Towering above the main street in the New South Wales country town of Yass is an art deco treasure with a peeling facade and a storied history.<\/p>\n
Designed in an ‘ocean liner’ style, the 700-seat Liberty Theatre opened in 1939 with great fanfare.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The theatre was a cultural hub for Yass when it opened in 1939. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
For 35 years the cinema was a cultural hub, hosting everything from comedies to thrillers, news reels and even banking services.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It was common for couples to take their wedding photos in the theatre’s lounge. (Supplied)<\/p>\n
The theatre’s lounge became a popular spot for couples taking their wedding photos.<\/p>\n
But the cinema screened its final movie in 1974, unable to compete with the growing popularity of television.<\/p>\n
“It’s had so many iterations since the cinema closed,” lifelong local Janno Scanes said.<\/p>\n
“It’s been offices, it’s been a skating rink.<\/p>\n
“You name it, it’s been here \u2014 but nothing ever lasted very long.”<\/p>\n
‘Huge job’ ahead<\/p>\n
The Liberty Theatre became dilapidated over the years of disuse. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n
Over the years, the heritage building has fallen into a state of disrepair.<\/p>\n
A group of volunteers, called the Friends of the Liberty Theatre, is working to revitalise the cinema and preserve its legacy.<\/p>\n
“The Liberty Theatre is a unique building,” the group’s Jo Mulligan said.<\/p>\n
“We understand that there’s only two of this particular design that have survived through to today.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Jo Mulligan says the Liberty Theatre is one of just two buildings that still exists with its design. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n
There is a long road ahead, and the job is expected to cost several million dollars.<\/p>\n
“It’s a huge job \u2026 because it’s an old building,” Ms Mulligan said.<\/p>\n
“She’s structurally sound, we’ve had engineers do an assessment \u2026 but she needs some work, and we do need to replace the roof as well.”<\/p>\n
Cinematic homecoming<\/p>\n
In a major milestone, the group recently installed a new state-of-the-art cinema screen and projector.<\/p>\n
It means the movies have returned to Yass for the first time in 51 years.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Janno Scanes says it was very emotional to see the Liberty Theatre filled with people again. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n
For Ms Scanes, who grew up watching films at the Liberty Theatre, seeing the seats filled again is a marvel.<\/p>\n
“It’s actually very emotional, because it’s been a long hard road to get here,” she said.<\/p>\n
The early screenings were a sellout, with residents flocking to the theatre for a novel night out.<\/p>\n
“I think the whole district is behind it, and the whole community is delighted to see it happening,” local Ian Wearing said.<\/p>\n
An early screening at the Liberty Theatre was the first time local Kellie Mossop had been in the cinema. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n
Kellie Mossop has lived in Yass for 20 years, but had never stepped foot in the theatre until now.<\/p>\n
“It’s very special,” she said.<\/p>\n
“We spend plenty of time going into Canberra to watch the movies, so I think it’s lovely.”<\/p>\n
Plans are underway to introduce a more regular film schedule.<\/p>\n
Long-term vision<\/p>\n
The Friends of Liberty Theatre are currently trying to buy the building and put it in a community trust. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n
The Friends of the Liberty Theatre group is raising money to buy the theatre from its private owners.<\/p>\n
The committee envisages the theatre becoming an arts hub for the community.<\/p>\n
“Having a cinema back in Yass means the community can come together, and there’s a sense of pride as well,” Ms Mulligan said.<\/p>\n
“We want to be able to purchase it and protect it for the community, so putting it in a community trust, to remove any threat of somebody else having a different vision for the site or the building.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Towering above the main street in the New South Wales country town of Yass is an art deco…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[157396,2666,46291,95053,64,63,22674,2667,47144,134,9371,12652,157402,157398,157399,157401,32895,157397,2289,2668,120239,673,2733,157400,32669,2607,131929,4089,46320,50030],"class_list":["post-270553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-157396","tag-act","tag-ambitious","tag-art-deco","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-building","tag-canberra","tag-cinema","tag-entertainment","tag-friends","tag-heritage","tag-ian-wearing","tag-janno-scanes","tag-jo-mulligan","tag-kellie-mossop","tag-legacy","tag-liberty-theatre","tag-local-news","tag-local-stories","tag-main-street","tag-new-south-wales","tag-nsw","tag-preserve","tag-restoration","tag-revitalise","tag-screens","tag-theatre","tag-unique","tag-yass"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}