In 1936, Walter Burley Griffin was contracted to design a municipal incinerator for Ipswich. George Brockwell Gill supervised the construction. The incinerator was designed to process the rubbish generated by a city of 20,000 people, but by 1960 the population of Ipswich was twice this number. Use of the incinerator was therefore discontinued and in 1965 the council considered demolishing it.
The Ipswich branch of the Arts Council leased the building and in 1969 the Ipswich Little Theatre decided that the building should be converted to an intimate theatre and contributed financially to the project. The Incinerator was converted into a theatre seating about 80 people. Engineer Ian Pullar carried out the design and planning.
The theatre was opened on 22 November 1969 by the Ipswich Little Theatre Company as the Incinerator Theatre.
The Incinerator Theatre – Image courtesy of Picture Ipswich
Information taken from Department of Environmental and Research Management “Heritage register” http://www.epa.qld.gov.au/chims/placeDetail.html?siteId=15371.