Annandale Theatre / Royal Cinema (former site)

Annandale Theatre and the Royal: a neighbourhood at the pictures

Annandale Theatre opened in Johnston Street in 1912. Initially an open-air picture show with timber seating and iron-sheeted boundaries, it offered North Annandale residents a more convenient alternative to the earlier cinema on Parramatta Road.

Margaret Quinn’s recollections bring the audience into the story. She remembered the Tome family running the theatre, live musical accompaniment, children watching the projectionist, and the excitement of Saturday matinees. Seats varied in comfort and price, while interval purchases and the arrival of fresh reels became part of the outing. Her account records a shared neighbourhood routine as well as the films themselves.

In 1928, the Annandale Royal Theatre replaced the earlier picture show with a larger brick building, upstairs seating and an elaborate foyer. The journal’s photograph caption records its demolition in 1958. Although the cinema disappeared, Quinn’s memories preserve the sounds, small pleasures and social encounters that made it a community place.

• Margaret Quinn, “The Cinemas of Annandale”, Leichhardt Historical Journal 5, pp. 15–18.