Liberty Theatre

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Uploaded on: March 28, 2023

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After parishioners were assured that only wholesome biographs would be presented, Bert Black (then exhibiting at Blackheath) started a one year part-time lease of the newly built St Albans School Hall from 1st January 1914. (His pianist/vocalist was Elliot Walker). Designed by Sydney architects Bertrand James Waterhouse & John Willem Hamilton Lake (who had done the main church building five years earlier), the hall – constructed for around £1,000 by Katoomba contractor John Joseph Geraghty - was proclaimed 6th February 1914. The building was extended at the other end in 1932 creating a link to the church. A few years later ‘Talkies’ were run there by Katoomba Theatres for three months in 1937/38 as part of a short-lived ‘screen war’. Photo courtesy Rev. James Delanty.