Content will be provided to this section very soon.

In the meantime you can learn about Melbourne's lost theatres from our old archived VTT web site.

Join Theatre Heritage Australia and...

Be part of the Australian theatre community

• learn more about the history of Australian theatre, its people and its buildings
• participate in THA theatre tours & events
• develop your professional and social network

Membership gives you:

• access to the members' area of the web site
• access to the latest articles appearing in On Stage
• ability to add your comments to these articles
• ability to access and download text searchable back issues of On Stage magazine
• a discount on event fees

Better still membership is now free! Just click on 'Create and Account' in the login panel and complete the details.

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We plan to develop this section in the future to give writers of Australian theatre history the opportunity to publish their work and receive a commission.

We also hope to offer out-of-copyright books and other articles on theatre history. However we need to organise a PayPal facility first and this takes time.

Coming in late 2013. Stay tuned!

Much of Australia's important theatre history is in danger of being forgotten. The very theatres themselves, which gave us the framework for this panorama of talent, are endangered. THA has been formed to fight for the preservation of both the history and the fabric of our ongoing theatre heritage.

STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
The purpose of THA is to promote and encourage:

• the study of and research into Australia’s rich theatre history;
• the preservation, renovation and use of Australia’s theatres;
• the identification, documentation and preservation of items relating to Australia’s theatre history;
• the establishment and maintenance of links with similar organisations in Australia.

HISTORY

The organisation was founded by Evan Hercules in 1995 and originally called the Victoria Theatres Trust (VTT). To better reflect our national focus, at the 2008 AGM the VTT membership decided to incorporate and to change the name of the organisation to Theatre Heritage Australia Inc. (THA).

RULES

We are bound by a set of rules lodged with Consumer Affairs Victoria.
You can download a full set of our rules here.

Without the tireless efforts of our volunteers this organisation could not possibly function. 
Therefore we would like to acknowledge and thank the following people for their considerable input:

General Enquiries:  

29 Northumberland Street, Collingwood, 3066  e: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Or better still, contact the person concerned below:

President

Simon Piening   e: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Vice President

Diana Burleigh  e: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Secretary

Elisabeth Kumm   e: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

Treasurer

Howard Cordner e: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Officeholders and committee members are elected by the membership every year at our AGM in March. If you would like to nominate for the committee or act as an officeholder please complete this nomination form.

A proxy form for use at annual, general and special meetings can be downloaded using this link.

The Committee is elected by the membership every year at our AGM in March. If you would like to join or learn more about what we do, please contact us or simply complete a nomination form and send it to us.

Diana Burleigh

Diana is a well-known actor, director, reviewer and radio presenter. She is particularly recognised for her work directing Gilbert & Sullivan operas. Forthcoming and recent productions include Iolanthe (2017) and Pirates of Penzance (2013) for G&SOV, Utopia Limited (2016) and Yeomen of the Guard (2013) for Savoynet at the G & S Festival, Harrogate.

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Howard Cordner

Howard runs an accountancy practice in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. He has been a member of the committee and treasurer for over eight years.

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Peter Johnson FRAIA RIBA

Peter was chairman of the ALSO Foundation’s Special Events Committee which produced the legendary Red Raw and Winterdaze warehouse dance parties from 1992 until 2000. In 1995, acting as honorary architect, he was responsible for the conversion of Shed 14 at Docklands into a permanent performance venue. He has undertaken extensive research into the work of his great great grandfather and Australian’s most prolific colonial theatre architect George R. Johnson (1840-1898). He also co-ordinates an architectural theatre study group at the SLV. Peter is a heritage consultant and valuer of architectural documents for the Australian Government’s Cultural Gifts Program.

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Elisabeth Kumm

Elisabeth is a founding member of the Victoria Theatres Trust. Her series Pets of the Public was a regular feature of On Stage from 1999 to 2005, looking at “forgotten” nineteenth century performers. She continues to contribute articles for the THA website, and from 2018 has been editor of the THA Newsletter. As a theatrical historian and biographer she assisted Viola Tait with her book on pantomime – Dames, Principal Boys…and All That (published by Macmillan in 2001) and also worked with her on her memoirs I Have a Song to Sing (published by THA in 2018). Elisabeth has also undertaken research for the Riley/Hailes Scrapbook and JCW Scene Books projects, and is looking forward to working on the Falk Studio album project in 2019. She currently also holds the post of Secretary for THA.

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Judy Leech

Employed as a graphic designer for almost 23 years at the ABC's studios at Ripponlea, Judy worked on dramas, light entertainment, natural history, children's programs and productions in collaboration with the Australian Ballet and Dance Theatre Australia. From television she segued into set, costume and props design for a small professional ballet company – the Rex Reid Dancers – which toured Australia with "ballet pantomimes" for schools, appearing in most major cities and towns. Following the demise of the company and the death of its director, Judy became involved in amateur musical theatre, designing and painting sets, devising props, etc. She remains passionately interested in theatre and dance design, performance and history. In addition, over the years there have been several forays into children's book illustration, with Penguin, MacMillan and Longman. Judy joined the committee in 2012 and has made many contributions to the THA website and newsletter and is finding herself more and more involved in the organization's activities..

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Jasna Novaković

Jasna Novaković is an award winning arts journalist, with particular interest in investigative journalism, as the documentary ‘Yugoslav Theatre Today’, with which she represented Radio Yugoslavia on Radio Cyprus, demonstrates. In parallel, Jasna wrote theatre reviews for RY and feature articles for print media, including the specialized theatre gazette Ludus. After migrating to Australia, Jasna completed her MA in Communications (1996) and her PhD Thesis on the dialectic of myth and reality in Dorothy Hewett’s plays (2006). The greater part of her teaching experience at Monash and Curtin Universities is, however, in the areas of journalism and new media. Jasna’s articles, reviews and translations are published in Overland, Southerly, Australasian Drama Studies, the Australian Studies journal, Hecate’s AWBR and in Mostovi (Engl. Bridges), among others. Brian Friel’s Translations played in Jasna’s translation at the Yugoslav Drama Theatre from 2009 to 2011.

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Matthew Peckham

Matthew Peckham is the Production Services Manager at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne, where he has been since 2002. He has long experience of most of the interesting things to do with putting shows on stages and making them work. Having worked, one way or another, in dozens of theatres he has become rather keen on their history, especially of the parts the public aren’t supposed to see. Matthew also has a post-graduate degree in Arts Management, which he uses to justify his tendency to talk over people.

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Simon Piening

Simon is the Director of Australian Stage Online, an online media outlet for the performing arts in Australia, which he founded in 2005. He completed a BA in Performing Arts in 1991 and has worked extensively as an actor and director. He completed post graduate studies in Arts Management at the VCA/University of Melbourne, and spent a number of years working as assistant manager at an outer metropolitan performing arts venue. He holds a Master of Communications and is currently completing a PhD in audience development. He joined the THA committee in 2016.

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Robert Ray

Trained initially as a dancer, Robert has held teaching positions both in Australia and New York, created courses and programs for the Australian Ballet School, the University of Melbourne and New York's Joffrey Ballet School. Robert was formerly Postgraduate Diploma Course Director and Lecturer in Dance at the Victorian College of Arts, and continues to be actively involved in the direction of and choreography for Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas.

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Delia Taylor

Delia is a heritage architect working for Places Victoria. She has been involved in the organisation since its beginnings in 1995.

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Cheryl Threadgold OAM

Cheryl has completed a PhD research project on the history and culture of amateur theatre in Victoria with Swinburne University of Technology. She is honorary theatre writer/reviewer/review coordinator for the Melbourne Observer newspaper, and for six and a half years presented the non-professional theatre report on 3AW. As Convenor of the Bayside U3A Writers Group, Cheryl directs the writers’ plays for broadcast on 88.3 Southern FM. She has written short plays and full-length productions including the award-winning The Jewel by the Sea at historic Black Rock House. Cheryl worked behind the scenes in ABC Television for 29 years, and is currently Deputy Chair of the ABC Reunion Club.

 Officeholders and committee members are elected by the membership every year at our AGM in March. If you would like to nominate for the committee or act as an officeholder please complete this nomination form.

A proxy form for use at annual, general and special meetings can be downloaded using this link.

 This document lists all the past issues that were produced in print from 1999-2012. Click in the 'file' column to download. Once downloaded these files are text searchable individually.

Also the Prahran Mechanics Institute has kindly indexed this series. To do a global search, go to advanced search in their catalogue. Add 'On Stage' in the Title field and then in the Other field add your search term. You will then be able to search across all issues.
  

BIJOU THEATRE  "BETSY."  

reprinted from the Argus, Monday 22 April 1889, p.6

(The theatre was destroyed by fire on the evening of 22 April, 1889)

The Bijou Theatre was crowded in every part on Saturday night to welcome the return of Mr. Brough and Mr. Boucicault with their comedy company. The piece chosen for the occasion was Burnand's comedy "Betsy," which was first introduced to the Melbourne public by the late Mr. F. Marshall, when he assumed the management of the old Princess's Theatre. His reproduction was exceedingly well received and the appearance of each and every member of the company was greeted with hearty applause, special receptions being accorded to Mr and Mrs. Brough, Mr. Boucicault, and Mr. Titheradge.

THE BURNING OF THE BIJOU THEATRE. 

- reprinted form the Argus 24.04.1889, p.5.

LATEST PARTICULARS. AN INSPECTION OF THE RUINS. INTENTIONS OF THE PROPRIETOR AND LESSEE.

The main topic of conversation yesterday was the burning or the Bijou Theatre, and all day long crowds visited the scene of the disaster. Barriers were erected in Little Collins street on either side of the theatre, the condition of the south gable wall being considered too dangerous to allow any traffic to pass.