CAARP
Cinema and Audience Research Project

The Candelo School of Arts Hall played host to a number of different travelling show companies from at least 1900 until 1925 when a permanent cinema was established operating from the hall. Talkies were introduced in 1931.

In 1935 a fire which began in the bio box completelly raised the building. By November 1936 a new Town Hall had been erected on the site and the cinema reopened under the auspices of Mr L A Downey who incorporated the venue into his traveling circuit. The Candelo cinema continued to operate on a weekly basis as a part of several touring circuits until 1962. Although no longer a venue for film the Town Hall has continued to be used for community events.

References:
Hanson, S 2008, ‘“Electrical wonders of the present age”: cinema-going on the Far South Coast of NSW and rural discourses of modernity’, honours thesis, Faculty of Arts, University of Wollongong.

Parkinson, R 2010, Picture Shows on the Far South Coast of New South Wales, Robert Parkinson, Sydney.