Boulder Promotion and Development Association Inc

Boulder Town Hall

This beautifully preserved historic hall, with pressed tin ceiling and wrought iron balustrades, was opened on the 23rd of June 1908. It became famous as the host venue for celebrity performers such as Dame Nellie Melba and Eileen Joyce.

This multifaceted hall also operated as a library and municipal offices at various times during the 20th century and was the main focus of community life in Boulder.

Goatcher Curtain

This priceless curtain depicting the Bay of Naples has hung in the Boulder Town Hall since its opening in 1908 and is believed to be the last surviving example of a working Philip Goatcher stage curtain. Goatcher was paid 50 pounds in 1908 to paint the curtain as a drop canvas to complement and close the ‘picture frame’ stage of the Town Hall. Less than a year earlier he had painted the stage curtain at the Midland Town Hall.

This 6.25m x 8.45m work of one of the Victorian era’s greatest scenic painters was bought to the attention of the local council – torn in many places and the paint layer had became unstable and badly stained. In 1997 the curtain was removed and transported to Sydney where it was stabilised at a cost of $200,000 by the council and the fundraising efforts of Boulder Hidden Secrets.

Phil W. Goatcher (as he signed his name) was nicknamed Satin ‘n’ Velvet for the lavish illusions he created for drop curtains that graced theatres from Paris to New York. Like many of Goatcher’s works, the curtains painted for Perth’s His Majesty’s Theatre were painted over in 1948.

The curtain is located inside the Boulder Town Hall, Burt Street, Boulder. It is lowered by its original pulley system every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for viewing between 10.00 and 3.00pm, and on Boulder Market Days from 10.00am until 1.00pm.

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