New Empire Cinema (Bowral)
cinema in Bowral, New South Wales, Australia
The New Empire Cinema is a cinema in Bowral, New South Wales.
Also known as the Empire Theatre, and Empire Pictures, and open since 1915, it is the oldest continuously running cinema in mainland Australia. At times over the years, the title has defaulted to New Empire and there have been similarly named establishments in other Australian states.
The New Empire currently has four screens, and can hold up to 560 people. The cinema is run by Richard Ruhfus, David Graham and Gerard Aiken, and a staff of 24 employees.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “New Empire Cinema (Bowral)” is cinema in Bowral, New South Wales, Australia. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Empire, Cinema and Bowral, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “cinema in Bowral, New South Wales, Australia” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 14, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q7753581. Authority coordinates are -34.480, 150.417. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1915.
Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “New Empire Cinema (Bowral)”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow New Empire Cinema (Bowral) primary sources, New Empire Cinema (Bowral) archive and Empire research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “New Empire Cinema (Bowral)”?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “New Empire Cinema (Bowral)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.