Talk of the Town: Schonell Theatre at UQ denied heritage protection

University of Queensland will forge ahead with its $300 million redevelopment after a bid to have a landmark theatre state heritage listed failed.

A LANDMARK theatre could be demolished under University of Queensland’s $300 million redevelopment after activists lost a bid to have it state heritage listed.

Queensland Heritage Council (QHC) decided on Friday not to enter the Schonell Theatre or UQ Union Complex onto the Queensland Heritage Register.

Artist’s impressions of the redevelopment show no sign of the Schonell Theatre, although the university has previously insisted it was only a concept.

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University of Queensland (UQ) Vice-Chancellor and president professor Peter Hoj said the university was pleased with the decision and did not rule out the theatre’s demolition.

“This will allow us to make the necessary investments in infrastructure on campus now and in the future, essential if UQ is to remain a top 50 global teaching and research university,” he said.

QHC chair Debbie Best said the complex had “extensively changed over time” and no longer retained sufficient original fabric to demonstrate the level of cultural heritage significance required.

“However, the role of The Forum in fostering debate about a range of social issues over time, drawing the community’s attention to many important social issues, should not be ignored,” she said.

“The Queensland Heritage Council will make representations to the university urging that it consider an appropriate means of recognising The Forum’s significance.”

The Schonell Theatre. Picture: Annette Dew

Professor Hoj acknowledged QHC’s desire for the university to recognise The Forum.

“As a university committed to freedom of speech, we are looking forward to exploring how best to do that,” he said.

The application was supported by many submissions, including a letter signed by 25 of the university’s own academics plus another from the co-founder of the Pizza Caffe, next to the theatre.

In September, the Department of Environment and Science recommended the Schonell Theatre, but not the remainder of the complex, be added to the Queensland Heritage Register.

“The Department’s recommendation is based on a range of factors, including the Schonell’s contribution to the social and cultural development of Queensland and the role of student unions in providing university facilities,” a spokesman said.

4ZZZ radio DJ Patric Whitman. Picture: File

“Planned, managed and used by students, the Schonell Theatre has a special association with generations of University of Queensland students and alumni.”

The recommendation acknowledged the complex’s political history as one of Australia’s “most defiant” university campuses from the mid-1960s to the 1980s, the birthplace of the state’s first FM radio station 4ZZZ and “the epicentre of Brisbane’s political dissent of the time”.

However, it stated the administration block, relaxation block, forum, and refectory had “undergone extensive change” and no longer demonstrated its “significant historical and social associations”.