The Albert Hall: a timeline
| 1926 | Designs for an ‘Assembly Hall’ prepared by Federal Capital Commission architect David Limburg |
| 1927 | Bertram Mackennal sculpture of Bellona installed on Commonwealth Avenue at entrance July: Construction of Albert Hall commenced |
| 1928 | February: Institution of Engineers Australia Conference at (incomplete) Hall Canberra Musical Society formed in merger of Canberra Musical Society and Canberra Philharmonic Society (1926) 10 March Opening by Prime Minister Stanley Melbourne Bruce 31 March-2 April Congress of Australian College of Surgeons 10 April Canberra Golf Club Ball 13 April Cricket Ball – Federal Capital Territory Cricket Association 23 April NSW MRB Lecture Room 24 April Meeting Social Service Association [see Canberra Times 13 & 22 March 1928] 25 April Canberra’s first Anzac Day service – GG Stonehaven takes salute, Chauvel 26 April Diggers’ Ball Monday 30 April SA&L meeting Lecture Room [CT 1 May 1928] 8 May Conference of Federated TB Soldiers & Sailors Assn of Australia 11 May Prime Minister SM Bruce & Ethel Bruce at opening of Canberra Society of the Arts and Literature production of Much Married – parking area established 18 May Artists Society first annual Ball [CT 1 April, 2 & 19 May 1928] May Mothercraft Society Ball 21 May Musical Society special general meeting 28 May Public Rally on parliamentary representation – Representation League becomes Citizens League [CT 25 May 1928] Wednesday 30-31 May Newspaper Proprietors Conference – Bruce address [CT 31 May 1928] 2-3 June PM Bruce opens Rotary Conference [CT 4 June 1928] Friday 8 June St Gabriels Ball [CT 9 & 11 June 1928] 22 or 29 June RSL Grand Benefit Ball 23 June Russian Cherniavsky trio violin, cello, piano [CT 11 July 1928] 28 June Canberra Bowling Club Annual Social 30 June Society of the Arts and Literature stage Her Husband’s Wife [CT 26 May] 7 July Burns Club & Highland Society Ball (for Tasmanian flood relief) 17 July public meeting – Federal Capital Territory Citizens League call for measures to relieve distress 19 July Grand MUIOOF Ball – Eric Attwell’s Syncopators 22 July Sunday afternoon concert relief fund 24 July: NSW Conservatorium of Music benefit concert – Frank Hutchens [CT 24 July 1928] 30 July Canberra City Band – Relief Fund for the disadvantaged in Canberra 10 August Catholic Ball 18 August Australian baritone John Brownlee with soprano Elena Danieli, accomp. William James [CT 10 August 1928] 21 August St Gabriel’s school concert 29 August FCT Licence League rally 1 September Frank Hutchens & Lindley Evans duo pianos – with contralto Heather Kinnaird & bass Raymond Beatty [CT 3 Sept 1928] 3 September Kenneth Oliphant lecture ‘Architecture’ to Arts Society 8 September Welcome to transferees of the Public Service Board, Statistics & Electoral Branch 18 September Canberra Housewives Association meeting [CT 17 Sept 1928] 26 September: British Empire Forestry Conference opened 26-28 September Alan Wilkie Shakespeare Company 29-30 September Constitutional Associations Convention – Bruce address [CT 2 October 1928] 6 October Bachelors’ Ball 8 October Juvenile Ball 10 October Church of England Ball 16 October Billed as the Canberra City Band’s first public concert 30 October St Christopher’s Convent School Ball 2 November Poppy Day appeal afternoon meeting – Lilian Butters 8 November Poppy Day Dance 13 November Canberra Tourist Association formed 17 November Exhibition of women’s work including model club room 22 November Royal Australian Ornithologists Union Lecture 26 November Halford Oration 27 November Metropolitan Press Proprietors’ Conference 30 November SA&L performance in auditorium, previously Lecture Room – Me & my Diary 4 December Dr Robin Tillyard – anti-fly campaign lectures 6 December St Christopher’s Queen Competition Coronation Ball 11 December Canberra Musical Society’s Christmas Concert: The Messiah & carols, Handel and Schubert 12 December St Christopher’s School Concert |
| 1929 | 16 January meeting City Area Lessees Assn formed 25 February CMS concert soprano Molly de Gunst Riga Opera Company [CT 22 Feb & 1 March 1929] March 2nd conference of 65th District of Rotary International 30 March CMA concert pianist Jascha Spivakovsky [CT 1 April 1929] 23 April CMS concert Gwen Selva [CT 8 March 1929] 25 April ANZAC service 24 September Soprano Dusolina Giannini concert [CT 13 Sept 1929] 8 October Australians tenor Walter Kirby & soprano Violet Rogers [CT 6 Sept 1929] 10 October Gathering of staff of the Federal Capital Commission to farewell Sir John and Lady Butters – Canberra City Band October Wall Street crash 21 October Madame Jessie James – dramatic recital [CT 11 October 1929] 23 October CMS concert – baritone Harold Williams [CT 24 October 1929] October Labor government – James Scullin prime minister First Horticultural Society of Canberra Show 28 November CMS concert – Australian composer & pianist Roy Agnew, Kathleen O’Connor mezzo soprano & Clement Williams baritone False floor built over orchestra pit |
| 1930 | 2 April FCT Advisory Council formed 6 April Archbishop Mannix and Duhig attend Benediction and speeches for dedication of foundation stone for proposed Roman Catholic Cathedral on Cathedral Hill 24 April Protest for Advisory Council 19 May Wilhelm Backhaus concert May Convention re Constitutional referendums 21-22 July July Canberra Musical Society stages Iolanthe 31 July 25 August 9 September Ainslie Boys Club boxing & wrestling (CT Sept 1930) 19 November |
| 1931 | April Horticultural Society Chrysanthemum show 28 April May SA&L staged Arnold Bennett’s The Title 28 May floods – Canberra Golf Club footbridge damaged 23 June 8 July Canberra City Band Benefit Concert for Canberra’s Relief Society and band funds, Marie Scullin and Prime Minister James Scullin (CCB Patron) attending 11 July Canberra Musical Society Orchestra chamber music concert (Lecture Room) 27 August 27 September Canberra City Band fund-raising concert for the Canberra Unemployment Relief Society 10 and 14 December: Canberra Relief Society stages Alice in Wonderland fundraiser for local unemployed people |
| 1934 | 23 November: British Poet Laureate John Masefield ceremonial address after laying foundation stone for Kings Ave National Library building |
| 1936 | Eileen Joyce concert |
| 1937 | German Comedy Harmonists Australian tour August: Conference founds Australian Institute of Librarians formed |
| 1938 | Lotte Lehman concert HG Wells lecture |
| 1944 | Eugene Ormandy Orchestra tour |
| 1945 | Celebrations for declaration of peace Lord & Lady Gowrie farewell |
| 1946 | Canberra Repertory Society production of Hamlet |
| 1947 | Senator Annabelle Rankin holds United Women Citizens’ Protest Meeting against Socialism |
| 1949 | 3 February: Prime Minister Ben Chifley, Immigration Minister Arthur Calwell and Shadow Minister Harold Holt officiate at Australia’s first citizenship ceremony 30 May: Immigration arts and crafts exhibition Installation ceremony ANU Interim Council Chifley Government’s National Committee on Cultural Development formed |
| 1950 | 15 September: Joan Sutherland grand finalist in Mobil Quest |
| 1951 | Commonwealth Jubilee events 22-26 January: 2nd Citizenship Convention 12-13 June: Refugee artists concert concert organised by Good Neighbour Council 10-12 August: Federal Congress on Regional and Town Planning, William Holford Jubilee Guest; Regional and Town Planning Institute of Australia formed British High Commission building completed on Commonwealth Avenue |
| 1952 | John Alden Company Shakespeare season |
| 1953 | Canberra Repertory Society move to new Riverside Theatre |
| 1954 | 23 January: 5th Australian Citizenship Convention Bellona sculpture removed to storage  February: Queen Elizabeth II Royal Tour May: First sessions Petrov Royal Commission |
| 1955 | 23 January: 6th Australian Citizenship Convention April: First National Eisteddfod 19 August:Hobbies Exhibition  Judith Anderson stars in Elizabethan Theatre Trust production Medea |
| 1956 | 23 January: 7th Australian Citizenship Convention This pictre was taken in 1954 not 56…the day after the Petrov Inquiry |
| 1957 | 23 January: 8th Australian Citizenship ConventionReception after Governor-General Sir William Slim presented the Queens Colours to the 3rd Battalion of the CMF at Manuka OvalNCDC established, Holford report commissioned |
| 1958 | 1 February: Reception for Queen Mother’s visit NSW Arts Council Ballet tour  Canberra Philharmonic Society production of The Pirates of Penzance |
| 1961 | Construction of Lake Burley Griffin began March: World premiere of The Sentimental Bloke Norman Lindsay’s Magic Pudding |
| 1962 | 23 January: 13th Australian Citizenship ConventionTV transmission began in Canberra |
| 1963 | Rita Streich concert 30 November: National Tally Room televised  |
| 1964 | February: British sculpture exhibition |
| 1965 | 23 January: 16th Australian Citizenship ConventionCanberra Theatre completed |
| 1966 | John Perceval retrospective exhibition |
| 1968 | Charles Blackman retrospective exhibition |
| 1970 | 14 July: Homeowner-only land auction |
| 1973 | 23 January: Citizenship ceremony |
| 1974 | John Hopkins retrospective exhibition |
| 1976 | Exhibition of Japanese prints |
| 1978 | 50th birthday of Albert Hall celebrated 30 April: Fashion industry show 17 August: Federal Minister for the ACT Ros Kelly opens restored Compton organ |
| 1979 | 15 October: Albert Hall classified by National Trust of Australia ACTDavid Boyd retrospective |
| 1980 | 21 October: Albert Hall entered on Register of National Estate |
| 1988 | New Parliament House completed on Capital Hill |
| 1990 | Refurbishment by Department of Environment, Land & Planning |
| 1991 | April: Albert Hall Open Day |
| 1992 | September: Red Cross cultural fair for Floriade |
| 1993 | 8 October: Chief Minister Rosemary Follett unveils replaced Bellona sculpture |
| 1994 | 12 May: ASEAN Australia Forum 16 November: Land use policy for Albert Hall amended |
| 1997 | Albert Hall listed on ACT Heritage Register ACT Government leases Albert Hall to Auslead P/L July-August: National Opera Festival events |
| 1998 | 70th birthday celebrated 20 August: ‘Back to the Albert Hall’ dance |
| 1999 | August: Bellona removed to new sculpture garden at War Memorial ACT Government ceases to subsidise Public Liability Insurance for community hire of Albert Hall – community use declines 90% |
| 2005 | ACT Government call for Expressions of Interest to contract management and revitalisation of Albert Hall and commissions a Conservation & Land Management Plan |
| 2007 | March: NCA releases development proposals for precinct in Draft Amendment 53 to National Capital Plan |
| 2007 | May: The public meeting held at the Albert Hall on 24 May 2007 launched Friends of the Albert Hall to lobby against the National Capital Authority’s development proposals for the Albert Hall surrounds and the ACT Government’s privatisation of management of the Albert Hall. |
| 2008 | 10 March: Our Albert Hall 80th Birthday Celebrations |
| more to follow. Enquiries to |