Birch, Carroll & Coyle

Edward Carroll from Redbank Plains first worked for Queensland Railways before starting Carroll's Biograph Pictures in 1908 that provided outdoor music and movie events in Ipswich usually on Tuesday nights, during the summer months at North Ipswich Cricket Reserve. For their second season in 1909 the business moved to Bossie Martoo's stadium in Limestone Street. It became known as The Olympia Theatre and was used until winter 1909. For the colder months the pictures moved into the Ipswich Town Hall. This cycle continued for some years. 

Eventually Carroll joined forces with George Birch and Virge Coyle. They commissioned H.E.White to design the Wintergarden Theatre in East Street (next to RT Edwards), and theatres in other Qld towns. The Wintergarden opened in 1925, seating 2000 people. Starting with silent movies, it moved into "talkies" by the end of the decade. 

The Wintergarden was a veritable palace and integral part of Ipswich until it was demolished in 1979. A modern Birch, Carroll and Coyle theatre - Ipswich City Cinema was built on the site and opened in December 1979. It was a smaller facility and the first BC&C theatre to include on-site parking. 

Birch, Carroll and Coyle would eventually move to the corner of Ellenborough and Brisbane Streets after the demise of McDonnell & East in 1993.

Birch, Carroll and Coyle became a well-known and successful national brand.