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 Cinema admissions and key events, 1901–32
Select the thumbnail (left) to go to the main diagram
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Year
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Admissions
(m)
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Population
(m)
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Admissions
per capita
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| During the early
1900s, Australians in rural areas relied on travelling exhibitors
and variety shows for access to moving pictures. One such exhibitor was
the Corrick family, who, from 1902, toured Australia with their variety
show and film projector for 13 years, amassing a library of over 100
titles (King & Hodson, undated).
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1901
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0.3*1
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3.8
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0.1
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| 1905
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1.3*2
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4.0
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0.3
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| In 1906, T.J. West was the
first Australian to construct a purpose-built hall for exhibiting motion
pictures. Before this, films had been exhibited at a range of alternative
venues, including converted shops, rented halls and tents (Shirley &
Adams 1983, 15; Collins 1987, 5, 10).
Also in 1906, Australia produced what is believed to be the first feature-length
fictional film in the world, The Story of the Kelly Gang, directed
by the Tait brothers. The film was released the same year, becoming a
success in both Australian and British theatres and recouping its reported
budget of £1,000 many times over (Shirley & Adams 1983, 16-19;
Murray 1994, 7, 10).
Between 1906 and 1914 (outbreak of World War I), motion picture exhibition
in Australia flourished. In 1910, T.J. West controlled 14 permanent
cinemas throughout Australia and his venues were estimated to attract
a nightly audience of 20,000. By 1911, West’s principal
competitor, Cozens Spencer, also had a string of cinemas across the country.
Capacities of the West and Spencer theatres typically ranged from 2,000
to 4,000 seats.
In these early years, ticket prices in Australia were comparatively high,
around 12 times higher than in the US. Australian prices ranged from
one to three shillings depending on the location of the seats and up
to four for a reserved seat (Shirley & Adams 1983, 22-23; Collins
1987, 7; Sabine 1995, 33).
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| In 1909, entrepreneur J.D.
Williams opened Australia’s first continuous cinema. Admission
was relatively cheap at threepence for adults and a penny for children,
and shows ran from 11 am to 11 pm. By 1915, there were close to 20 continuous
cinemas operating in Sydney and attracting large audiences, which forced
prices down across the industry (Shirley & Adams 1983, 22-23; Collins
1987, 11).
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| In 1911, there were over
100 permanent and temporary cinemas in Sydney. In the following year,
there were reportedly 25 permanent cinemas in Melbourne with a combined
seating capacity of 50,000.
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| In 1912, the first colour
films were exhibited in Australia. These short films showing Australian
scenery and industries were shot by the US-based National Colour Kinematograph
Company using its patented Kinemacolor technology. However, due to the
high cost of the colour projection system and the lack of films, colour
films were not widely exhibited in Australia for another 40 years (see
1954 to 1974)
(Bertrand 1989, 51).
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| In 1913, the Melbourne
Argus reported that Saturday night admissions at Melbourne's city
and suburban cinemas were averaging around 65,000 (Shirley & Adams
1983, 23).
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1913
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15.6*3
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4.8
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3.3
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| In 1919/20, cinema admissions
reach 67.5 million. In 1919, there were 750 picture theatres in Australia
(Baxter 1970, 28, sourced from an article by Michael Thornhill in the
Current Affairs Bulletin, 1967).
In 1919, direct taxes, generally referred to as ‘entertainment
taxes’, were introduced on cinema tickets by the Commonwealth Government
and applied under various schemes from 1919 to 1953. See Entertainment
taxes as a source of admissions data.
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1920
|
67.5
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5.4
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12.6
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| By 1921, cinema had become
the most popular form of entertainment in Australia. The cinema made
the largest contribution to entertainment tax receipts in that year,
with 68 million admissions compared to less than 16 million for the next
two most popular activities combined – live theatre and the horse
races.
Cinema-going was also becoming increasingly suburbanised. In NSW, there
were over 11 million admissions at suburban cinemas in 1921, compared
with less than 8 million at city cinemas (Collins 1987, 3, 29; Sabine
1995, 36).
It is estimated that, during the 1920s among a population of in a population
of just over 6 million, there were 2.25 million cinema admissions each
week, equating to an annual total of 117 million (Collins 1987, 17).
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1921
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68.0
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5.5
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12.5
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| There were 110 million admissions
and 1,250 cinemas in Australia in 1927 (Royal Commission 1928,
10, 14).
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1927
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110.0
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6.2
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17.8
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| In 1928, the arrival of commercial
talking pictures provided a massive boost for cinema attendances. Taxable
admissions to the cinema increased by over 70 per cent, while admissions
for every other taxed amusement declined (Collins 1987, 16).
Experimental films with synchronised sound had been first shown in Australia
in the late 1890s. The films were played on converted Kinetoscope machines
(known as Kinetophones) that were fitted with cylinder phonograph mechanisms.
Only 45 Kinetophones were sold worldwide and just five reached Australia.
The quality of the dialogue sync was poor and, as a result, these machines
and their films never became popular (Long 1993a, 40).
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1928
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187.0*4
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6.3
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29.7
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| By early 1930, the effect
of the Depression began to be felt in the cinema industry. By mid-1931,
profits for cinema exhibitors were at their lowest level for five years
resulting in staff retrenchments and salary reductions (Shirley &
Adams 1983, 108).
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1930
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131.0*5
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6.5
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20.2
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| In 1932, taxable admissions
to the cinema fell by 46 per cent (Collins 1987, 16-17).
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1932
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65.5*6
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6.6
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10.0
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| By March 1936, Australia
had 1,334 cinemas, all of them wired for sound. Australia was one of
the first countries in the world to fully adopt sound (Shirley &
Adams 1983, 104).
Between 1938 and 1940, a ‘general downturn in exhibition’
was reported, with films taking longer to return profits (Shirley &
Adams 1983, 156).
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Source: See Sources and acknowledgements.
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