Public opening of White's Concert & Assembly Rooms : [poster]

Poster for a Grand vocal and instrumental concert; held Monday evening, June 30th, White's Concert & Assembly Rooms, King William Street, Adelaide; under the patronage of the Deputy Provincial Grand Master and the various Lodges of Freemasons; attended by His Excellency Bro. Sir R. G. MacDonnell and Miss MacDonnell; assisted by the Choral Society. The poster includes concert program, names of other performers, admission fees and times for arrival, performance commencement and ordering carriages. It is printed on silk at the Register and Observer Offices, Grenfell Street, Adelaide.

White's Assembly and Concert Rooms in King William Street were for many years Adelaide's leading entertainment venue. Opened in June 1856 by George White they were used for concerts, theatricals, balls and public meetings. The building was essentially a large auditorium with a stage. From September 1859 it was illuminated by gas (presumably from its own gas plant as reticulated gas was not available in Adelaide until June 1863).

The Assembly Rooms actually opened several days previously on 26 June for a grand Masonic Ball and, as mentioned on the programme for the public opening on the 30th, the Freemasons were happy to allow their decorations to remain in place. Rather than a theatre for stage productions White's was 'more suited to concert party technique, to specialty troupes like bellringers, to solo artists ... and to family troupes of actors, singers and instrumentalists...' (Fischer, p. 87). Minstrel shows were also staged there and the Assembly Rooms had a tradition of staging variety shows well into the vaudeville period of the early 20th century.

In 1865 there was a proposal to enlarge the Assembly Rooms to seat 1,500 people but nothing came of this.

White's closed in 1880, but the site continued as an entertainment venue, with a re-modelling which included a dress circle and some private boxes. It became Garner's Rooms or Theatre. From 1916 to 1967 the venue was the Majestic Theatre (cinema). After several more changes of management, title and function the building was demolished in 1981.

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