Roxy Theatre Bingara - Photographs of the original Kytherian owners of the cinema.

One of Kevin Cork's laments in Chapter 7, Picture Gallery, of his Ph.D thesis - is that he could not find photographs of:

ARONEY, Emanuel (c1890 - 1972);

FEROS, Panayiotis (c1890 - 19.12.1954);

PSALTIS, Georgeos (c1900 - c1970s)

"Unfortunately, it has not been possible to find any photographs of the three men".

[The same seems to apply to:

BLYOS (Chlentzos), Constantine (20.2.1895 - 5.5.1971]

When I visited the Bingara Theatre, just prior to its official launch - the adminstrator of the Theatre revealed that she too could not manage to find any photographs.

I am certain such photographs exist, and hope that descendants of the above, will eventually post those photographs to kythera-family.


***Postscript, April 1, 2006. Peter Prineas provides the photographs.

The front cover of Peter Prineas's book, Katsehamos and the Great Idea provides us with a photograph of the three founders.

Front cover, Katsehamos and the Great Idea

"...When Peter Prineas learned in 2004 that his grandfather, Peter Feros, nicknamed ‘Katsehamos’, had built a picture theatre in the small town of Bingara in the 1930s, he wanted to know more about it. The result is ‘Katsehamos and the Great Idea - a true story of Greeks and Australians in the early twentieth century’, a book that digs deep into the shared history of Greeks and Australians, and the sometimes turbulent relations that existed between them in the period during and after the First World War..."

There are other photographs of the founders in the book Katsehamos and the Great Idea.

A set of photographs of the original founders is now on permanent display at the Roxy Theatre, Bingara, in the hallway, on the stairway, that leads up to the theatre.

Unveiling the photographs of the Roxy Theatres founders

These photographs were unveiled in a ceremony held on April 1, 2006, to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the theatre.

Announcement of Roxy Theatre 70th Anniversary celebrations


Yet another Kytherian "mystery" has been solved.

It is amazing what can be uncovered if someone makes an initial attempt to record history.

One small historical enquiry can generate a great deal of additional information.

In this case it has generated a very substantial book

Through his Ph.D thesis on Greek cinema ownership in NSW, Kevin Cork hoped that memories of the Greeks and Kytherians could be maintained. He also argued that attempts be made to establish a permanent connection between the founders, and the Greek landmark buildings that they established.

"If we are to remember these Hellenes for their contributions to Australia's social, architectural and technological advancement", he argued, "then it is imperative that there be Greek landmarks which are acknowledged at local and state level - ones that point to the achievements of the Greek-Australian cinema exhibitors who are the subject of this thesis. We cannot allow their histories to be forgotten, not when they provided services that positively affected millions of people, firstly, through their refreshment rooms and, secondly, through their picture theatres."

The photographs of the founders at the Roxy, establishes the Kytherian connection beautifully.