The short article was accompanied by a series of photographs which showed the Nowra Police searching the building and interviewing people, presumably staff or the manager of the theatre.

The article explained that a packed Roxy Theatre was evacuated by Nowra Police on the previous Saturday night, after they had received a phone call to say a bomb had been hidden in the theatre.

Only six minutes before the due time of the interval, the movie which was being screened was stopped and the theatre lights were turned on.

You can imagine the confusion among the audience at the time.

Staff at the theatre moved among the seated patrons and began asking them to leave the building for a period of time.

The Shoalhaven and Nowra News reported that ‘Patrons walked quietly and orderly from the theatre as police began searching under seats and in every possible corner’.

After about 20 minutes the all clear was given and screening recommenced.

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A footnote was included at the conclusion of the article which read as follows.

‘And while all the drama was happening, the Roxy Theatre’s most regular patron, the playful cat ‘Ginger’ chased the shadow of his tail in what hardly could be called any part of the limelight’.

According to the Shoalhaven Historical Society, the infamous street cat spent a lot of time in and around the Berry Street theatre.

When the lights were dimmed at the beginning of a movie, the silhouette of the friendly feline could be seen moving along the upper seating level rail and in and around the patrons. 

The threat came 18 years after a bombing in Bega on July 29, 1957 that claimed the lives of Constable Coussens, his wife Elizabeth and infant son Bruce.

The tumultuous event rocked the town and once the investigation began there were many theories as to who did it and why.

One popular story, which was quickly disproved, was that planes from HMAS Albatross had mistakenly dropped a bomb during a flyover.

However, it was quickly discovered that local man Myron Bertrand Kelly held a grudge against the constable. 

He was later charged and sentenced to life imprisonment on December 6, 1957, Kelly was released in 1980 and returned to the district.