Closing time for the Theatre Royal Melbourne’s Theatre Royal opened 16 July 1855 at 236 Bourke Street, between Swanston and Russell, in the heart of the city’s entertainment district and it was comparable in size to London’s Drury Lane and Covent Garden. It was rebuilt in 1872 following a fire, remodelled in 1904, and demolished in 1933, due in part to the Great Depression, and also to the growing popularity of moving pictures. On the site was erected Manton’s department store, then Coles, Target, and now Kmart. The Quaker Girl, a 1910 Edwardian musical comedy with long running success in London, Paris and Broadway, opened in Melbourne at the Theatre Royal on 22 July 1933. Stars Cyril Ritchard and Madge Elliott were to become husband and wife, their Sydney wedding photograph now an iconic Australian image of that time. The theatre closed 13 November 1933. MCK080 Published: The Age 4 November 1933 Featured in "Newsworthy: Melbourne in photographs 1933-1936" exhibition at East Melbourne Library, October to December 2023. Exhibition caption by project volunteer, Louise McKenzie. THEATRE ROYAL (1933, November 4). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 5. Retrieved October 16, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203364238 Additional research by project volunteer, Fiona Collyer and librarian, Fiona Campbell: The Theatre Royal closed on 13 November 1933. During demolition in December, a worker was pinned by the legs under two tons of collapsing ceiling concrete. Miraculously he escaped with only a broken leg. A commemorative plaque was unveiled in 1937, displayed at the front of Manton's department store. The event was covered in The Age on 20 Dec 1937. It was a 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. Its whereabouts became unknown after the multiple changes with department stores on the site. In 2019 Greg Sampson set out on a mission to find it and in 2021 eventually tracked it down, on a wall behind the door of a staff tea room in Kmart. After much arduous lobbying by Greg it was eventually relocated to the Kmart arcade on the site where the Theatre Royal was originally located. Annette Cooper's history of Manton's and the Bourke Street site described the process of acquisition and demolition of the theatre: "Around 1933, the theatre came on the market – ‘a gift from heaven’ for its enterprising neighbours. Manton’s acquired the theatre and started planning for its demolition to enable the expansion of the store. William Manton and his sons, Jack and Ivor, watched the final production at the theatre, Harold Fraser-Simson’s musical comedy The Maid of the Mountains. 'It was, for the theatre-goers, a nostalgic last appearance, an emotional night, the end of an era. There were those who were mortified at the prospect of a store taking the place of their palace of dreams.' Even Whelan the Wrecker sensed the importance of the occasion and donated four bricks from the theatre to the National Museum of Victoria. They are the oldest bricks in the museum’s collection and form part of its Whelan the Wrecker collection." UNDER BIG FALL OF CONCRETE (1933, December 8). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 1. Retrieved April 14, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243215969 The Relocation of the Theatre Royal Plaque, Greg Sampson, https://theatreheritage.org.au/on-stage-magazine/news/item/989-the-relocation-of-the-theatre-royal-plaque Photo of theatre interior, Arts Centre Melbourne, https://collections.artscentremelbourne.com.au/#details=ecatalogue.184409 OLD THEATRE ROYAL (1937, December 20). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 10. Retrieved March 25, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205554847 AMATEUR ATHLETICS -- LIFE SAVING DISPLAY MEMORIAL PLAQUE UNVEILED (1937, December 20). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 15. Retrieved March 25, 2026, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205554863 It's smart to be thrifty: the story of Manton's department store, Annette Cooper, https://www.slv.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/3%20Annette%20Cooper%20-%20It%E2%80%99s%20smart%20to%20be%20thrifty%2C%20the%20story%20of%20Manton%27s%20department%20store.pdfPhotographer notations on slide: "Theatre Royale 1933 B4". theatres, 1930-1939, fires, musicals, films, department stores, demolished buildings, commemorative plaques, incidents, concrete, whelan the wrecker, bricks, kmart, bourke street melbourne, manton's department store, theatre royal, coles, target

The Madge Simmons collection. A modern copy of a photograph of the Grade V class, Bendigo Central School 1976, 1929.This information is given on the blackboard in the front row. An accompanying sheet of paper gives the names of some of the pupils. It is handwritten and titled 'Bendigo Central (Camp Hill) School No. 1976 Grade V 1929'. Pupils named: Harold Chatfield / Alec Reed / Stuart McMillan / Jim Jordan /? Plumridge / Charlie Runnels / Wal Penman / Ken Roberts / Bob Howe or Doug Howe / Wilma ? / Phyllis Chatfield / Dorothy Wilby / Katie Doyle / Lavinia Wesphalen / Dorothy Rogers / Kevin Nelson / Myrna Brascher / Una Ebdon / Una Houston / Iris Gainby / Phyllis Date / ? Goughlan / Eva Rogers / Elvira Exell / Hazel Sheehan / Eunice Parker / Jean Elliott / Harry Elson / Cyril Sayers / Clyde Ruddy / Brian Balnaves / Vern Wright / George Braecher / Bob Buckell / Stuart Dowsey / Don Hargreaves / Reg Fawcett / Amerkan Bob Howe / Dough Richards / Jack Homer / Rupert Fawcett / Jim 'Dickie' Thom / Frank Hellier / Les Simmons / Stan Carlton / Ray Browning / Jack Pitt / Harry Cameron / Bill Casley. Signed M Simmons on behalf of Les Simmons (front row).bendigo, education, bendigo central (camp hill) school, bendigo central school. camp hill primary school.

Born 3/4/1907 Launceston; died 10/10/1982 Adelaide. Attended Congregational College 1925-1930. Ordained Hughesdale 9/2/1931. Ministry: Hughesdale 1929-1931; Beechworth 1931-32; Gardiner 1932-37; Black Rock 1937-1942; Military Chaplain Aust & PNG 1942-45; Croydon/North Croydon 1945-51; College Park (SA) 1951-56; Luhrs Road Payneham/Hectorville (SA) 1956-60; Luhrs Road Payneham 1960-61; Colonel Light Gardens 1961-67; Port Elliott (SA) 1967-71. President Congregational Union of South Australia 1958-59. Married Madge (undated). Retired 1971. Further information - Portrait, SA Cong., February 1958, p. 4.Sepia photograph, mounted on light brown card of Charles Gilbert Forward wearing striped dark suit with clerical stock and collar, as well as glasses and a very light moustache.Rev. C. G. Forward - Pastor 1937-1943forward c. g., congregationalist, victoria, south australia congregational churches