HOBBY'S OUTREACH Newsletter ef: BLUE MOUNTAINS HISTORICAL SOCIETY Inc. ISSN 1835-3010 P 0Box17, WENT\VORTH FAILS NSW 2782 Telephone: (02) 4757 3824 Hobby's Reach, 99 Blaxland Road, Wentworth Falls, NSW Email:
[email protected] !Volume 20 Number3 August - September 20081 5 APRIL 2008 MEETING Contributed lry Colin Slade Continued from June-July issue The Garden Palace and The International Exhibition Sydney 1879 ,,,,":(a, -i-e-c-e-14~ 'f 111-i:J,'l"fll, !""""""'"" ,.,,1,7(e-~ During the first three days of the Exhibition some eighteen thousand visitors (excluding exhibitors and officials) passed -.... through the gates and an uneasy doubt was felt among the Commissioners as to the popular appeal of the Show. But Saturday 27 September, the first 'Shilling Day', banished all apprehension as 30,000 visitors crowded the Garden Palace and applauded a repeat performance of the Exhibition Cantata and the Hallelujah Chorus. The Sydney tram system owes its origins to the Exhibition. The first tram lines were laid from the nearest railway station at Redfern to Hunter Street to bring visitors in a double-decked carriage driven by a newly built steam tram. After the Exhibition this tram line was doubled all the way and extended to the eastern, southern and western suburbs. Among the many exhibits, only to name but a few from all over the world, included a Turkish Bazaar, Japanese Tea House, 116 samples of tea from different countries, Emerson's Oyster Saloon, a Maori House, Austro-Hungarian Wme and Beer Tasting Hall. A Fijian house, for a time inhabited by dancing natives claiming to have been cannibals, The Australian Dairy (a glass of fresh, cold milk for a penny), 20 kingdoms, republics and colonies were represented.