Hibernian Hall

The multi-purpose Hibernian Hall was built for the Hibernian-Australasian Catholic Benefit Society (HACBS) in 1902 for the ‘instruction, debate and entertainment’ of the Catholic community.¹  The history of the Hall for entertainment, and later medical purposes, tells us much about the social experience of ordinary Perth people in the first half of the twentieth century. 

A Trove search of the West Australian from 1902 to 1954 yields some 4000 items related to use of the Hall, mostly advertisements in the entertainment columns, reviews of performances and reports of events in the social column. A full study of the Hall’s history remains to be done. But the data to date indicates steady use of the Hall by a range of organisations for a variety of community purposes.

From its earliest days, the Hall was a focal point for Irish Catholic identity in Perth. The HACBS hosted its state and national meetings there. Annual St Patrick’s Day Parades began and ended there. The Catholic community organised stage plays, bazaars, card nights and social dances at the Hall to raise funds for Catholic schools and welfare institutions such as the Foundlings Home and Glendalough Orphanage. In 1923 the Governor opened a two-day Fair at the Hall to benefit Catholic charities: the programme included an evening street procession, concerts, national dancing, boxing, log chopping and a band. The Hall also provided a forum for Irish political debate. Perth’s United Irish League met there in 1904 to advance Home Rule. The same year saw a benefit entertainment to elderly Fenians Mr Duggan and Mr Keilly, who had been transported to Western Australia as political prisoners in 1867.

Other interest groups put the Hall to good use. The Fire Brigade Recreation Club held its fancy dress ball there in 1909. The Hall was a popular venue for wrestling and boxing matches: Perth’s Jack Robbo met Fremantle’s Black Paddy there in 1910. Local yachting and cricket clubs and the Perth and East Perth Football Clubs held prize-giving socials at the Hall: Frank Watson, former football star now crippled, was given a benefit performance there in 1918.

The Hall was also a forum for matters administrative, industrial and educational. Local government bodies met at the Hall in 1921 to debate the efficiency and economy of public administration. The Amalgamated Society of Engineers held a strike meeting there in the same year. The Country Teachers’ Branch of the State School Teachers’ Union held regular annual conferences at the Hall in the 1920’s.

The Hall’s central location, seating capacity, and modest rental attracted Perth’s vigorous amateur theatre community from the outset. Early twentieth-century amateur performance was strictly not-for-profit. Its rationale was to recirculate profits back into the community. It was thus a significant form of community subsidy at a time when the fledgling state government had little money for welfare. One of the earliest amateur benefits at the Hall was a Perth Hebrew Literary Society performance of two comedies in 1904. 1905 saw seven amateur productions at the Hall, with benefits to the Home of Peace, St Anne’s Hospital, and the Fidelity Lodge, and an elite Dorcas Society charity performance under vice-regal patronage. The Knobby Grass Dramatic Society donated its takings to the YMCA war effort in 1916. Profits from the première of author and historian Dame Mary Durack’s first play, ‘The Avenger,’ at the Hall in 1929 went towards the construction of nearby St Mary’s Cathedral. Pupils at Perth’s dance, elocution, drama and music schools also performed regularly at the Hall. Few, if any, commercial theatre entertainers played the Hall. Fremantle’s Innisfail Players toured there in 1905; hypnotist Mr Betteridge appeared in 1908. The University Dramatic Society, then based at Irwin Street, performed at the Hall in 1920 and 1922. The Hall’s acoustic suited the many musical recitals and concerts it hosted.

The Trove search provides helpful information about the Hall’s facilities. Modest rentals (£1 in 1906) attracted voluntary organisations. Charges for power and an electrician indicate auditorium electric lights and a form of electric lighting for the proscenium arch stage. The repertoire of concerts and one- and two-act plays would have required no sophisticated lighting or staging. Use of the Hall floor for boxing, wrestling and dancing indicates movable seating and reconfigurable space. The gallery above the front entrance would have been used for spectating and receptions.

The heritage value of the Hibernian Hall is enhanced by its proximity to the Fire Museum, and the fact that it has outlived former theatres St George’s Hall in Hay Street; the Cremorne Gardens between Murray and Hay; and the Assembly Hall and Playhouse in Pier Street. The Hall continued to serve the community first as an RPH Out-Patients Clinic and then as the Perth Chest Clinic from 1948 to the late 1960’s. 

¹ The information provided in this account of the Hibernian Hall is taken from a Trove search of the West Australian (1902 to 1955).