Limelight Department

The Limelight Department was one of the world's first film studios, beginning in 1891, operated by The Salvation Army in Melbourne, Australia. The Limelight Department produced evangelistic material for use by the Salvation Army, including lantern slides as early as 1891, as well as private and government contracts. In its 19 years of operation, the Limelight Department produced about 300 films of various lengths, making it one of largest film producers of its time.

Beginnings

The Salvation Army Limelight Department unofficially started in 1891, when Adjutant Joseph Perry started a photographic studio in Ballarat, Victoria, to supplement the income of the Salvation Army's Prison Gate Home. At the time, Perry was on compassionate leave from active ministry, as his wife Annie had died earlier that year, leaving Perry to raise their three children. In September 1891, Perry was temporarily reassigned to the Australasian Headquarters in Melbourne to assist Australasian commander, Commissioner Thomas Coombs, in putting together a presentation of General William Booth's ''In Darkest England'' program. At this stage, Perry was using lantern slides which projected hand coloured photographs onto a large screen. Coombs was impressed by the quality and effectiveness of presentation, making Perry's move to Melbourne permanent. The Limelight Department was officially established on 11 June 1892.
In 1896, when Commissioner Coombs was replaced as Australasian commander by General Booth's youngest son, 'Commandant Herbert Booth. Booth immediately warmed to the innovation of the Limelight Department, giving Perry the freedom and the financial support to expand into the newly developing medium of film. Under Booth's direction, Perry started work on ''Social Salvation'' in 1898, one of the first presentations of its type to integrate the traditional lantern slides with film segments. On 20 December 1899, the Limelight Department premiered a series on the ''Passion'' at the Collingwood corps. The presentation contained thirteen, ninety second sections which portrayed the life of Jesus from birth to death. The presentation was similar in style to that produced by the Lumiere Company earlier that year, however, as none of the original film remains, it can never be determined if the Limelight Department used Lumiere footage in the presentation.

''Soldiers of the Cross''

The major innovation of the Limelight Department would come in 1899 when Booth and Perry began work on '' Soldiers of the Cross'', one of the first feature-length films in the world.

The presentation contained fifteen ninety-second sections and two hundred lantern slides, and ran for two hours. The Salvation Army's pioneering multimedia work premiered at the Melbourne Town Hall on 13 September 1900, to a crowd somewhere between three and four thousand. One reviewer spoke of how the death scenes caused several women to faint in the aisles.

Referred to by the organisation as a 'lecture’, and once thought to be the world's first feature film, it combined 13 short films, over 200 glass slides, hymns, music and the oration of Commandant Herbert Henry Booth, who was the son of Salvation Army founder General William Booth. The production was realised by Major Joseph Henry Perry, an enthusiastic supporter of the new film medium and head of the Salvation Army’s Limelight Department.

While some Lumiere footage was used in the opening passion sequence of the film, the majority of the footage was filmed in Melbourne, either in the attic of 69 Bourke Street, on the tennis court of the Murrumbeena Girls Home, or in the pool at Richmond Baths.

The presentation itself focused of the lives and deaths of early Christian martyrs and cost £550 to produce. The scenes were considered extremely violent for their time, including such images as the stoning of Stephen, the burning of Polycarp and unnamed Christians being tortured, beheaded, killed by gladiators, drowned, or burned alive. The presentation included a cast of 150 Salvation Army officers who were stationed in Melbourne at the time. The many death scenes took their toll, with the cast suffering various injuries, including scorched hair and eyebrows from the fires used.

Herbert Booth toured the lecture around Australia and New Zealand and later to the USA, Europe, South Africa and Canada. The final presentation was given at Melbourne Town Hall on 22 November 1920.

The Limelight Department’s pioneering productions were supported by innovative studio facilities and creative set design. According to Michael Wollenberg, the Salvation Army’s Murrumbeena Girls’ Home was transformed into a 14-acre studio complex, where painted backdrops depicting the Roman Colosseum were hung on tennis courts to create elaborate scenes for ''Soldiers of the Cross''. Smaller sets were constructed on the roof of the Salvation Army Headquarters at 69 Bourke Street, Melbourne—a structure that is considered by some historians to be the world’s oldest surviving film studio in the Southern Hemisphere. The Department’s production and art teams developed detailed scripts, constructed period costumes and props, and devised practical effects that were groundbreaking for their time.

No motion picture film from Soldiers of the Cross is known to have survived, nor any text copies of the lecture’s narration. The National Library of Australia acquired glass slides of the production in 1953 and these are now held by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia.

The Federation of Australia

''Soldiers of the Cross'' fortified the Limelight Department as a major player in the early film industry. However, ''Soldiers of the Cross'' would be dwarfed by '' Inauguration of the Australian Commonwealth'', when the Limelight Department was commissioned to film the 1901 Federation of Australia. It was the hope of the New South Wales government that the film would prove an imperishable record of the event, though little of the footage still exists. Perry set up five cameras at various point of the procession route and had to use a fire carriage to move quickly from one camera to the next.

The height of operation

In order that ''Soldiers of the Cross'' could be seen by a wide audience, the Limelight Department created groups known as Biorama Companies. Teams of musicians, lecturers, and projectionists would travel throughout Australia presenting the material that the Limelight Department had produced.

Screenings were generally held in local halls, but it was the Biorama Companies sometimes used the sides of buildings as screens so that passersby could see it.

When Herbert left the Salvation Army (taking the original ''Soldiers of the Cross'' material with him), he was replaced by Commissioner Thomas McKie. McKie encouraged the expansion of the Limelight Department, the creation of additional Biorama Companies and even the reshooting of ''Soldiers of the Cross'' in 1909, titled '' Heroes of the Cross''.

In addition to the evangelical material produced for the Biorama Companies, the Limelight produced many films for private clients and the government. Some of the most notable of these were films showing the royal visit of the Duke and Duchess of York for the opening of the first sitting of the Parliament of Australia (the session itself could not be filmed due to poor lighting), the visit of America's Great White Fleet, and the Victoria's Second Boer War Contingent leaving South Africa.

Engaging in such private contracts was a way in which the Limelight Department raised capital to support its operation and the operation of other Salvation Army programs.

In 1898, Booth and Perry constructed a glass-walled film studio at 69 Bourke Street, Melbourne, which remains preserved as an archive and museum maintained by the Salvation Army. Initially, the team filmed with a Lumière Cinématographe, later adopting a Warwick Bioscope by 1901. The Department’s early multimedia productions included the two-and-a-half-hour Social Salvation (1898), which combined slides, film, scripture, and song, setting the stage for the later Soldiers of the Cross. After leaving the Salvation Army in 1902, Herbert Booth took Soldiers of the Cross to San Francisco, extending its influence internationally. William Booth, the Army’s founder, also embraced film, commissioning cameraman Henry Howse to document his travels, with several early films now preserved in the BFI National Archive.

In 1904, Joe Perry and James Dutton were key members of the Australasian contingent attending the Salvation Army International Congress in London. Following the Congress, Perry returned to Australia and filmed Bushranging in North Queensland, which film historian Chris Long has identified as the country’s first bushranging drama. This production marked an important milestone in the development of narrative filmmaking in Australia and further demonstrated the Limelight Department’s pioneering role in the nation’s early cinema.

The end of the Limelight Department

In 1910, McKie was replaced as the Australasian commander by a more conservative Commissioner named James Hay. Hay felt that cinema was not something that the church should be involved in and he shut down the Limelight Department at the height of its operation. In his autobiography ''Aggressive Salvationism'', Hay wrote 'the cinema, as conducted by The Salvation Army, had led to weakness and a lightness incompatible with true Salvationism and was completely ended by me.'

James Hay later admitted that there had been a substantial financial cost in closing the Limelight Department, and many Salvation Army centres took years to recover from the loss of income.

Heritage

The original studio still stands today and is being preserved as part of The Salvation Army - Australia Southern Territory Archives and Museum. One of the films included is the documentary of the '' Inauguration of the Australian Commonwealth''.

Legacy

The Limelight Department's innovative contributions to early filmmaking have continued to gain recognition well into the 21st century. Its pioneering work in multimedia presentations and narrative film has been revisited by historians, archivists, and filmmakers exploring Australia's cinematic origins.

Recent scholarship, notably Lindsay Cox’s article “Salvation and the Silver Screen,” has highlighted the Limelight Department’s significance not only within the Salvation Army but also in the broader context of early cinema in Australia. Cox details how the Department, under the leadership of Joseph Perry and with the support of figures like Herbert Booth, became a pioneer in multimedia evangelism by integrating magic lantern slides, early motion pictures, live oration, and music into compelling presentations such as ''Soldiers of the Cross''. This production, first shown in 1900, is now recognised as one of the world’s earliest multimedia presentations, blending film and live performance to powerful effect.

Cox’s research also emphasises the Department’s technological innovation and prolific output, producing over 300 films and dominating Australian film production in the early 1900s. The Limelight Department’s touring “Biorama” companies brought these multimedia shows to urban and regional audiences across Australia and New Zealand, playing a crucial role in both religious outreach and the development of the Australian film industry. According to Cox, the Department’s legacy endures as a testament to the creative use of emerging technologies for both spiritual and cultural impact.

In 2023, the feature documentary ''Limelight – Salvation and the Silver Screen'', directed by Eddie Beyrouthy, was released. The film explores the history and legacy of the Salvation Army's Limelight Department, featuring digitally restored archival footage and interviews with historians, filmmakers, and Salvation Army representatives, including Dr. Martyn Jolly (Australian National University), Dr. Elizabeth Hartrick (author and researcher), and Lindsay Cox, OAM (Salvation Army Heritage Centre).

Filmography

This list of films includes some films shown by the Biorama companies, acquired but not originally produced by the Limelight Department.
*'' Social Salvation'' (1898)
*''The Salvation Army Congress, Melbourne'' (1898)
*''Passion Films'' (1899)
*''Boys bathing at Riverview''
*''Falling trees and burning same at Riverview''
*'' The Early Day Christian Martyrs'' (1900)
*'' Soldiers of the Cross'' (1900)
*'' Second Victorian Contingent Leaving Melbourne'' (1900)
*''The arrival of Lord Roberts''
*''Counting sheep on a station''
*''Fire engine working at Hordern's big fire in Sydney'' (1901)
*''Feeding pigs''
*''Steeplechase''
*''Seas breaking at Warrnambool''
*'' Inauguration of the Australian Commonwealth'' (1901)
*'' Royal Visit to Open the First Commonwealth Parliament'' (1901)
*'' Royal Visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York to New Zealand'' (1901)
*'' Aboriginal Life'' (1901)
*'' Under Southern Skies'' (1902)
*''Lazarus'' (1902)
*'' Bushranging in North Queensland'' (1902)
*''Waimangu Geyser in action''
*''Two tramps''
*''Gabriel Grub''
*''The doctor's fee''
*''Bad coffee''
*''March past of Salvationists''
*''High sea fishing''
*''Count in search of a wife''
*''Robbing the mail''
*'' Christ Among Men'' (1906)
*''The Gardener's Nap''
*''Caught by the Tide''
*''Raid on a Corner Den''
*''The Aeroplane''
*''Chicago Brigade''
*''A Rough Sea''
*''Character Retrieved''
*''The Heart Governs the Head''
*''Message from the Sea''
*''The Blind Man's Child''
*''Oh, that Molar''
*''Oh, that Hat''
*''The Terrible Kids''
*''How the Bulldog saved the Union Jack''
*''The Fire at Sea''
*'' The Grand Memorial Service'' (1908)
*'' The Great White Fleet Visits the Antipodes'' (1908)
*'' Heroes of the Cross'' (1909)
*'' The Scottish Covenanters'' (1909)

See also

*The Salvation Army
*William Booth
*Film, History of cinema
* Royal Visit of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York to New Zealand

References

* A series of articles called ''Australia's First Films: Facts and Fables'' Published in ''Cinema Papers'' throughout 1994.
* The Salvation Army – Australian Southern Territory – Museum and Heritage Centre.

External links

Limelight Department
at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
{{Cinema of Australia

Official website of ''Limelight – Salvation and the Silver Screen''

1890s in Australian cinema
1900s in Australian cinema
Australian film studios
Film production companies of Australia
History of film
Salvationism in Australia
1891 establishments in Australia
1910 disestablishments in Australia