Independent Film Exhibition: Country Queensland from the 1930s to the 1960s

Abstract

In 1959·60 there were approximately 1200 country picture theatres in Australia, most of them run by independent exhibitors. Over 300 of chem were in Queensland and many were in remote small country towns (The Film Weekly Motion Picture Directory 1959-60 p.16). They screened three or four different Hollywood double features a week, newsreels, serials, cartoons and American travelogues. Who were these independent country exhibitors who provided arguably the most important cultural and social activity in the bush? How did the eight major Hollywood studios supply films all over Australia, including the remotest picture theatre in the outback? What can we learn from the way Hollywood culturally colonised Australia?