The Star Amphitheatre was an open-air temple constructed in 1924 at

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

's Balmoral Beach by the Order of the Star in the East, an organisation affiliated with the

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society is the organizational body of Theosophy, an esoteric new religious movement. It was founded in New York City, U.S.A. in 1875. Among its founders were Helena Blavatsky, a Russian mystic and the principal thinker of the ...

founded to promote the works of

Jiddu Krishnamurti Jiddu Krishnamurti ( ; 11 May 1895 – 17 February 1986) was an Indian Philosophy, philosopher, speaker, writer, and Spirituality, spiritual figure. Adopted by members of the Theosophy, Theosophical tradition as a child, he was raised to fill ...

. Constructed at a cost of around £16,000, the amphitheatre was intended as a platform for lectures by Krishnamurti, who

Charles Webster Leadbeater Charles Webster Leadbeater (; 16 February 1854 – 1 March 1934) was a member of the Theosophical Society, Co-Freemasonry, an author on occult subjects, and the co-initiator, with J. I. Wedgwood, of the Liberal Catholic Church. Orig ...

declared the "World Teacher." The auditorium itself had a seating capacity of 2,000 with room for another thousand to stand. Underneath the stage was a library, meeting halls, meditation and tea rooms. Krishnamurti went on to reject the

messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

-like status granted to him by Leadbeater and dissolved the Order in 1929, leaving the amphitheatre to be sold off to entrepreneur George Bishop in 1931. Bishop used it for

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

performances and installed a mini golf course on the roof. The building was then sold again to the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in 1936, and fell into disrepair until it was demolished in 1951 and replaced with a block of apartments named "Stancliff." A persistent urban legend in Sydney says that the Amphitheatre was built in anticipation of the

second coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is the Christianity, Christian and Islam, Islamic belief that Jesus, Jesus Christ will return to Earth after his Ascension of Jesus, ascension to Heaven (Christianity), Heav ...

to provide a viewing platform for Jesus Christ walking on water between

Sydney Heads The Sydney Heads (also simply known as the Heads) are a series of headlands that form the wide entrance to Sydney Harbour in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. North Head and Quarantine Head are to the north; South Head and Dunbar Head are to ...

. Some versions of the story include tickets for the spectacle being sold to a gullible public.

References

External links

ABC Radio National Encounter: Krishnamurti
- Sermon by Fr Tony Noble of All Saint's Episcopal Church San Diego quoting the Jesus myth
The Star Amphitheatre Balmoral
Buildings and structures demolished in 1951 Theosophy Former theatres in Sydney Jiddu Krishnamurti {{australia-struct-stub