One of the oldest music venues in Australia, Sutton’s House of Music in Ballarat, is at risk of being lost to developers, and it needs your help to survive.
Sutton’s House of Music Warehouse was first built in 1891 by the Sutton family, following the creation of Sutton’s music stores 36 years earlier. The building became the country’s first purpose-built music emporium, and remains the last building of its kind in the country. Over the years, the store was visited by a large number of famous individuals, including Dame Nellie Melba, Alexander Graham Bell and Mark Twain.
Sadly though, Sutton’s House Of Music took to Facebook yesterday to announce that they’ll be closing their doors at the end of October.
“It is with deep regret that we have to announce we will be closing our doors at the end of October 2017,” the post began. “Due to an in house restructure of business entity earlier this year we are required to have a new lease put in place. After much discussion with our real estate agent unfortunately we have been advised a new lease will not be forthcoming. It would seem our landlord would rather an empty building than allow us to continue even though his bills have always been paid.”
“We are devastated to say the least but will leave holding our heads high knowing that in our 3 years of trading we hosted 594 gigs. 233 of those shows were by Ballarat artists, 97 from local high school students, 32 community events and 42 theatrical. Just some of the names that graced our stage are;
The Black Sorrows, Dan Sultan, Ian Moss, Ross Wilson, Diesel, Renee Geyer, Beccy Cole, Lloyd Spiegel, Jeff Lang, Daryl Braithwaite, Jordie Lane, Katie Noonan, Russell Morris, Deborah Conway, Vince Jones, Adam Harvey, Mick Thomas, Chris Wilson, Mental As Anything, Tex Perkins and Lanie Lane.”
The post also mentioned that management have started a petition to help protect the iconic building, which does not have heritage protection, from any future developers that may want to destroy the beautiful, antique features that it boasts.
“We have worked so hard to honor the Sutton family name and tell the story of Ballarat’s first and finest music store,” the post continues. “The Sutton building does not have a heritage overlay protecting the interior and we are terrified that a large corporation may come in and destroy or cover the outstanding features the building boasts. Therefore we have created a partition to save Mary Sutton’s vision. Make a noise Ballarat, please sign and let our local council know what this building means to you.”
Currently, the petition has 3,770 supporters, but with anything that is this vital to the history of Australia and its music scene, it could always do with more. So be sure to sign the petition at this link.
