Auditorium at Bankstown RSL, a vast ballroom stretches toward a darkened stage at the far wall.

01 Bankstown RSLBankstown2019

ISO 1001.6sf/8.014mm

Series · 30 prints

Bankstown RSL

Photographed 2019
Frames 30
Camera NIKON D850
Location New South Wales, Australia
Status Demolished March 2019
Years 1955 to 2019
01 ABOUT THIS SERIES

Series story

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

On 17 September 1928, 26 returned servicemen of the 1914 to 1918 war founded the City of Bankstown RSL sub-Branch. The clubhouse at 1 Meredith Street opened in 1955, with blue walls under bright red ceilings. The underground sports complex originally held a swimming pool, a squash court, a gym, and a sauna.

The 1955 building was a mid-century Australian club, from the era Commercial Real Estate called 'when kitsch was king'. At peak the upper floors carried live entertainment, dining rooms and bars. By the years before demolition, the pool was drained and the squash court's wooden floor had bowed and started peeling.

Membership peaked in the 1950s and 1960s, when RSL clubs sat at the centre of suburban Australian social life. By the early 2000s, financial pressure and shifting habits had reduced the club's footprint; in 2017 the land at 32 Kitchener Parade was sold to Poly Australia. Paul Keating, who grew up in Bankstown, called the club a 'great place of congregation' in his 2005 Bankstown City Silver Jubilee address.

The 1955 clubhouse closed on 15 January 2019 and was demolished in March. A new Bankstown RSL & Hotel had already opened on the same site on 21 January, designed by Altis Architecture. The First World War Honor Roll and the 1997 Denis Phillips memorial were moved before demolition; alongside the new club, the Spring Square redevelopment is rising in 516 to 520 apartments across five towers.

Sydney West Joint Regional Planning Panel (DA-1207/2015), Commercial Real Estate (Sue Williams, 2019) and NSW War Memorials Register (Bankstown RSL WWI Honor Roll)

02 TIMELINE

Chronology

1928
1955
2005
2017
2019
2019
2019
2019
03 PRINTS

Prints in this series

Hand-signed and numbered, printed from the original RAW file. Open editions in the two smallest sizes; limited editions of 100, 50 and 25 in the three larger, never reissued once they sell through.

Auditorium at Bankstown RSL, a vast ballroom stretches toward a darkened stage at the far wall.
Auditorium
Squash Court at Bankstown RSL, the hardwood floor has buckled and warped, planks lifting away from the subfloor in long.
Squash Court
Multicoloured light panels in pink, green and yellow hang the length of a corridor at the old Bankstown RSL clubhouse, their faded colours holding against the deterioration below.
Stage Lights
Pool at Bankstown RSL, an indoor swimming pool sits empty.
Pool
Nightclub at Bankstown RSL, a wide ballroom opens onto a raised stage at centre frame.
Nightclub
Spotlights at Bankstown RSL, a stage spotlight on a tripod stands in a small backstage room lined with dark timber veneer.
Spotlights
A long, empty corridor stretches towards the auditorium within the old Bankstown RSL clubhouse. Faded paint peels from the walls.
Auditorium Corridor
Foyer Art at Bankstown RSL, five framed artworks line the foyer wall, mounted on blue timber panelling punctuated.
Foyer Art
The service counter runs the full width of the frame at Bankstown RSL. Cork-tile panelling lines the bar front. Behind it, a row of refrigeration units sits beneath a geometric feature wall in terracotta and ochre.
Nightclub Bar
Womens Bathrooms at Bankstown RSL, pink and mauve tiles line the walls of the women's bathrooms.
Womens Bathrooms
Diagonal shafts of afternoon light cut across warm timber panelling and a slatted wooden partition inside the old Bankstown RSL clubhouse, picking out the grain of the boards and pooling on the tiled floor below.
Sauna
The powder room at the old Bankstown RSL clubhouse. Button-tufted cushions line a long beige couch pushed against a wallpapered wall, the fabric worn and the pattern faded. A large mirror opposite doubles the room.
Powder Room
Sunlight illuminates the 5 tall, multi-pane windows of the old Bankstown RSL auditorium. Dust particles hang in the shafts of light.
Auditorium Windows
Buffet at Bankstown RSL, a stainless steel servery counter sits empty at the centre of the room.
Buffet
Olive-green tiles grid the walls of a changing room at the old Bankstown RSL clubhouse, broken up by exposed white plumbing pipes and a blue water filter.
Showers
A half-closed roller shutter is pulled down over the service counter of the foyer bar at the old Bankstown RSL clubhouse.
Foyer Bar
Red support columns stand within the Bankstown RSL bistro, casting long shadows across the patterned carpet toward a bright doorway at the corridor's end.
Bistro Pylons
Self Serve at Bankstown RSL, a curved stainless steel bain-marie sits empty behind glass sneeze guards.
Self Serve
Foyer Stairs Elevator at Bankstown RSL, a deep red ceiling hangs low over polished concrete.
Foyer Stairs Elevator
Within Bankstown RSL, the nightclub entrance. Pale light floods through the doorway at the back of the hall, throwing a long reflection across the parquet dance floor.
Nightclub Entrance
The Bankstown RSL bistro, once a busy dining area. 4 red-painted square columns step back through the room above a dark red and black checkered carpet that runs wall to wall.
Bistro
The former Chinese restaurant at Bankstown RSL stands vacant, silent since the club's closure in 2019.
Chinese Restaurant
The Bankstown RSL auditorium is seen from an oblique angle. Tall rectangular windows throw sharp panels of sunlight onto a herringbone timber floor.
Auditorium Angled
The auditorium hall within the former Bankstown RSL club. Peeling red paint exposes white patches across the ceiling, the walls painted deep blue and the floor covered in patterned carpet.
Auditorium Hall
Chinese Restaurant Bar at Bankstown RSL, patterned carpet stretches across a vast function room floor.
Chinese Restaurant Bar
RSL Entrance at Bankstown RSL, a concrete column stands centre-frame, splitting the foyer into two grey corridors.
RSL Entrance
Light diffuses through a translucent glass brick wall inside the old Bankstown RSL clubhouse. Individual bricks form a grid, reflecting the decay of the surrounding structure.
Glass Brick Wall
The corridor into the Bankstown RSL change rooms. An illuminated green exit sign marks the entrance, and the dim passage stretches toward a bright rectangular opening beyond.
Change Rooms
Gym at Bankstown RSL, wood-panelled walls line a low-ceilinged basement room.
Gym
Bistro Bain Marie at Bankstown RSL, a narrow corridor runs between glass-fronted display cases, both emptied of food.
Bistro Bain Marie
04 ABOUT THE PRINTS

How they’re made

Made to order by Brett in Sydney, from the original RAW file. Each print is hand-signed and numbered before it ships.

Paper

Ilford Galerie cotton rag, 310 gsm. Acrylic on metallic gloss, 260 gsm.

Editions

Open in XS and S. Limited in M (100), L (50), XL (25). From $100.

Print tiers →

Lead time

Unframed: 5 to 10 business days. Framed and acrylic: 10 to 20.

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