Outdoor pleasure gardens, or amusement parks, became popular in Europe in the mid-18th century. London had the Vauxhall Gardens, the Surrey Zoological Gardens and the Cremorne Gardens. In 1852 a former manager of the Cremorne Gardens, James Ellis, opened pleasure gardens of the same name beside the Yarra River at Richmond, near prosperous goldrush Melbourne. Like the London establishment they copied, they were mainly a summer venue. They offered the Pantheon, a small theatre where Julia Matthews starred; a bandstand and rotunda for outdoor dancing; and a three-dimensional panorama. This was modelled in plaster, canvas and timber to a scale of 1 :48, and painted to represent scenes such as the sieges of Sevastopol or Canton, the eruption of Vesuvius. There was a fireworks show with the panorama, which showed a different historical scene each summer. In 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi's triumph at Palermo was a topical subject.
Most visitors arrived at the Cremorne Gardens by river on a small paddle-steamer, the Gondola. The gardens proved very popular, though some regarded them, like their London counterparts, as a place of immoral assignation and prostitution. The theatrical entrepreneur George Coppin took over the management in 1856. By 1863, however, over-commitment in other entertainment ventures forced him to close the gardens. They were converted into a private mental asylum.
Similar pleasure gardens, also called the Cremorne Gardens, opened at Mosman's Bay, on the north shore of Sydney Harbour, at Easter 1856. They were never quite as successful as Melbourne's Cremorne Gardens but people flocked there by harbour ferry until 1865. They were especially popular for their bals masqués. Lack of 'respectability' contributed to their closure, long after which the area became known as Cremorne.
The name of Cremorne Gardens also persisted in outdoor entertainment. In Perth in 1895 Mrs Annie Oliver opened the Cremorne Gardens adjacent to the Cremorne Hotel, between Hay and Murray Streets. Well furnished with plants and surrounded by a high wall painted with murals of alpine scenery, 'the Cremorne was a place where in hot weather people [took] their amusements in the open air, while smoking and otherwise refreshing themselves', according to a press report. Around a rotunda were kiosks, each named after a Western Australian goldmining locality, where the public sat to watch 'continental' variety performances by local and visiting artists, including the Harry Rickards Tivoli Company, Pollard's Liliputian Opera Company, the Banvards, Celia Ghiloni, Neva Carr Glynn, Ettie Williams and Millie Finkelstein. About 1899 the rotunda was moved to the Perth foreshore and replaced by a covered outdoor stage with a proscenium arch, drop curtains, an orchestra pit and dressing rooms. Troops were entertained at the Cremorne Gardens during the First World War. The gardens closed in 1920, when Mrs Oliver transferred the equity of the theatre and the hotel to the Young Men's Christian Association.
At the height of Western Australia's goldrush prosperity Kalgoorlie had a Cremorne Gardens. Photographs from 1907 show an open-air auditorium with rows of seats, a proscenium-arch stage with fly tower and backdrop, and an orchestra pit. The building, since roofed, still stands.
By 1911 outdoor theatres called Cremorne Gardens were presenting seaside Pierrot entertainment in the Melbourne suburb of St Kilda, and in Adelaide and Brisbane. By the 1920s there was an Australia-wide circuit, featuring Edward Branscombe's Dandies, Pat Hanna's Diggers Company and similar companies. Many of the Cremorne venues soon became open-air cinemas, while the one in Brisbane was roofed and became the Cremorne Theatre, owned and managed by John N. McCallum, father of the actor John McCallum. The theatre, noted for variety but sometimes used as a cinema, burned down in February 1954.
Contributor
Provide feedback on Mimi Colligan