Chiltern Theatre

Theatre at corner of Conness and Main Streets, Chiltern (Vic.), opened c.1859 as Star Theatre. Destroyed by fire. Rebuilt in brick 1866. Renamed Chiltern Theatre and used for motion pictures in early 20th century. Now antiques shop.

The barn-like brick theatre at Chiltern is the only remaining hotel hall of the type that was fitted up for theatre in goldfields towns in Victoria in the mid-19th century. During the gold rushes in Queensland in the late 19th century similar halls behind hotels were built in timber. There was a gold rush in the Chiltern district in the second half of the 1850s. In 1859 the Chiltern Standard was advertising the Star Theatre attached to the White Star Hotel. Like most early theatres in gold-mining towns in Victoria, it was a hall built of flimsy temporary materials, fitted up with a stage for visiting entertainers. It was a separate building, linked to the hotel in front. There was no box, circle or gallery. 

In 1866 the hotel was rebuilt in brick after a fire. The new Star Family and Commercial Hotel had a 'splendid hall adapted for concerts, public meetings and theatrical programmes', according to the Federal Standard of 2 January 1867. During the year the hall was described as 'a splendid theatre', but few theatrical entertainments were advertised apart from an occasional solo show, such as Edith Palmerston in Wanted, a Star, dioramas and a 'grand moving panorama of a voyage round the world with hosts of novelties in melody'. The theatre doubled as the Star Assembly Rooms for balls. It remained an all-purpose theatre and hall until it became the Chiltern Theatre for films. The hotel is now a museum and tourist information centre and the theatre is an antiques shop.