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The Victorian Arts Centre Celebrates 100 Years
of Entertainment
As part of Melbourne's commemoration of the
Centenary of Federation the Victorian Arts Centre is celebrating
100 years of entertainment on this site by the Yarra.
The completion in 1984 of the Victorian Arts
Centre continued a centurylong tradition of this land being
Melbourne's entertainment home. The sites history goes back to the
days of the travelling circuses of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
In 1901 Fitzgerald Brothers', Australia's biggest circus, built
'Olympia'-the first permanent venue on the site.
In 1904 a fashionable meeting place called Prince's
Court was opened, featuring a Japanese Tea House, openair theatre,
miniature train, water chute and a military band. The entertainment
bug soon spread. Wirth Brothers' Circus took over the site in 1907
and spent the next 50 years expanding it into an entertainment complex
that included a dance hall, cinema, rollerskating rink, a jazz
pavilion and a dance palace.
During World War I some of the buildings were
used as nursing homes for soldiers and nurses, and in World War
II Wirth's was temporarily used as an Enemy Alien Internment Camp.
The dance hall survived the depression of the 1930s, and the worries
of World War II as a rendezvous for servicemen and their partners,
but eventually closed in the mid 1950s. Wirth's continued to occupy
the site until their buildings were destroyed by fire in 1953. In
1955 a committee was established to build what would become the
Victorian Arts Centre.
In January the Arts Centre ran a public search
to find individuals who had a connection to the littleknown
history of the site 'before the spire', and had a huge response
from Olympians, performers and even an internment camp guard! Photographer
Mark Munro was commissioned to capture twentyfour of the fascinating
people who responded. Munro's previous work has included documentary
projects for the Salvation Army, the Sacred Heart Mission, the Midsumma
Festival and recent images of the Pentridge Prison site, commissioned
by the State Library and Heritage Victoria.
From April 30 to May 6, the day of the Federation
Parade, these photographs encircled the building in a unique illuminated
photographic display. A huge banner featuring one of the images
was hung on the exterior of the Melbourne Concert Hall facing the
over 35, 000 people who paraded down St Kilda Road, and postcards
were created which are available all year. The images can also be
viewed throughout the year at www.vicartscentre.com.au
The public search unearthed some extraordinary
stories. This site has seen romances blossom, artistic and sporting
careers take off, and lasting friendships develop. Bob Horsfall
began his career at Wirth's Circus in 1942 as a tap dancer and went
on to front big bands playing to packed dance halls. His career
grew steadily and he subsequently toured with showbiz legends such
as Frank Sinatra and Mel Torme. Later he and his group the The Tunetwisters
found a new market when they began providing the theme songs for
wellknown American sitcoms, including The Nanny.
After beginning to iceskate at the Glaciarium
on this site in 1943, Bill Cherrell went on to compete in the 1960
Winter Olympics in California and win a gold medal at the 1958 Winter
Commonwealth Games. Aileen Nash competed in her first iceskating
championship in 1958 at the Glaci before joining Bill two years
later to represent Australia at the Squaw Valley Olympics. In 1942
Sylvia Ellis also discovered iceskating at the Glaciarium and
was instantly hooked. After performing in the annual revues at the
'Glaci', she went on to tour Europe and America with international
iceskating shows.
There are also some more unusual links. When
the winds of war temporarily converted the Wirth's circus rink on
this site to an enemy alien internment camp in 1939, Keith Mellor
was with the 24th/39th Battalion and was for a while a guard at
the camp. Of course, there are also those who started here many
moons ago and never left. Robbie Devine began his association with
this site as carpenter working on the construction of the Arts Centre.
Twentysix and a half years later he's still here, maintaining
the buildings he helped to construct. Kerry Hodges began work with
the Victorian Arts Centre Building Committee in 1976. A quarter
of a century later he's now our Maintenance Team Leader.
These are just some of the stories behind the
sites history. The Victorian Arts Centre will continue the tradition
and be the place to go for live entertainment for the next 100 years.
Susannah Goddard, Corporate Relations Manager,
Victorian Arts Centre. For more information visit www.artscentre.net.au
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