St. James Theatre

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Uploaded on: July 7, 2026

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James A. Fitzpatrick (1894-1980) arrived in Sydney Harbour Saturday 2 April 1938 on board the Canadian liner ‘Empress of Britain’ with his cameraman Hone Glendining and a 35mm 3-strip Technicolor camera. They stayed six days shooting the harbor foreshores, Taronga Park Zoo, Bondi Beach, city, the St James theater frontage and the Blue Mountains. On Monday 4 April Fitzpatrick appeared on stage at the St James for the evening performance.

Some of the resulting footage was included in “Sydney: Pride of Australia” a nine minute short subject (available on YouTube) which screened at the St James (and Liberty) over Xmas 1938.

The Empress arrival (featured in the Fitzpatrick short) was notable as the largest ship (42,000 tons) ever to enter Sydney Harbour. Two years later the ship was sunk, as was that record, when the bigger Queen Mary arrived for troop ship conversion.