The Essendon Incinerator Theatre
By Kane Lazenby
index
Walter Burley Griffin, who designed Canberra, designed the incinerator.
Two Griffin incinerators were built in Melbourne. The one in Brunswick (1934-1936) was demolished in 1975.
The Essendon incinerator (29-30) is the only surviving example of Griffin and partner Eric Nicholls.
They were built as alternative to dumping in sea or land dumps. The clinker ash (used ash) generated was used for landfill, footpath surfacing and fertilizer. The incinerators had to be placed on a slope or embankment, so garbage could be dropped into hoppers from the high side to the floor below. The ash residue was then removed from the base of the embankment. With older incinerators the residue was raked out from the lower furnace doors into a small rail cart, and in later versions, fell directly into carrier trucks. Apparently the incinerator has also been used as morgue and disposer of medical waste.
The incinerator ceased operation in 1942 and became a storehouse for local council machinery. Workmen were using the old garbage destructor building for tyre storage and the council was keen to pull it down. The theatre was classified a national trust building in 1972, but restoration did not begin until 1983. Over six years, over $400,000 was donated from the bicentennial authority and the Hasidic buildings council to the restoration project.
Since then, the incinerator has been gradually transformed into a live theatre and arts centre; including community theatre, rehearsal space, exhibition space, painting group, and children's art group. Currently it is temporarily closed for refurbishment.
The Incinerator Theatre, 2002
180 Holmes Road
Moonee Ponds
All sources are from the very helpful folder in the Sam Merrifield library's local history section.