Historical notes: | Pre contact History
Prior to European settlement the Tumut Valley area was home to the Wiradjari Aboriginal people and a regular meeting place of several other groups including the Bigewal, Ngarigo, Wolgol of the southern, tableland and highland Monaro area and Ngunawal from around the Canberra area. During the warmer months of the year these groups travelled through what became Tumut on their way to the Snowy Mountains where they performed ceremonies and feasted on the Bogong moth. (Jill Shepherd Heritage Consultants, Currango Historic Precinct, Conservation Management & Interpretation Plan, May 2004). The word Tumut is thought to derive from the Aboriginal word 'doomut meaning 'camping ground' or ' quiet resting place by the river' (Sydney Morning Herald February 8 2004).
Post contact history of the area
The explorers Hume and Hovell were the first Europeans to visit the area when they crossed the Tumut River and entered the Tumut Valley in 1824.The area was first settled in the 1820s (tumutmuseum.homestead.com, Discovery and Early History of Tumut Valley)
During the early years of settlement and contact around the Tumut area it seems that the Aboriginal people continued to a large extent to visit the mountains and perform ceremony regularly. A property, 'Yellowin', in the nea by Blowering Valley was noted as an important meeting place for the Murray, Yass and local Aboriginal people. Large corroborees were held and the women camped there while the men travelled further into the mountains to perform ceremony. (tumutmuseum.homestead.com, Discovery and early history of Tumut Valley).
During the 1840s and 1850s settlement continued with land being selected and taken up with grazing and cropping throughout the Tumut Valley. The township of Tumut was slow to develop. It was surveyed and laid out in 1848 and by 1856 comprised a school building , 3 hotels and a few huts. The first site for the town was down by the river near the current racecourse. This site was abandoned as a town centre after a major flood in 1952. During the late 1850s and 1860s in response to the activity accompanying the gold rushes in the area, the township began to take off and by the 1880s boasted 18 hotels, a blacksmith, a post office a courthouse and lockup, a local newspaper outfit and many other commercial services and residences.( Sydney Morning Herald February 8 2004 and tumutmuseum.homestead.com, Discovery and Early History of Tumut Valley).
As a consequence of settlement and the growth of the town Aboriginal people were more and more alienated from their traditional lands and tradition way of life. By the 1840s many local Aboriginal families were camped on a large pastoral station at Brungle which is close to the township of Tumut. By 1989 it was reported that 100 Aboriginal people resided there in what were described as huts with corrugated iron supplied by the Government. (Sydney Morning Herald, Letters to the Editor, 4 April 1888). In fact the previous year the Aborigines Protection Board had built a weatherboard schoolhouse near the camp for Aboriginal children. The people subsisted on the Government Ration provided by the Aboriginal Protection Board, which by accounts was frugal and the people were expected to supplement this by hunting fishing and tending vegetable gardens. ( Sydney Morning Herald 4 April 1889).
In 1890 a small area of 3 acres was gazetted as a reserve for a mission management precinct and a cottage was built for the first manager, Mr Usher. By 1909, with the establishment of the Aborigines Protection Act a further 142 acres of land coinciding with the Mission's housing area was gazetted and managed by a Government appointed manager who had far reaching control over the lives of the Aboriginal residents. Through the 1890s and into the twentieth century the Mission developed as a community village with the establishment of a dairy, cess pits for houses tree planting and various vegetable and crops raised there.
By 1840 Government philosophy towards the Government Reserves was changing and as a consequence the Mission Manager at Brungle was withdrawn. In 1941 the Board was encouraged to buy housing outside reserve areas and thus facilitate Aboriginal assimilation into towns. The Reserve officially closed in 1951. During this period of time conditions at Brungle reserve declined and by the later 1960s most families had left what remained of the Reserve and moved to Tumut or farther afield. During the 1980s Aboriginal families moved back to the Reserve and new accommodation was erected.
The Theatre and its owner
The Montreal Community Theatre in Tumut was originally commissioned by John J Learmont in the late 1920s. The name Montreal is an anagram of the name Learmont, declaring the family association with the building. The Learmont family had a long history in Tumut with John J's father John Learmont setting up a Draper and Mercer shop next door to the site of the Montreal Theatre in 1889. After a number of years John Learmont moved to Young, leaving his older sons living and engaged in business in Tumut. His younger son John J Learmont grew up in Young then return to Tumut where he also set up as a Draper and Mercer in an "empty shop" in Russell Street, Tumut in 1912. In 1927 John J Learmont applied to build a new brick shop on the north west side of the land on which the Montreal theatre stands. (Tumut Centenary Celebrations as quoted in Louise Halsey and Pam Archer Montreal Community Theatre Conservation Management Plan)
He moved into the new premises in 1927 and by 1929 had commissioned the architects Karberry and Chard, to design a moving picture theatre on the parcel of land to the south east of the shop. During the planning and design stages for the theatre John J Learmont is said to have maintained an active interest in the design and his son recalled his father's many visits to Sydney where he visited many theatres and took inspiration from their design features and decor details. The Learmont family still owns the adjacent shop which is now leased to as a Stock and Station Agent . The family also retained ownership of the theatre until 1998.(Louise Hasley and Pam Archer, Montreal Community Theatre Conservation Management Plan)
Karberry and Chard, who commenced their partnership in around 1916, became well-established cinema and theatre architects in NSW and Australia. They designed over 150 theatres throughout Australia, 57 of these in NSW. Some of the NSW theatres designed by Karbury and Chard included: the Lyric Wintergarden and the Lyceum in Sydney, both of which no longer stand; the Enmore Theatre in Sydney, which was extensively restyled in the 1930s, and a plethora of smaller theatres in the Sydney suburbs and rural towns in NSW. Most of these smaller theatres have been demolished or adapted. The Montreal Community Theatre in Tumut is one of only 3 Karbury and Chard theatres remaining intact in NSW, the rest having been demolished or adapted beyond recognition. (Ross Thorne, Heritage Assessment of the JADDA Centre, formerly Athenium Theatre, Junee)
The theatre at Tumut remains in its original condition apart from the removal of the splayed stage exit fins on the stage which were removed in 1955 to accommodate a cinemascope screen. The splayed fins as well as the design of the stepped loge boxes as part of the dress circle are two of the distinctive elements of Karberry and Chard's design. (Louise Hasley and Pam Archer, Montreal Community Theatre Conservation Management Plan) The Athenium Theatre in Junee and the Roxy in Leeton are the other two extant theatres designed by this architectural partnership. The formerly carpeted foyer floor of the Montreal Community Theatre has also been tiled in a design sympathetic with the style of the theatre. (Pers.Comm. from Hugh Packard Montreal Community Theatre Management Committee)
The theatre was constructed by local builder Jospeh Nyson and was completed by early 1930. By this time the lease on the theatre had been taken up by a Riverina-based entrepreneur of Greek origins, Nicholas Laurantas, his brother George Laurantas and a silent partner, B Cummins. (Louise Hasley and Pam Archer, Montreal Community Theatre Conservation Management Plan)
Nicholas and George Laurantas had immigrated to Australia from the island of Kythera in Greece in 1908. After starting out working in small business in rural NSW, Nicholas quickly worked his way up to purchasing the business in which he worked in Grenfell. This was the beginning of his career as a businessman and entrepreneur in rural NSW and Sydney. Among his business interests were the ownership or leasing of a string of cinema theatres in the Riverina district including those at Gundagai, Cootamundra, Corowa, Lockhardt, the Montreal at Tumut, the Athenium in Junee and the Roxy in Leeton. George Laurantas was involved in managing several of Nicholas cinemas and other businesses, including rural farming properties. (Australian Dictionary of Biography)
Nicholas became a leader in the Australian Greek community and from early in his residence in Australia he provided assistance and advice to individuals. As his wealth grew Nicholas was able financially contribute to the preservation of Greek language and culture and the Greek community in Australia by assisting in the establishment of schools, the establishment of a Chair of Modern Greek at Sydney University and assistance to the residential and community based services for the aged, St Basil's Homes. For his contribution to his community and that of NSW and Australia he was knighted in 1979.(Australian Dictionary of Biography)
From its opening in April 1930, the day to day management of the Montreal Theatre was undertaken by Peter Stathis, brother in law of Nicholas and George Laurantas. One of the many tasks was to meet the local train to take delivery or send off the latest film to be shown as it did the rounds of the Laurantas managed cinemas in the Riverina. In the first years Peter also ran the refreshment room in front of the theatre. In 1945, operation of the cafe was taken over by Gerry Holmes who operated another cafe across the road. In later years the theatre shop has been leased to a number of businesses. In 1937 Peter bought the lease of the Montreal Theatre from Nicholas and George and he and then his sons leased it until 1965. During approximately the last 10 years of the Stathis family leasehold, day to day management was undertaken by Mr R Duffas.( Louise Hasley and Pam Archer Montreal Community Theatre Conservation Management Plan)
The opening of the theatre on 2 April 1930 was presided over by the local Shire President Mr Godfrey and a local, Stan MacKay was engaged to present a program of entertainment for the occasion. Stan provided another program on the following night and that weekend, on Saturday April 5 the 'Opening Picture Attraction' featuring 'Douglas Fairbanks, the screen's most versatile star in the Greatest Achievement of His Glorious Career, The Iron Mask, an epic in photoplay production...' was screened (Tumut and Adelong Times as cited in Louise Hasley and Pam Archer Montreal Community Theatre Conservation Management Plan).
Since the 1930s the theatre has continued to present both film and live entertainment and has been the centre of cultural life in for the community providing a venue for dances fundraisers and charity drives and during the 1950s was a regular performance venue for the newly formed Tumut Review Club. (pers.comm. David Hamilton former Review Club member).
As well as being a major focus for the social life of the Tumut european community, the movie theatre was a highlight in the week of many of the young Aboiriginal people living at the old Brungle Mission or Reserve who, in the 1930s, would ride their horses into Tumut after working on farms around Brungle, in order to see a film at the Montreal. (Vince Bulger, in Louise Halsey and Pam Archer, Montreal Community Theatre Conservation Management Plan) Later in theearly 1960s Sonia Piper and Elva Russell recall hitching a lift into Tumut to go to the pictures at the theatre. (Aboriginal Women's Heritage: Brungle and Tumut, Department of Environment and Climate Change 2007).
Major technological improvements up until the 1960s included the installation in 1937 of a new Raco No 2 Sound Screen (unfortunately no evidence of the original sound system is to be found) and then in 1955 a new Brakewell cinemascope screen was installed in front of the proscenium arch. At this time the stage was widened by covering over a small orchestra pit and the stage exit fins removed. (Louise Hasley and Pam Archer, Montreal Community Theatre Conservation Management Plan)
From the 1970s through to 1998 the theatre was operated by a number of individuals for varying periods of time. It was put up for sale in 1993. At this time a campaign to save the theatre was begun and community interest was such that the theatre was taken off the market in 1994. A steering committee was formed to investigate the possible acquisition of the theatre and eventually an agreement was struck between the Blakeney Millar Foundation Trust, Tumut Council the Learmont family and the Montreal Steering Committee to run a ' living feasibility study'. The Foundation provided $30,000 for the study and assistance to operate the theatre. In February 1995 the theatre was prepared for operation by a band of volunteers who painted and cleaned the theatre and sourced and installed second hand projectors, films and gas heaters. In April 1995 a grand opening variety night was held with a capacity audience. (Louise Hasley and Pam Archer, Montreal Community Theatre Conservation Management Plan)
Further maintenance and upgrading of the theatre was commenced in October 1995 with the assistance of a government training scheme.
In 1997-1998 the Steering Committee secured $40,000 in honoured pledged donations from the community and with the assistance of the Blakeney Millar Foundation the theatre was bought for the benefit of the local community. A Ministry of the Arts grant enabled the purchase and installation of a new screen and stage curtains and in 2000 reverse cycle air conditioning was installed. The roof was restored and painted in 2004. Much of this work was funded through NSW Heritage Council funding schemes.
Under the management of the Montreal Community Theatre Steering Committee, the theatre has been revitalised and lovingly restored. With the assistance of a number of dedicated volunteer front of house and projection personnel, the theatre is now able to continue its tradition of providing a venue for local, national and international live theatre and performance, for local and regional forums and conferences as well as providing a regular program of contemporary film. While the theatre's annual income allows day to day operations the next challenge will to raise the money to install equipment necessary to enter the digital age of film presentation and live performance. The Montreal Theatre has continued to be used as a theatre and a social focal point for the community for over 80 years. |