The Plaza Years, 1931
This photograph shows a packed house inside the Plaza Theatre, Paddington, during the earliest years of Marist Rosalie’s concert tradition, in 1931. Built in 1929 on Latrobe Terrace at the corner of Collingwood Street, the Plaza quickly became the leading suburban theatre in Brisbane, capable of holding well over a thousand people.
For a school that had only just opened at Rosalie in 1929, the use of such a venue speaks for itself. These were not small school gatherings. They were major district events. Families came from Milton, Paddington and Red Hill, filling the theatre for evenings of performance that combined music, recitation and staged productions.
Concert programmes preserved in the Marist College Rosalie archives confirm that the boys were performing at the Plaza by 1931. In these early years, the programmes were built around nursery rhyme and pantomime items, with boys appearing in costume and taking part in structured performances drawn from familiar themes — a normal and accepted part of school life at the time.
As the decade moved forward, the tone of the concerts changed. By the late 1930s and into the 1940s, items such as “Yankees,” “Soldiers,” and “Police” appear, reflecting the influence of the wider world and the realities of the war years. The stage followed the times.
At some point, the setting itself appears to have shifted. Later photographs suggest that not all performances continued at the Plaza. Whether through cost, availability, or simple practicality, activity moved closer to Rosalie, where the new brick church and school buildings provided a clear and established centre for gatherings.
What did not change was the purpose. These concerts were a key part of parish life. They brought the community together, filled halls and theatres, and gave the boys the opportunity to perform before large audiences.
The Plaza Theatre still stands today as the Paddington Antique Centre. The crowds are gone, but in 1931 this was where the boys of Rosalie took the stage before the district.
Photo: Marist College Rosalie Archive
