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THE ROXY MUSEUM DEVELOPMENT
2012
Following the successful restoration of the Roxy Café, and the wonderful 75th Anniversary celebrations in April 2011, The Roxy is pleased to announce the development of the Roxy Museum as the next exciting project to take place at the complex in Bingara.
The mission statement for The Roxy Museum is as follows:
“A museum of Greek settlement in country Australia,
with a focus on New South Wales and Queensland.”
The Roxy Museum will become a place of national significance that conserves and protects the important cultural associations between people and place. The Museum will conduct research and develop collections that document the history of the New England North West of NSW in a national and international context, with the objective of facilitating the community’s understanding of the past, and engagement with issues affecting its future.
The development of the Museum is another chapter in the extraordinary history of this remarkable venue. The Roxy was built in 1936 by three Greek partners from the island of Kythera in Greece, as a magnificent art deco cinema with an adjoining café in the town of Bingara in northern NSW. It operated as a cinema until 1958 when it shut down and lay dormant for over forty years.
Fully functioning and fully restored today, The Roxy is a symbol that epitomizes the Greek migration experience: one that made an outstanding contribution to the development of Australia.
The Roxy Museum will provide opportunities for the celebration of Greek traditions that became embedded in Australia. The Roxy complex, including the Cafe and Museum, are highly significant in the history of the local community as well as in the history of Greek settlement in Australia. This is the first such site to be acquired by a local government authority for the purposes of restoration in order to preserve this remarkable legacy.
The Roxy Museum will:
• highlight the story of Greek immigration into NSW and Queensland
• collect, preserve and interpret this important chapter of multi-cultural heritage in regional Australia
• share the stories of local communities and their relationships with Greek-operated cafés and cinemas for
generations to come
• become a cultural icon of international significance
The Roxy is calling on all Greeks to participate in this exciting development.
This is your opportunity to ensure that the achievements of the Greeks in Australia will not be forgotten. There are many ways that your family’s legacy can be included in the Roxy Museum. Financial contributions to enure the project’s success are currently being sought. Donations and loans of memorabilia, photographs and artefacts relevant to cafes and cinemas are particularly welcome.
Peter Makarthis (McCarthy)
Principal Researcher
Roxy Museum Bingara NSW Australia
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