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 limited editions, printed from the original RAW file. Editions run from 100 down to 25 and are not 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
Stage Lights at Bankstown RSL, a massive stage canopy hangs tilted above a bare auditorium floor, its red underside still.
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
Auditorium Corridor at Bankstown RSL, a long corridor stretches deep into the building, narrowing to a vanishing point lit.
Auditorium Corridor
Foyer Art at Bankstown RSL, five framed artworks line the foyer wall, mounted on blue timber panelling punctuated.
Foyer Art
Nightclub Bar at Bankstown RSL, a long bar counter runs the width of the room, its stone-clad face pitted and uneven.
Nightclub Bar
Womens Bathrooms at Bankstown RSL, pink and mauve tiles line the walls of the women's bathrooms.
Womens Bathrooms
Sauna at Bankstown RSL, cedar-lined walls darken with moisture stains where the grain has swollen and split.
Sauna
Powder Room at Bankstown RSL, a long vinyl banquette lines the wall beneath a wide mirror.
Powder Room
Auditorium Windows at Bankstown RSL, a wide auditorium floor stretches toward a bank of tall windows.
Auditorium Windows
Buffet at Bankstown RSL, a stainless steel servery counter sits empty at the centre of the room.
Buffet
Showers at Bankstown RSL, olive-green ceramic tiles line the walls of a disused sauna and shower area.
Showers
Foyer Bar at Bankstown RSL, red and navy polka-dot carpet stretches wall to wall across the foyer bar.
Foyer Bar
Bistro Pylons at Bankstown RSL, red columns run floor to ceiling through a wide, empty function room.
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
Nightclub Entrance at Bankstown RSL, a chequerboard dance floor stretches across the room, its surface slick under a single.
Nightclub Entrance
Bistro at Bankstown RSL, red steel columns divide the room at regular intervals, holding a low ceiling painted the same.
Bistro
Chinese Restaurant at Bankstown RSL, a vast empty function room stretches wall to wall under a low drop ceiling.
Chinese Restaurant
Auditorium Angled at Bankstown RSL, a raised stage sits at the far end of a vast function hall inside the Bankstown RSL.
Auditorium Angled
Auditorium Hall at Bankstown RSL, a corridor stretches forward through open double doors.
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
Glass Brick Wall at Bankstown RSL, a large function room stripped of furniture.
Glass Brick Wall
Change Rooms at Bankstown RSL, a long corridor stretches toward a distant source of natural light.
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.

06 PRESS

In the press

Often I'd find myself looking at the machines and architecture and challenging myself to find one single object designed purely for aesthetics. Craftsmanship made way for efficiency in engineering long before I'd even left school.

The Guardian

Brett Patman·2019

theguardian.com

On the LC archive.

People talk about what it was like to work or stay in these places, who they knew, what they did, how great the Christmas parties were, that store man nobody liked, what all the different machines were, how they worked and what became of them.

Broadsheet

Brett Patman·2016

lostcollective.com

On the LC archive.

There's this sense of wonder you get when looking at abandoned buildings. You try to imagine what these spaces were like when they were filled with busy workers trying to meet production targets. And why did they close?

The Guardian

Brett Patman·2019

theguardian.com

On the LC archive.

See press coverage →
08 BY POST · NO SPAM

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Articles when they're published. The history behind a place. The day of a shoot. The work between prints. No marketing, no schedule.

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