Victa Cinemas - Victor Harbor, South Australia

The beautiful historic Victa Cinemas are located in Ocean Street in Victor Harbor.

History of the Victa Cinema

The Victa Cinema began operation on Saturday November 24 1923 as the Victor Theatre,under the control of Griffin Pictures,which had shown films at the Victor Harbor Institute prior to the opening of the Theatre. D.H.Griffin was a prominant local businessman of the time, that later became mayor of Victor Harbor. It's first two feature films were 'The Bohemian Girl' with Gladys Cooper and 'Mord Em'ly' with Betty Balfour.

By 1926 there was a change of management and the cinema came under the control of National Theatres who were also responsible for managing the Wonderview also at Victor Harbor. Unfortunately National Theatres went into liquidation in 1928 and Ozone Theatres Limited took over it's control.

Under new control, the Victor Theatre was to be renovated throughout with a dress circle to be installed providing an increased seating of 350. The total seating capacity would then increase to 1000.

In November 1930, sound was first introduced through the installation of a Western Electric sound system at a cost of 3000 pounds. This contributed to the theatre increasing its sessions to a nightly basis.

On January 14, 1931 a severe fire destroyed part of the theatre to the value of 3000 pounds. This caused the theatre to close it's doors for the remainder of the year whilst renovations and alterations were implemented. A grand reopening of the Victor Theatre took place on December 21, 1934.

In 1951 Hoyts purchased the Victor Theatre as part of a package with Ozone. By 1959 with the introduction of television, attendance to the Victor Theatre dwindled causing the cancellation of it's Monday and Tuesday screenings. In 1960 the screenings were only occurring on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. During school holiday periods the cinema held screenings every night, however by 1962 the cinema screened a matinee and evening session on Saturdays only.

The decline of the cinema continued causing its closure between October 13 and December 25 in 1963. Even in 1964 the cinema closed longer term for the winter months starting straight after Anzac Day until December 25.

In 1970 Hoyts sold the cinema for $25,000 to new owner Roy Denison and was reopened under his control renaming it the Victa Theatre for the 1970/71 Christmas school holidays. The cinema committed itself to running Friday, Saturday and Sunday screenings over the following 4 year period. Furthermore, the cinema held screenings during each school holidays up until 1995.

Mr. Geoff Stock purchased the Victa Theatre in September of 1995 with an ambition to restore the complex to it's former glory. The process began in 1996 with repairs and painting of the exterior and renaming it 'Victa Cinema'. The foyer was then restored with removal of curtains, repairs to walls, painting and replacement of the art deco light fittings. Following on was the upgrading of the projection room which included the installation of a platter and Dolby Digital Sound system in 1997. Renovation of the auditorium was a major project with the decision of converting the single screen theatre to a twin cinema due to large competition arising from newly built high profile Multiplexes. Consequently, the theatre closed for its conversion in August of 1998 with it reopening only a month later on September 11 in the upstairs area with seating of 286. The downstairs auditorium was later completed and opened on November 6, 1998 with seating of 297. The complete restoration included seats being re-upholstered and re-carpeting of the foyer area.

In February 2005 David and Carol Stonnill bought the cinema from the Stock family, with the intention of preserving and maintaining the beautiful art deco building, and where possible improving the facilities for the comfort of patrons.

In 2007 a hearing loop was installed in the upstairs cinema (cinema 1) for the benefit of hearing impaired patrons. This is located in the centre back four rows.

Also in 2007 work was commenced to install full reverse-cycle airconditioning.

Given the age of the building, and size of the ground floor auditorium, this became a bigger task than first anticipated. However, it was finally completed in early 2008.

The next project is the re-upholstering of the larger seats. When completed the older, smaller seats will be replaced with larger seats.

Today, patrons of the Victa Cinemas enjoy the style and charm of the original theatre and have a greater variety in the movies that are shown. The Victa Cinema is a popular attraction in it's own right and maintains the historical charm of Victor Harbor's bygone era.