Paragon Theatre

Story

Paragon Theatre is a heritage-listed cinema and theatre at 75 Churchill Street, Childers, Bundaberg Region, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Arthur Robson and built in 1927 by P Mellefont, Jnr. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 28 April 2000.HistoryThe Paragon Theatre in Childers was constructed in 1927 for local film exhibitors Gee, Philpott and Gee. It was designed by Brisbane architect Arthur Robson and replaced a smaller refreshment rooms and entertainment hall/picture show on the site.Childers in 1927 was a prosperous sugar town established in the late 1880s at the head of the Isis railway line from Isis Junction into the surrounding scrub. The line, which opened on 31 October 1887, was intended to facilitate the transport of timber from the Isis Scrub, but also proved to be the catalyst for the establishment of a sugar industry in the district. By 1895, Childers had emerged as the flourishing centre of a substantial sugar-growing and sugar-milling district, and in the years between 1891 and 1900 the population grew from 91 to 4000. In 1903 the old Isis Divisional Board (1886) was abolished and Isis Shire proclaimed, with the new seat of municipal government moving from Howard to Childers.