Hi, it’s Adrian Bo here, and today, I’m on Carr Street in the beautiful precinct of Coogee to talk about a local institution from a bygone era, the ex-bookie who helped establish it and the iconic Australian actor who’s career was inspired by it. In 1916 during the depths of World War 1 here at 58 Carr Street behind me, a substantial construction was undertaken which traded initially as what was called “Barry’s Boomerang Theatre”, a 1500-seat venue offering vaudeville and movies next to the beach. However, after a year of trade it was taken over by a guy called Andy Kerr. Now Andy Kerr came to Australia from his native Scotland as an 18-year old footman serving Lord Carrington, the governor of New South Wales. However, his entrepreneurial flair meant that at the age of 23, he established a grocery business in Newtown which soon expanded into Marrickville and then into Erskinville. Despite that, his real passion, horse racing in 1903 took over, and at the age of 36, he started a career as a bookmaker at Sydney’s pony tracks. As all good entrepreneurs, he realised he needed to stand out and offer his customers something different. So he became legendary for offering massive odds on outsiders, often offering 100 to one when other bookies were offering 33 to one, and sometimes 1000 to one when other bookies were at 100 to one. By 1915, Kerr had established such a big bookmaking business that he had permanent queues for every race requiring the hiring of an army of clerks and bodyguards to manage the business.

Beyond his bookmaking reputation he was known for his other major passion which was swimming at Coogee Beach behind me, leading to his nickname of “the Coogee Bunyip”, a bunyip being an Aboriginal word for a mythical creature that lurks in creeks and waterholes. So back to this site at 58 Carr Street here, in 1917, Andy Kerr took the business over. In 1928, it was rebuilt and operated as a full time cinema and became a part of most Coogee residents’ lives in those pre-TV years when black and white movies as well as the daily news were one of the few forms of entertainment. Meanwhile, in 1935, a young man, born and raised in Coogee, 12 years old at the time, became an avid regular at the Boomerang Theatre. He later recalled his stellar acting career spanning over six decades was inspired by the many hours he spent here sat in the Boomerang Theatre. His acting roles included playing Henry O’Rourke in “Neighbours” from 2000 to 2003, Lawrence Hammill in “The Castle”, Inspector Reg Lawson in the TV series “Homicide”, Farmer Ted Campbell in “A Country Practise”, as well as roles in other classic movies like “Puberty Blues”, “All the Rivers Run”, and “The Dish”. In case you haven’t worked out who I am talking about, it was Charles Tingwell, or as most Aussies know him, Bud Tingwell.

Now, in the 32 years I’ve been selling real estate in the Coogee, Maroubra and Randwick area, I have sold many properties in this local area, including 40 Dudley Street, a six-bedroom house last week for $5.3 million, 142 Arden Street, another six-bedroom house for just under $4.1 million, and 5/3 Alexander Street, a two-bedroom apartment for just under $1.6 million. The Bommerang Theatre was eventually closed in 1958 and soon after, redeveloping it into a nine-storey, 100-bed motel, eventually then becoming the current apartment block you see behind me called Windsor Towers or now, as they’ve changed it to Coogee Waters, where I have sold many units over the years, including unit number 27 in 2010, and also unit number 14 in 2005. I really hope you found the Boomerang Theatre and Cinema story interesting, I’m very passionate about keeping our local history alive. Please enjoy this magnificent weather and always remember, your home is worth more with Adrian Bo.