The Wintergarden Theatre, in Sturt Street, Townsville, was opened on Saturday 4th June 1927 by the Mayor of Townsville with a week’s season of entertainment. The theatre was home to live performances as well as moving pictures, and later included ‘the talkies’ or movies with sound.
The opening night performance was a production of Shakespeare’s Henry VIII by Alan Wilkie’s Shakespearean Company.
TDB Sat 4 Jun 1927 WINTERGARDEN OPENS TO-NIGHT. Owned by Birch, Carroll, and Coyle. Sturt St, between Blackwood and Stanley Sts.
1929 – Talkie pictures operation and sound equipment “Cinesound” from the Western Electric Company of America is to be installed permanently into the Wintergarden Theatre in Townsville. (TDB Sat 25 May 1929)
1929 – THE TALKIES. – Townsville’s first Talkie picture, ‘The Jazz Singer,’ which opens at the Wintergarden Theatre on Monday 5 August 1929. (TDB Sat 27 Jul 1929)
The Wintergarden was sold in the early 1970s and the building was left to decay until it was beyond economic repair. It was hoped that at least the facade of the building could be saved, but when the roof was found to contain asbestos it was deemed beyond saving. On the 8th March 1991, the building was demolished.
