CAARP
Cinema and Audience Research Project

"Gosnells hall moved in 1912 from Mongers Lake. A local committee had raised £200 by debentures to cover the cost of building materials, and local people contributed the labour for re-erection in a ´Busy Bee'. It was a 40ft by 80ft unlined building lit by kerosene lamps hung from oregon beams. Mr Griffiths (secretary of the committee) sat behind the screen providing sound effects for the silent movies, and power for the projector was provided by a 20hp kerosene engine. The first seating was planks on milk crates. The screenings were used to raise money for the cost of the hall and for improvements. In 1917, Curtis and Co. bought the iron cladding and replaced it with weatherboards. Later the hall was lined and a supper room built, and still later a ´lesser hall' was added.

In December 1926, G. Devereux screened in Armadale and Gosnells on alternate Friday and Saturday nights. In January 1927 a second operator, brothers L.L and E.F.Mackey tried to establish a rival show in Gosnells, on alternate Saturday and Friday nights, and in February they took over from Devereux, their first screening in the hall being White Sister on 5 February 1927.

Cyril Mackey remembers the construction of the gardens:
My father and my older brothers Len and Eric constructed a large picture screen and control room at each end of what was then the side lawn approximately 34 metres long by 18 metres wide, furnished with deck chairs. It became the first open air movies in Gosnells and opened in the Spring of 1928. With the innovation of talking films, the cost of amplification was prohibitive for open air movies and the entire unit was moved to the Public Hall in Wheatley Street and was later taken over and managed by Mr Len Martin.

Before 1943, R.R.Perrie, who had a small chain of venues in the southern suburbs, started screening in the hall, which by then held 250 people. In 1953 the management passed to Consolidated Pictures, who upgraded the building to hold 400 and redecorated, including new seating, carpets and neon lighting. Usherettes in blue and gold uniforms showed patrons to their seats on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights, and there was a matinee on Saturday afternoons. Around the corner, behind the hall, a gardens holding a further 400 was opened by the end of 1954, with its entrance in Dorothy St.

In February 1960, the Roads Board agreed to waive rental on the gardens site for two years because income had declined dramatically over the previous five years: in addition to television, the impact of the drive-in was noted and also the move towards hire purchase which had altered families’ financial commitments. By December 1962, Consolidated Theatres wanted to pull out of the lease altogether, and further negotiations allowed them to do this without paying back rental. The lease was terminated and Consolidated vacated the premises by March 1964." (Bertrand 2001)

References
Cinemaweb: http://www.ammpt.asn.au/CinemaWEB/SITE/view.php?rec_id=0000000391