Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to congratulate the Ipswich Little Theatre Society Inc. on its 40th anniversary. I was pleased to be at the 40th anniversary celebrations last Saturday evening with Ipswich mayor Paul Pisasale; the state member for Ipswich and Queensland Minister for Transport, Rachel Nolan; the member for Ipswich West, Wayne Wendt; and the friends and members of the society. I was pleased to be able to celebrate the achievements of the theatrical society and to acknowledge the historical value of the Incinerator Theatre and the society’s use of that building for the past 40 years. In the Ipswich Art Gallery, the most visited regional art gallery in the country, from 30 July to 13 September this year memorabilia and presentations associated with the Incinerator and the society are being exhibited. I commend all Ipswichians to go and have a look at that presentation.

Since 1946 the Ipswich Little Theatre has entertained audiences with all types of quality theatre. It is one of the few little theatre societies that has been operating continuously in Queensland for that period of time. The theatre is located on Burley Griffin Drive, just off Griffith Road, in Ipswich. The theatre is interesting not just for the people who are involved in it, and I would like to commend people like Judith Grant, the president; Jim Orr, the vice president, Craig Taylor, the past president; Helen Pullar, the secretary, and her husband Ian, who presented the history of the society so wonderfully well on 15 August; January Patterson, the Treasurer; and Margaret Cook, to whom I am indebted for information for this speech.

We had the unveiling of an interpretive panel which outlined the building of the Walter Burley Griffin Municipal Incinerator and its workings and of its function as an intimate theatre since 1969. What is so fascinating about this is the fact that this is the only work in Queensland designed by Walter Burley Griffin. The Ipswich Incinerator was designed by Mr Griffin. In 1912, of course, he won an international competition to design our nation’s capital. His wife, fellow architect Marion Mahony Griffin, and architect Eric Nicholls established a practice in Melbourne, but it was badly affected by the Depression and as private commissions dried up Walter Burley Griffin turned his talents to an inventive approach to industrial architecture. Griffin designed buildings to be attractive and of high quality.

In 1935 the Griffins moved to India. Walter unexpectedly died of peritonitis there in 1937. So while he designed the Ipswich incinerator—designed for an incinerator company—he never actually saw it. In 1930, the Ipswich City Council resolved to replace its unsanitary municipal rubbish tip with the incinerator. It was built by Ipswich architect George Brockwell Gill and the second chimney, designed by Eric Nicholls, was added in 1940. Along with Nicholls, Griffin designed 13 of the 16 incinerators in Australia. The Ipswich incinerator opened on 5 November 1936 and provided the most hygienic, efficient and economical method of garbage disposal available. It is an interesting building—located near Queens Park in the middle of Ipswich. The waste was disposed of in a particularly unusual way. But it was closed in 1961 as it could not cope with the quality and quantity of the garbage produced by the ever-expanding population in Ipswich. The building was run down and redundant and Ipswich City Council considered knocking it down.

In 1969, the Ipswich Little Theatre Society members agreed to make it their new home. The question was how to go about it. They were very creative—as the people involved in the society have been for decades. The conditions were pretty primitive but the society has made continuous improvements, such as an entrance balcony, courtyards, kitchens, public toilets and an ancillary rehearsal and performance space. They made tiered seating. There was a lighting box and storage for props, and there was a backstage area created with a green room. Lots of things were done. The society has been part of the rich heritage of Ipswich for 40 years, and the incinerator is testimony to the legacy in Queensland of Walter Burley Griffin, the man who has made such an impact on our nation’s capital. A little part of Griffin is in Queensland. I want to congratulate the society and all those people associated with it on this great day.