2021 – Awesome Adelaide

November 22, 2021

Urban Exploring: The Birthday Bunker

South Australia at War

World War 2 began when Nazi Germany invaded Poland on 3 September 1939.

South Australian Premier Tom Playford lobbied the federal member of munitions and the minister of munitions for government defense contracts.

Adelaide’s advanced motor vehicle industry and the facilities of the South Australian Railway Workshops made South Australia an ideal site to manufacture complex munitions equipment.

War production in South Australia

Urban Exploring The Birthday Bunker — Awesome Adelaide — A 1942 card from the papers of Audrey Symons, who worked at the factory during World War Two. (Source: State Library of SA)

Three major government facilities were built. The Hendon Ammunition Factory — built to manufacture small arms ammunition. Finsbury Munitions Factory — shell casings, cartridge cases, and fuses. The Salisbury Explosives Factory filling components with explosive powder.

Secret underground telecommunication installations like the Doomsday Bunker, the RAAF Remote Semi-Underground Bunker, and The Bomb Shelter were built around the state to aid in communication and to intercept enemy messages.

The Sleeps Hill Railway Tunnels were converted into ammunition bunkers and storage vaults for the states treasures.

Air Raid Shelters like the Prospect Air Raid Shelter and the Islington Air Raid Shelter were constructed to aid in communication and provide shelter from enemy bombardment.

Home-made bunkers like The Clarice Bunker, The Jackson Bunker, The Family Fallout Shelter and Pharaoh’s Tomb were built for individual, family and town protection from attack and radioactive fallout.

Aircraft like The McDonald’s West Lakes Party Plane were re-purposed as supply planes.

Fort Largs and Fort Glanville were built to defend the city of Adelaide against attack.

Numerous rural bunkers were built to store ammunition and fuel.

The Birthday Bunker

Since 2015 we’ve been exploring one such pre-Cold War era bunker. Long abandoned by the Australian Defence Forces, it sits out-of-sight; hidden below-ground, in rural South Australia.

Its new owner turned the bunker into a ‘man cave’ and recreation room. Complete with a stove, an oven, seating, bunk-beds and large firepit — everything required for an all-night bender.

Walls and ceiling are decorated with West End, Strongbow, and Coca-Cola signage. Artwork of Simpsons characters line the walls wishing family members ‘happy birthday’ and ‘well wishes’ on their special day.

We can only imagine the excessive alcohol consumption that has occurred here and the life long memories forged in such an impressive place…

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August 23, 2021

Urban Exploring: The Victoria Tower

Adelaide General Post Office, c. late 1870s. (Source: South Australian Government Photographic Collection)

The Victoria Tower

The landmark Victoria Tower was added to the then brand-new Adelaide General Post Office building in 1867 and has stood as Adelaide‘s centrepiece for 154 years.

Prince Alfred, The Duke of Edinburgh laid the foundation stone to a crowd of 3,500 people on the 5th of November 1867.

It became Adelaide’s tallest building and took a further 9 years to complete.

Inside the Tower

In December 1875, The Victoria Tower bells were installed. Their chime was copied from those of Westminster Abbey.

A total of 5 bells were installed.

The 4 smaller bells chime every quarter-hour and are weighted as follows:

No.1 bell (chimes in C) is 967 kg;
No.2 bell (chimes in B flat) is 513 kg;
No.3 bell (chimes in A flat) is 630 kg;
No.4 bell (chimes in E flat) is 1,270 kg.

The fifth grand bell (chimes in C) weighs a whopping 2,460 kg and chimes on the hour.

The tower also houses the clock mechanism.

This year the clock will be 147 years old and was made in 1874 by Joyce and Son Whitchurch of Shropshire in England, one of the oldest clock makers in the world.

The clock cost £410 and is weight-driven. The weights slowly work their way down to the ground, so three times a week service personnel climb to the top of the Clock Tower to wind it up.

On 13 December 1875 the clock was put in motion and the bells rang out over the city of Adelaide for the first time.

At the time, the Adelaide GPO building including the Victoria Tower was the most expensive building erected by the colonial government in South Australia. It cost £55,296 ( equivalent to ~$12.5 million dollars today ).

Since the Adelaide General Post Office vacated in 2019, the building has sat disused.

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May 24, 2021

Urban Exploring: The Trak Cinema

The Trak Cinema

The Trak Cine Centre was opened on December 26 1975, by Steve Buge – a venture built off of his successful re-opening of the Lockleys Soldiers’ Memorial Hall a couple of years prior.

The opening features were Jeremy and Where The Lilies Bloom.

Programming of these initial days was relatively mainstream and of a wide audience appeal.

Unfortunately, this programming policy received mixed reactions in the eastern suburbs, and the cinema closed in the late 1970s.

Barry Loane

Barry Loane grew up on a diet of films from Hollywood in Sydney’s beach side suburb of Manly, with four movie

palaces within a five-minute walk from his home. He had an affection for alternative films, independent or, as he liked to call it, “World Cinema”.

In 1978 when living in Adelaide, he visited a run-down and disused cinema in the eastern suburbs named The Trak. It was the beginning of what was to be a lifetime devotion for him and Adelaide movie-goers.

He was warned against showing independent and foreign language films on a regular basis. His first big test came when he screened a German Documentary “HITLER – A CAREER”.

It proved to be a huge success with audiences. He then extended his six month lease and established The Trak Cinema as Adelaide’s first “boutique” cinema for discerning movie-goers.

“The Gods Must Be Crazy” was released in Australia in August 1984. While all other cinemas in Adelaide had turned it down, Barry knew how Adelaide audiences would react. “The Gods Must Be Crazy” was so successful it ran for a full year at The Trak Cinema. It’s success allowed him to experiment with even more alternative and cutting edge material, including the hit film A Clockwork Orange.

Renovations & Improvements

In 1989, the Toorak Village Arcade, in which The Trak Cinema was tucked away on the second floor, changed owners. With new owners came a new, long lease, and the reliability that Barry needed to undertake some much-needed upgrades.

In 1989, Barry extended The Trak Cinema to two screens. It proved extremely popular with patrons, giving them a greater selection of programs from which to choose.

The Trak Cinema Foyer, Adelaide, South Australia. (Source: S.A. Drive-ins & Cinemas)

The Trak closed from July 1 to July 19 1990, and $100,000 was spent on new seating, a new red colour scheme, extended foyer, a larger screen and new projectors and a new stereo sound system.

1990 also saw the opening of Trak Video, making The Trak Cinema a one-of-a-kind operation in Australia, combining cinema and home entertainment.

In 2003, after twenty-five years at the helm, Barry retired due to ill health.

Barry passed away peacefully at his Adelaide home on Sunday, April 9, 2017. He was 79 years old.

The Two Michaels

The Trak Cinema owners Michael Schneider and Michael Todd, Adelaide, South Australia. — The Trak Cinema owners Michael Schneider and Michael Todd. (Source: Dylan Coker)

The Trak Cinema was purchased by business partners Michael Schneider, already a decade-long employee of The Trak, and Michael Todd, who until that point had been managing the Capri Theatre.

The Trak continued as Adelaide‘s favourite arthouse cinema for a number of years before the next big change…

Early incarnations of digital cinema were being experimented with in the late 2000s. It led to the installation of one of the first generations of digital cinema – commonly referred to as e-cinema – at The Trak.

Because digital film was more economically viable than the old 35mm format, the two Michael’s added a third, digital only cinema.

The death of a long time friend of Michael Todd was the catalyst for the breakup of the two Michaels’ partnership and led to The Trak Cinema’s eventual downfall in early January 2019.

Enter Adam Towill

Longtime cinema historian and enthusiast, Adam Towill, had become aware of the unfolding circumstances, and arranged access to the minimally documented, and now disused Trak Cinema in order to photograph it, assuming that it would never reopen.

What started out as a mission to photograph the final moments of one of Adelaide’s well-liked cinemas, quickly became a mission to save it.

After poring over sales figures and predicting absolute worst case scenarios, Adam gained possession of The Trak Cinema on February 14 2019.

Adam continued Barry’s tradition of screening alternative films. Australia Day 2020 saw the first use of film The Trak had seen since its conversion to entirely digital projection in 2013 – a 16mm print of an Australian documentary called The Back of Beyond, followed by the journey of Tom Kruse, The postman who serviced the towns and residents along the Birdsville Track.

The Beginning of the End

News of a strange new virus emerging in China was beginning to make headlines. One month later, international travel restrictions were being put in place, distributors were suspending films, and attendances, not just at The Trak Cinema, but across the planet, free fell to record lows. Within the first two weeks of March 2020, attendances dropped 90%, and by the third week, mandatory shutdowns were in force.

Initial conversations with the building owners were positive – “don’t stress, we’ll look after you”. But by September the owners were looking at other options. The Trak Cinema was officially asked to close down and to vacate the building by December 1 2020.

After entertaining Adelaide movie-goers for well over 40 years, The Trak Cinema was systematically dismantled, and replaced with a Gym.