendigo’s first television
station BCV8 opened in 1962 and
while the three major picture theatres
and the Golden Drive-In continued
to operate, audiences quickly declined
and not long after, the Lyric, and the
Royal Princess closed.
In April 1963, along with several
adjoining shops, the Royal Princess was
sold to American oil company Amoco.
Much to the consternation of many
locals, that same year, the theatre was
demolished and replaced by a service
station. The last film to be screened
was The Guns of Navarone on 4 May. 42
The company Wheelan the Wrecker
commenced demolition of the theatre
on 1 July 1963. Local man Leighton
Rawlings remembers the day well.
Back when I was in high school I
had a paper run around Bendigo. In
‘63 I’m riding down View Street and
its about 5:15am and here in View
Street … are ‘Wheelan the Wrecker’
cranes, there were about three of
them and they had the big wrecking
balls on, and they’re just swinging
these balls in and smashing down
walls and everything and it was the
Princess Theatre … by the time I
came along … they had probably
all the corner and a section of the
theatre already smashed down …
What a shocking waste. 43
The Lyric Theatre was put up for
auction in August 1965. It was passed
in for private sale and the building
ceased to operate as a cinema. The
last film, Mr Hobbs takes a Vacation
was screened on 4 September 1965.
In July 1967, the unoccupied building
was almost completely gutted by fire
and was eventually demolished. The
contemporary Bendigo Bank building
now stands in its place.
The Plaza Theatre was the last of the
three major picture theatres in Bendigo
to close. Kevin Houlahan and partners,
who also owned the Golden Drive-In,
leased the Plaza from the mid-1960s.
Ten years on, deciding not to renew
their lease, the partnership built the
Golden Twin Cinema (now Bendigo
Cinemas). The Golden Twin opened
on 20 December 1975, the day the
Plaza closed. The last films screened
at the Plaza on that day, were Fists of
Fury and The Chinese Connection, both
starring Bruce Lee.