Wall of Support

The Royal South Street Society, organisers of Australia’s oldest Eisteddfod (and still one of the largest) is an extremely passionate supporter of Her Majesty’s Ballarat.
As a former owner of the theatre and now its most significant hirer, we need this beautiful building to not only be safe and open, but also taking the steps forward to truly become Australia’s premier heritage theatre.
We describe Her Maj as our ‘unfair advantage’. It’s what we’ve got that other cities don’t.
Our competitors love it for its prestige, history, grandeur, central location, intimate auditorium and famous raked stage. To a large degree it’s what continues to make South Street the success it is, even after 127 years of competition.
Her Maj is of course wonderful on many levels for our young performing artists but it also provides a massive boost for Ballarat business.
The Eisteddfod attracts around 11,000 competitors every year who bring with them families, teachers, coaches, support staff and more. Then, of course, there’s the paying audience of some 35,000. These people stay, play and spend in our city providing important economic stimulus.
South Street applauds the council for its recent $5.3 million investment into the theatre and strongly urges the state and federal governments to jointly contribute the $15 million now required to take Her Maj to the next level.
After all, 40,000 on stage performances during our comps each year can’t be wrong.

Her Majesty's Theatre, Ballarat, provides the Ballarat community and visitors a rare and unique theatre experience.
It draws acts and performers from all around the world to Ballarat. It completes a town by providing culture and entertainment.
It makes a theatre experience which is often costly attainable to many in our community.
Theatre promotes imagination and the forming of possibility, it instills a sense of hope and questioning in younger and older generations.
This theatre has always being relevant and important - its history, relevance, functionality and presentation must be maintained for today and into the future.

Her Majesty's Theatre is such an important part of Ballarat's history and culture, well worth preserving. Throughout my life I have enjoyed and participated in many performances, be it in Brass Bands, theatre or musicals. There is nothing like the feeling I get, sitting in the audience, listening and seeing great shows.

The first time I visited Her Maj I was just five years old and it was to see a BLOC production of The King & I. I saw many shows over the years and also competed in South Street many times.
When I was 17 I worked backstage on my first production, doing my VCE homework in the dark in between scenes for Jesus Christ Superstar. This led to 10 years of working in the theatre for various productions. It was often hard work but produced many, many funny and happy memories that I will carry with me forever.
The social, economic and artistic benefits of Her Maj cannot be denied. Many people travel here for competitions and shows, boosting the local economy and giving locals and out of towners alike a wonderful experience and access to premium theatre and shows on par (or better!) than what can be seen in the major metropolitan areas.