DR. HOOK walked right in, Toni Childs didn’t walk away, Paul Kelly walked to her door, James Blundell came from way out west, Amy Shark said hi, Kate Miller-Heidke got caught in the crowd, and John Williamson was always True Blue returning to the Ipswich Civic Centre.
The city’s cultural centre turned 50 on Saturday – the landmark was opened by then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam on July 19, 1975.
Everyone has a fond memory of time spent at the Ipswich Civic Centre, and someone that’s heard them all is former venue manager Gary Mears.
Mr Mears was a driving force behind the Ipswich Civic Centre from 1996, when he was Ipswich City Council Marketing Manager, and from 2001 to 2013 when he was venue manager.
“When the centre opened there were acts like Kamahl, Reg Lindsay and Slim Dusty,” Mr Mears said. “The theatre then went into bingo mode for nearly 20 years. It became a wedding venue, bingo and musicals
“In 2003, I pulled it apart and put it back together again, put the stage access back in, new lighting and sound system and then we were able to run a full program and that was when we got all the touring acts coming through.
“One of the first acts that was a surprise was Sara Storer. John Williamson approached me and said ‘there’s a new girl, she’s going to be good, you should book her’.
“I booked her for a very low price because no-one had heard of her.”
Storer went on to become an overnight success and took out seven Golden Guitar Awards.
“The Civic Centre was one of the first venues celebrating her as a loved artist and it sold out,” Mr Mears said.
“That opened the door for more acts coming through. I had Toni Childs perform there, and a mate of mine said,
‘I’ve got this band for a support act. They’re from Rockhampton. They’ve never played outside of Rockhampton and they have a CD out, they’re called Busby Marou’.”
So Busby Marou played their first show out of Rockhampton at the Ipswich Civic Centre.
“For that show we had just built a main artists’ dressing room beside the side of the stage,” Mr Mears said.
“We were so very proud to have this new, flash dressing room where the stars could meet before the show.
“Busby Marou had just finished … where’s Toni Childs, we can’t find her … The crowd is starting to get anxious.
“I raced down to the hotel next door where she was staying and here she is just casually walking out the foyer on her own, dressed in a T-shirt, jeans and thongs.
“I said, ‘walk with me, you can use the dressing room right next to the stage’.
“She stepped inside the dressing room, kicked her thongs off and walked straight on the stage barefeet in her old T-shirt – and that was her look and her feel. But for me, we were looking forward to her enjoying this new dressing room.”
The Ipswich Civic Centre has catered for a diverse range of musical and theatrical interests and community functions.
“In the early days, they used to promote that more than 2500 brides had been married there. It used to be three weddings a night in three different rooms,” Mr Mears said.
When he was manager, many people would come in and say they were married there and had special memories of the place.
“The citizenship ceremonies held there; people will never forget the time they became an Australian citizen.”
Mr Mears often heard people re-live their memory when they walked into that centre because something special happened for them.
“It is a special place.”
