Open Air Picture Gardens 10-12 Mandurah Terrace, Mandurah, WA - Silvina Lanyon 1924

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Taken on: July 17, 2021

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Open Air Picture Gardens 10-12 Mandurah Terrace, Mandurah, WA

The early 1900s were, perhaps, not noted for women entrepreneurs but one astute business woman bucked the trend, launching a series of successful businesses. Silvina Lanyon launched her business empire with the simple offer of rooms and dining from her Goldfields home, which she shared with her husband James in 1905 and 1906. Later, with her husband fighting in WWI, Silvina operated a confectionary and fruit stall in the Goldfields.

James returned from the war suffering ‘shell shock’ and died in 1919, prompting a grieving Silvina to move to Midland where she opened another stall. Several years after her husband’s death, Silvina’s home burnt down. Rather than despair, she used the insurance payout to invest in a mobile projector and van and would travel to country towns around the Peel region showing movies. It wasn’t long until she opened a moving pictures show at a hall in Pinjarra in 1923 and, within a year, she also opened ‘Open Air Pictures’ in Mandurah.

Contributed by Greg Lynch -