As with many elements of Hobart’s cultural scene, the main reason the Odeon is still standing is David Walsh. The Tasmanian multimillionaire professional gambler and art collector behind the Museum of New and Old Art has a lot of money and he likes to support the arts in his home town. But the music venue, with its unpolished, retro vibe and excellent acoustics, has seen periods of both immense popularity and times of financial woe in its 108 years.
The Odeon’s story starts when it was known as The Strand, a state-of-the-art picture theatre built in 1916 to keep up with the Joneses on the mainland after Federation. Funded by Tasmanian merchant EJ Miller, who made his money mining on the west coast, The Strand “combined all the best features of theatres in Europe and America,” says Stefan Petrow, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Tasmania.
