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Twilight Talks 2024, Season 2, Session 6 | Not the Last Picture Show: History of Hoyts
May 29 @ 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm
$8 – $12
This special edition of our regular Twilight Talks series will feature speakers discussing the history of cinema in Ballarat, complimenting our free exhibition. Just a year after the Lumière brothers invented the cinematograph in 1895, the first screenings were held at the Mechanics’ Institute, meaning many had their first ever experience of ‘moving pictures’ in our beautiful Minerva Theatre.
Since then, thousands of movies have been screened in the theatre through its many iterations, including at the Vegas 70 theatre which is being reactivated for this year’s Heritage Week. Come along from 5.30pm to grab a drink and wander through the exhibition in the Williamson Foyer, the former candy bar of the cinema, before the talk.
The BMI’s Twilight Talks series has been a forum for sharing fascinating history and radical futures since 2001, check out our website for upcoming talks.
Not the Last Picture Show: History of Hoyts, Ballarat
Hoyts is synonymous with cinema in Australia. As Australia’s oldest and largest cinema, it has entertained generations of audiences from the silent era through to the present age.
At the start of the 20th century, Melbourne dentist and cornet player Arthur Russell bought a share in a small touring American circus that visited Melbourne, called Hoyts Circus. Russell toured with the circus as a magician, but it did not prove to be a financial success. In 1908, he started presenting moving pictures at St George’s Hall in Bourke Street, accompanying the silent films with his small family band: his wife on piano, son on drums, and Russell on cornet. On 18 September 1909 he opened Hoyts Picture Palace, and formed a company called Hoyts Pictures Pty Ltd. The old hall was rebuilt and renamed “Hoyts De Luxe”. By the end of World War I, Hoyts had expanded into the suburbs of Melbourne and into Sydney. The shows included vaudeville acts, as was common practice in those days.
While countless stories have been shown on Hoyts’ screens, the story of the Hoyts along with its unique connection with Australian audiences has largely been overlooked.
A project is underway that aims to gain an insight into the unique history Hoyts by conducting oral history interviews with Hoyts cinema patrons as well as those who worked there.
We hope that you will participate in this exciting project by sharing your stories, experiences, and memories with us through the ‘Share a Story’ page.
Speaker: Dr Stephen Gaunson
Stephen Gaunson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University. He researches cinema histories including the experience of going to the cinema as a social act.
Dr Gaunson’s books include The Ned Kelly Films and American–Australian Cinema: Transnational Connections.
Steve researches on national and international cinema industries. Over the past few years, a significant focus of his research has been investigating the social act of going to the cinema. Having built national standing as a leading authority during this time, in 2022 he secured a grant to research the history of Hoyts Cinemas in Australia, which will deliver a series of impactful outcomes including a book, under contract.
Steve is Higher Degree Research Director, DSC, which is one of three academic colleges at RMIT consisting of eight schools and 750 HDR candidates across a broad range of disciplines and with presence in Vietnam, Barcelona, Singapore and China. He leads HDR College activity as it relates to industry partnered projects, internships and international recruitment strategies.
In the School of Media & Communication, Steve teaches undergraduate cinema courses on adaptation, documentary, national cinema & film history.
He can be regularly heard on ABC Melbourne and Radio National as an expert commentator on the national film industry.
Starting at 6pm (bar open at 5.30pm), close 7pm.
Cost: $12 general admission | $8 BMI members
Thanks to the support of Community Bank Buninyong
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