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The picture theatre wars

31/5/2014

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PictureThe Land Beyond the Sunset, 1912. Starring Martin Fuller. Produced by the Fresh Air Fund.
By Carolyn Landon

IN 1910, Wonthaggi miners without their families were hungry for entertainment. They had their football, boxing, foot races and cricket among other things. They also had their band, but, as their wives and children began to join them on the coalfield, they needed more. 

The women wanted something social and something to dress up for. They began holding dances for any reason any night of the week. Consequently, Wonthaggi was filled with halls of varying types and sizes to hold dances in, among them Henry’s Hall, White’s Hall, the Lyceum Hall, Smiths’ Hall. ​


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From strength to strength

17/5/2014

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Picture
By Carolyn Landon

“WHEN, in 1934, the wives of striking Wonthaggi Miners formed their own broad committee to support the strike, Australian history was made,” wrote Noel Maud in the Sentinel Times in April 1988. During the five-month strike in 1934, the militant miners at the Wonthaggi State Coal Mine took over control of the strike organisation and formed, for the first time in Australian union history, a broad committee (comprising all sections of the union) for relief funds, entertainment and propaganda. 

Under the direction of Arthur Asquith and Tom Currie, 60 volunteers formed into sub-committees operating from the Miners’ Union Theatre. After the June elections, the women were asked to help. So they formed a women’s broad committee and co-operated with the men in relief, especially for children and mothers. ​


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