The Then
My great great grandfather on my maternal side was William Pitt, a scenic artist and later a hotelier. He arrived at Port Melbourne on the 27 January 1853 on the ship Berman with his wife Jane and his brother Thomas as unassisted passengers. William Pitt was an experienced scenic artist from the London Lyceum Theatre.
He was soon employed by the theatrical entrepreneur George Selth Coppin. When Coppin’s company appeared at Geelong’s weatherboard Theatre Royal in March 1855 the building had been refurbished and decorated by William Pitt. George Coppin had purchased a prefabricated iron theatre in England in 1854 and had it shipped to Melbourne, this became the Olympic Theatre. Pitt painted many of the backdrops for G.V. Brooke’s Shakespearian performances there in 1855-56. Referenced in the Melbourne newspaper, the Argus, January 1856 as ‘the most accomplished scenic artist in the colonies’, he also painted the scenery for Brooke’s performances in August 1856 at Melbourne’s Theatre Royal (then also owned by Coppin); his scenery for The Winter’s Tale was particularly admired. During the year he also worked with Wilson, Arragoni and Hennings on the Neapolitan panorama for Coppin’s Cremorne Gardens at Richmond, an enormous work reportedly covering 25,000 feet (7620 m) of canvas. In 1858 he painted a new panorama, The Fall of Delhi, working with Wilson and Alexander Habbe.
By then William Pitt was General Manager for the partnership of Coppin and Brooke and was in charge of the finances of the Olympic Theatre, Theatre Royal, Cremorne Gardens and the Argyle Ball Rooms. When the partnership dissolved, he remained with Coppin at Cremorne Gardens until at least 1861, and from around 1867 he then managed, and later became lessee, of the Theatre Royal Café where he had a long business and respectful relationship with the owner of the Theatre Royal, Coppin until his death at his home in Milton Street St Kilda on 17 January 1879, on the evening of Pitt’s death the café’s lights were dimmed and the staff were mourning.
The Why
In mid-2019 I had made contact with a charming knowledgeable lady, Mimi Colligan, senior theatre historian with Theatre Heritage Australia, who just loved to learn and discover information about William Pitt Senior. She wasn’t really interested in his son, William Pitt junior, who designed The Princess’ Theatre and other theatres and buildings throughout Australia, as she felt there was already enough information about him. “I'm interested in his father”, she said to me.
Mimi asked if I had seen the Theatre Royal plaque and if I knew anything about it. I told her I hadn’t and knew nothing about it. Mimi then proceeded to tell me about the plaque describing it as beautiful blue enamel and brass with the comedy and tragedy masks, one crying and one laughing, at the top with a timeline of the theatre underneath. She told me the plaque was originally displayed at the front of Manton’s department store, 236 Bourke Street Melbourne in 1937 after it was unveiled by Lucy Coppin, great granddaughter of George Selth Coppin, the event being featured in the Argus on Monday 20 December 1937.
Mimi explained how Manton’s department store was built on the site of the Theatre Royal. Manton’s was then sold and became Coles. An arcade was built between Manton’s and Coles with the plaque being moved to the arcade. The plaque then seemed to have disappeared. Coles rebranded the store to Target, now Kmart. Mimi then recalled she had seen the plaque in an office at the Target site some years ago, and expressed her concern for the plaque and wondered where it was now. She said, “I challenge you to find it and have it displayed”.
We both had concerns about the plaque being lost forever and perhaps even thrown out if the store should be refurbished.
The Challenge
I accepted the challenge and started my trek to find the location of the Theatre Royal Plaque as my descendants had a long association with the Theatre Royal, even after William Pitt’s death, his wife Jane then managed the theatre.
When Covid had settled and we were able to move around again, in July 2021 I made my way into the Kmart store, to see where the plaque might be located. I walked through the front door and walked up to the security guy and explained what I was looking for. He had no idea what I was talking about and said I should make my enquiry at the service desk. I explained to the senior person at the desk what I was looking for and she also had no idea what I was talking about. A nearby security guy was now looking at me as if I was a bit strange and then a young lady popped her head around the corner and said, “I think I know what you're looking for”, and took me to a department manager to whom I, once again, explained who I was and what I was looking for. She then took me up an escalator to the first floor and into what appeared to be an office. Opening the door she said, “Here it is!” I couldn’t see anything until she closed the door behind us. There it was, in a staff tea room
behind the door. Some staff members in the room overheard me telling her the history of the plaque and said, “Oh wow! We didn't know what it was!”
I felt pretty ecstatic having found the plaque and called Mimi the next morning. She was so pleased.
Lucy Coppin unveiling plaque in Mantons on 19 December 1937
State Library Victoria, Melbourne
The How
Over the next couple of weeks, I rang the Kmart store leaving my name, phone number and the reason for my call. I never received a returned call.
In the meantime, frustrated and annoyed, I phoned and emailed several theatrical bodies, state members of parliament Minister of the Arts, the Lord Mayor’s office, Arts City of Melbourne, Royal Historical Society of Victoria, Arts Centre Melbourne, Monument Australia asking for their support to assist me getting the plaque from behind the door of a staff room exposed in Bourke Street where it belonged. Everyone thought it was a great idea but would only take the plaque, catalogue it and put it on a shelf in one of their store rooms. That was not what Mimi or I wanted.
I then made contact with, and had subsequent meetings with:
- Kevin Coxhead Melbourne, Theatre Historian
- Elaine Marriner from The Marriner Group
- Elisabeth Kumm, Theatre Heritage Australia
- Judy Leech, Theatre Heritage Australia
They were all very supportive and gave advice on how best to approach people and industries to try and get them on board in having the plaque relocated, in particular Kevin Coxhead who kept pushing me along. “Don't give up. You will get there!”, he would often say.
I then decided to look within the Kmart business as I learnt years ago from my younger brother, everyone has a boss. Start somewhere and you will get there. So, I looked at the who’s who at Kmart on LinkedIn and made contact with their Head of Marketing who listened to my concerns and later referred me to Kmart Corporate Affairs Manager who also listened to my plea and asked me to leave the matter with her and she would get back to me, which she did.
Kmart Corporate Affairs Manager then contacted the property division of Kmart and reported that the Kmart Bourke Street store was not an owned site but a leased site through Colliers Real Estate Commercial. Kmart Corporate Affairs Manager then put me in touch with ‘Andrew’ at Colliers who manages that contract.
The Now
Andrew was great, he listened to what my concerns were and after a few conversations he invited me to meet him on site at Kmart to look at a possible relocation site. We walked around the front of the store which was my preferable position to have the plaque mounted, Andrew said it could get vandalised which made good sense to me. We then looked at other spaces available in the Kmart Arcade but because the stores within the arcade are rented it was difficult to have the plaque mounted on rented premises exterior walls, so we both agreed on the site which was opposite the security office and in front of a CCTV camera.
Andrew then put me in touch with Louise, his media marketing liaison person, and the plaque is NOW mounted in the Kmart arcade on the site where the Theatre Royal was originally located as Mimi Colligan and I wanted for all Melbournians and visitors to see.
Theatre Heritage Australia (THA) through Elisabeth Kumm, Kevin Coxhead and THA management had made and donated a smaller plaque to go under the historic plaque which beautifully describes the timeline in further detail than that on the original Theatre Royal Plaque. There is also a QR Code where you can find further information on the Kmart website.
Andrew is the real ‘hero’ of my trek, and who communicated my story to the site owner and came through with his word about having the plaque relocated. BIG thank you to Andrew.
Kevin, Elisabeth, Judy and Greg with the plaques, 26 March 2025
Footnote
The bronze Theatre Royal plaque was made and signed by Wallace Anderson.
Anderson was a renowned Australian bronze sculptor known for many of his works for the Australian War Museum and other clients. Well known public pieces include:
- Bronze frieze on memorial stone (1930) at Ararat
- ‘The Man and His Donkey’ (1936), elsewhere named as John Simpson Kirkpatrick at the Shrine of Remembrance Melbourne
- ‘King George V’ (1937), in Geelong
- Series of nine busts of Australian prime ministers, in the Botanic Gardens Ballarat