More than a Makeover

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More than a Makeover
08 Jan 2025
By Her Maj

Preserving a 15-year-old icon

We didn't become the oldest continuously operating theatre in mainland Australia overnight. Here's a look at what went into our past, and how we prepared to re-open our doors in 2024.

1875 The theatre first opens as the Academy of Music and hosts Lecocq's comic opera La Fille de Madame Angot on opening night.
1884 Former miner William Bridges opens an art gallery in the supper room above the theatre. The Ballarat Fine Art Gallery would move to its current home in 1890.
1898 The building is sold and leading theatre architect William Pitt, a protégé of original architect George "Diamond" Browne, is recruited to give the stage infrastructure an upgrade. (He's the one to introduce the rare double horseshoe-shaped balconies and iconic sloped stage — thanks Bill.) The Academy of Music is re-named Her Majesty's Theatre.
1930 Coming out of the silent movie era, the theatre is finally wired for sound.
1940s In popular stage productions by local pantomime legend Wavie Williams, Ballarat's first and only parking officer, John Sorrel would appear as the dame and fly over the audience on a specially rigged swing. The audience cheered for the spectacle and the assurance that they wouldn't get ticketed on show days.
1965 Royal South Street purchases the theatre to host its annual competition and renames it The Memorial Theatre.
1980 The National Trust classifies the theatre.
1987 Royal South Street gifts ownership of the theatre to the City of Ballarat.
1990 The dome ceiling — removed in 1907 for structural reasons - returns when the venue reopens following major heritage restorations. This is also when she's called Her Majesty's once again. Feels right.
1996 + 1997 Annual celebrations for our 121st and 122nd birthdays draw from 19th century theatre traditions, including re-stagings of classic panto.
1999 A then-manager of the theatre decided 124 years of history wasn't quite enough and set about planting the seeds of a ghost at Her Maj. Gloria, he claimed, was the ghost of a woman who set off from Adelaide to watch her long-lost love perform in the Royal South Street. Some claim they've seen her over the years, others think it's all a furphy.
2000 After years of close proximity to the historic feet warmers, the theatre's old pine floors are well and truly cooked — as anyone who sat down and tipped backwards can attest. They're torn out and replaced with hardwood, making theatregoing less of an extreme sport.
2007 Her Maj, a History of Her Majesty's Theatre, Ballarat is written by Peter Freund with Val Sarah. Peter was not only the venue's publicist and theatre historian, but also a helpful contributor to this timeline. Thank you, Peter!
2011 Our new Senior Producer Shaun Adams was there for Straight to You: Triple J's Tribute to Nick Cave when Australian music royalty — including Adalita, Kram, Dan Sultan, Bertie Blackman, Lisa Mitchell, Urthboy and more — walked into Her Maj and took it all in with awe. "That's the feeling you want to create: of people rocking up and going, 'I can't wait to play a show here'."
2015 He might be the country's most celebrated songwriter, but Paul Kelly was more than happy to blend into the background at Her Maj for his Merri Soul Sessions in 2015. Music journalist Doug Wallen remembers being "struck not only by the hushed intimacy of this historic space but by the novelty of seeing Australia's most iconic songwriter gamely playing the humble sideman to his round-robin assemblage of contributors."
2024 After seven years of refurbishment, Her Majesty's Theatre reopens on November 22 with Resurgence, a showcase of celebrated local musicians.

Ancient Artefacts from Yesteryear

In this latest round of renovations we uncovered many fascinating artefacts from days of old, we even named our downstair foyer 'Lucky's Foyer' after the mummified cat we found bricked up in the walls!

Discovered in the walls of the theatre, a 'lucky' mummified cat and a trio of mice have been preserved in a glass case at Her Maj. Some say she was placed there in 1875 for good luck. Others think she might've just wandered in on the day her ninth life was up.
Ancient playbills from when Her Maj was known as The Academy of Music
Colourised sketch of the opening of the Ballarat Academy of Music, 1875.
Production stills from various shows.
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream (boxes)
Peters ice cream tubs
Ancient Minties box and ice cream wrapper
We can't get rid of them and don't need them, so the bags of heritage-protected dust from this latest reno just live here now.