Becoming A City: Entertainment & The Arts

One of the important ties drawing citizens together in those early years was, perhaps surprisingly, music. The civic pride which now tends to be reserved for sporting teams was devoted to bands, choirs and singers. Bands were an important part of Ipswich life, and they enticed players from other places as standard procedure, a little like modern football teams. [1]

Ipswich residents were reported to have been astonished when Edison’s “Cinematographe” was first demonstrated in the city in 1897. The audience was entertained by brief silent films including a regiment marching to battle and a dentist pulling a tooth.

In March 1901, Banjo Paterson came to Ipswich to speak about his experiences in the Boer War. As part of the program, a film was shown of the recent Federation celebrations in Sydney, allowing local people to share in that distant national event through the new medium.

Records of the entertainments held at Ipswich Town Hall show that models and photographic displays of world events were often brought to Ipswich. However with the arrival of cinema, there was an immediacy that had never been experienced before. [2]

During World War I, there were many social events to raise money for soldiers and these included street parades and concerts. About 3000 people attended a concert at Bossy Martoo's picture theatre to hear a 1000-voice choir, several orchestras and military trumpeters.