Roxy Theatre and Peters Greek Cafe Complex is a heritage-listed theatre and cafe at 74 Maitland Street, Bingara, Gwydir Shire, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Mark Woodforde with construction (including significant changes to the design) supervised by George Psaltis of the Greek partnership Peters and Co. in 1935-1936 (Prineas, 2006). It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 25 August 2017.
History Aboriginal pre-contact and contact history The land where the small northern NSW town of Bingara is now located is at about the north western extent of the traditional country of the Kamilaroi Aboriginal people. The western side of the Gwydir River was the traditional country of the Weraerai Aboriginal people. Kamilaroi hunted the abundant stock of small marsupials. They aided their hunting efforts by using fire to ensure the underbrush did not become too dense, thereby creating an open forest environment.Graham Wilson, 2006, Gwydir Shire Council Thematic History Study
The first documented European exploration of the area was by botanist and explorer Allan Cunningham during his exploratory trip to the Darling Downs. Cunningham passed through the area, camping at Halls Creek where the town of Bingara is today in 1827.(A. J.Bert 2009. The Bingera Run).
By the mid-1830s the area was known as Stodderts Valley and was adequately watered by the Gwydir River and its tributaries such as Halls Creek near Bingara. Its good soils and abundant water had attracted a number of squatters who claimed runs in the nearby area. The valley land was taken up by the Hall family who already had considerable claims on land in the Hunter Valley and in the Hawkesbury.
As the squatters became more numerous and the resources of the land and cattle was contested between the Aboriginal people and the Europeans, numerous attacks occurred by both Europeans and Aboriginals. These escalated during the 1830s and culminated in one of the most renowned of the attacks, the Myall Creek massacre of 18 December 1838. A group of armed men headed by John Flemming of Mungie Bungie Station near Moree rode out to Myall Creek Station where they found and killed a group of about 30 men, women and children of the Weraerai and Kamilaroi peoples. The perpetrators were tried and eventually 7 of the 12 men involved were hanged. This was the first time the killers of Aboriginal people were executed by the Colonial Government of New South Wales.(Bert 2009 and Wilson, 2006.)
Discovery of gold In 1851, Gold was discovered in the Bingara area on Keera Station and a few months later at Cobidah Creek on the Bingara Run. As usual a rush of fortune seekers made their way to the area and further gold discoveries were made in 1852 leading to the proclamation of the Bingara goldfield in 1853.Bert 2009
Bingara township To support the population of gold seekers the town of Bingera was surveyed and set out. By 1853, William Hall of the Bingera Run had set up the first hotel, the Bingera Inn, in Bingera. In that same year the first general store was opened. By 1862 Bingera and its population of ninety was serviced by a Post Office and law and a Watch House and Lock up was established in the town. In that year Bingera Public School was also established.
The real boom period for the town of Bingera occurred after the discovery of copper and diamonds in the area in 1872–3. During the 1880s Bingara became the largest producer of diamonds in Australia and remains one of the most successful diamond mines in Australia.(Bingara NSW in http://www.aussie towns.com.au/town/bingara-nsw)
During the 1870s and 1880s the civic amenity of the town continued to grow with the establishment of a courthouse, Royal Mail Booking Office and several churches, Catholic, Church of England and Presbyterian. In addition to mining, the town supported the timber and wheat industries as well as the ongoing pastoral and agricultural industries. In 1889 Bingera was made a municipality and its name changed to Bingara. By 1891 Bingara's population was 738 and in 1911, over 1600 residents were located in the town.('Bingara' in Australian Heritage http://wwwheritageaustralia.com .au/new-south-wales/3175-bingara, Bert 2009 Bingara NSW in http://www.aussietowns.com.au/town/bingara-nsw)
Despite the impacts of the Great Depression throughout New South Wales, the 1930s proved to be a time of expansion and improvement for Bingara with Bingara Council receiving many requests to construct residences, shops, and businesses.
Wilson notes that the arrival of a number of Greek businessmen in the town, coupled with the plans to develop the Copeton Dam situated a few 55 kilometres east of Bingara may have contributed to the small boom experienced in Bingara at this time.
The influence of the Greeks on the spread and popularity of cinema in NSW Among the "Greek businessmen" Wilson mentions were three men from the Greek island of Kythera, who were central to the story of the Roxy Cinema, Emanuel Aroney, Peter Feros (nicknamed 'Katsehamos') and George Psaltis. These men, like many Greeks at the time left their homeland to escape the difficult economic, social and political conditions in Greece in the early 20th century. However, Greeks had been coming to Australia for a century or more before this. Hugh Gichrist in his three volume history 'Australians and Greeks' (Gilchrist: 1992) notes that seven Greeks convicted of piracy by a British naval court in Malta were transported to Sydney in 1829 and two of them settled here for the rest of their lives. Peter Prineas in his book 'Wild Colonial Greeks' (Prineas: 2020) has provided evidence of a sailor from Corfu named George Manuel (or Emanuel) who arrived even earlier, in 1823, on the British brig 'Courier'. These Greeks were followed during the gold rush by a large number of their fellow countrymen and by the 1890s Greeks had established communities in all the Australian colonies. By 1899 they had built the first Greek Orthodox Church in Australia at Surry Hills in Sydney. Greeks from the island of Kythera were prominent among the early Greeks settlers in NSW and by the late 19th century they were active in the oyster industry, and then in oyster saloons and refreshment rooms, later to be known as cafes (Gilchrist: 1992). With the development of cinema, Greeks operating cafes were quick to see the importance of cinema crowds and those who could afford to do so sought to invest in and control their local cinema.
Kevin Cork in his thesis notes that around 66 Greek businessmen and women were involved in establishing and managing cinemas in NSW from 1917, when Angleo Coronis established himself as a film exhibitor in Sydney, right through to 1984 when Chris James finally retired after 38 years in the business.K Cork 1998 Some of those Greek exhibitors ran multiple theatres in several towns either simultaneously or as serial operations. Sir Nicholas Laurantus bought and built cinemas in Narrandera, Junee, Tumut, Lockhart, Cowra Hillston and Gundagai, often installing family members to run them. In fact Laurantas brother-in-law Peter Stathis and his sons ran the Montreal Theatre in Tumut from 1930 to 1965. Similarly the Hatsatouris family ran a chain of cinemas in Port Macquarie, Taree, Walcha and Laurieton. Others families such as the Notaras initially operated only one theatre, the Saraton Theatre in Grafton. They then leased out the theatre until the 1960s. Recently the Notaras family have reopened the theatre.
A survey of cinemas in NSW undertaken in 1962 indicated there were 351 enclosed cinemas in 289 NSW rural towns. Of these, between 1915 and 1960, 116 theatres in NSW were at some time operated by Greek exhibitors in 57 towns. 34 new theatres were built by Greek businessmen in those 57 towns. These figures demonstrate that the contribution of these Greek migrants to the social and cultural life of NSW was significant.C Turnbull and C Valiotis 2001
The 1930s to the mid-1960s were the time for cinemas. From the early travelling cinema exhibitors. people chose to market cinema going as An exciting activity and built virtual platforms to screen Hollywood films.
in rural NSW towns platforms were built in the architectural styles of Art Deco. The elaborate and modern architecture style of these buildings gave theatre going a sense of occasion .(Ross Thorne, 1995. Cinema as Place: The case of picture theatres in a group of towns and villages in the Central West of NSW)
The Roxy, Bingara As recorded by Peter Prineas in 'Katsehamos and the Great Idea' (Prineas: 2006) it was with this dream of wooing their audience with a sense of glamour and occasion, that Psaltis and Aroney (Feros was then absent in Kythera) began plans for the Roxy. The plans included not only a modern and luxurious new theatre and cafe, but three independent shops and also a nearby guest house where customers of the cafe and cinema living out of town could stay the night.
Soon after they arrived in Australia in the early 1920s, Peter Feros and George Psaltis decided to try their luck in the small rural town of Bingara. They formed the partnership of Peters and Co and bought an already established refreshment room in the town from a fellow Greek. They were soon joined by a third partner, Emanuel Aroney. Their business interests expanded to include another cafe in Barraba in 1930 and they successfully traded through the worst of the Great Depression on the strength of these enterprises.The Roxy and Greek Cafe Bingara
By 1934 they had purchased a large corner site on Maitland and Cunningham Street and engaged a Sydney architect, W. V. E. Woodforde to draw up plans for an entertainment and retail complex. After supplying the plans - the cinema believed to be based on an art deco cinema in Sydney long since demolished - Woodforde took little further part in the development, the construction proceeding in early 1935 under the supervision of George Psaltis.
The theatre auditorium was to be 104 feet long by 40 feet wide. The floor of the auditorium provided a section of raked seating with the section nearest to the stage comprising a level floor with seating that could be taken up to reveal a specially constructed dance floor of cypress pine.
As noted by Prineas (Prineas: 2006) the build was subject to a number of alterations that involved extra time and expense. One of the alterations was to raise the auditorium walls by 4 feet 6 inches to allow for the possible later inclusion of a dress circle. This brought about changes in decorative treatments of the main ceiling and proscenium.Georgia Standerwick, 2016
The progress of the Roxy development was further impeded by Victor Reginald Peacocke, the Greeks' competitor in the Bingra cinema trade, who was also the Mayor of the local council at the time. Peacocke was then making his living by showing films in a local hall. With the announcement of the plans for the Roxy, Peacocke decided to build his own new cinema in the town, 'The Regent'. He then waged a campaign that was xenophobic in tone to block the construction of the Roxy by lobbying the Chief Secretary of NSW who had charge of cinema licensing and regulation, and by using his influence in the local council which was responsible for approving the Roxy building works.
Peacocke's new Regent Theatre was a building of plain design and was completed nine months before the Roxy, giving Peacocke an advantage in establishing his audience.
When the Roxy cinema eventually opened on Saturday 28 March 1936, the local newspaper reported, "probably no event in the history of Bingara has caused more interest or excitement". It was said the crowd, "stormed the streets" and 700 people crammed the theatre, with many more unable to gain entry. Those who did get in were apparently not disappointed by the feature, which was 'Roberta' starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers and Irene Dunne.