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School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry A Study of the Relationship between Mining and the Performing Arts in Australia 1850 – 1914: case studies of the Ballarat and Kalgoorlie-Boulder goldfields. by Norma Latchford This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy – Social Sciences of Curtin University March 2020 i To the best of my knowledge and belief this thesis contains no material previously published by any other person except where due acknowledgement has been made. This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma in any university. Date : 13th March 2020 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many thanks and appreciation for the tolerance and support that has been given by my supervisors to this non- academic student. To Emeritus Professor Roy Jones for his gentle guidance and scrupulous editing of my work: to Doctor Patrick Bertola who gave me the confidence to embark on the project and has been an invaluable support and source of information on mining. To Teresa Bennett and her staff at the Curtin School of Mines library in Kalgoorlie, for ensuring that living in a regional community was not a disadvantage to research. For inspiration, my fellow thespians at the Goldfields Repertory Club, and finally the unstinting encouragement and support of Stan and Jane Latchford. iii A Study of the Relationship between Mining and the Performing Arts in Australia 1850-1914: case studies of the Ballarat and Kalgoorlie-Boulder goldfields. ABSTRACT This study into the relationship between mining and the performing arts during the second half of the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, a transformative period in the economic, social, and cultural history of Australia, investigates the interconnectedness and interdependence of the two components, mining and the performing arts, and demonstrates how each contributed to the support and development of the other. The early periods of European settlement in two regional mining centres, Ballarat and Kalgoorlie, that were established forty years apart on opposite sides of the continent, were examined during their formative ‘gold-rush’ years to provide insights into the local nature and function of the performing arts and their relationships with the populations of those centres. In both locations it was apparent that the migrant populations both transferred their cultures to and maintained them in these new settlements, using the performing arts as a means by which to identify and display difference as well as to provide the comfort of familiarity and to maintain memories. Further, as mining methods changed and the settlements transitioned into more permanent townships, the performing arts, and music in particular, were used to assist in asserting the values of respectability, a required quality at that time for what were deemed normal civic societies. Participation in the performing arts was found to be a significant factor in the recreational activities of both centres. The demand by the miners in the Victorian goldfields for more sophisticated forms of entertainment led to an expansion of the professional arts industry in Australia and the building of infrastructure to support them. The thesis also outlines the ways in which the local professional industry became linked to a developing international iv performance arts industry. The goldfields of Western Australia continued that trend and, were able to maintain the industry during a period of economic depression in the Eastern Colonies. The mid and late nineteenth century was also a period when songs, music and theatrical scripts composed in Australia and reflecting Australian life, especially mining, began to be commonly written and performed. In describing the historical development of these two settlements based on mining, this thesis outlines the ways in which the performing arts played a significant role in the evolution of both centres and that mining, especially in the form of these two gold rushes, was highly influential in the distinctive development of the performing arts in Australia in the second half of the nineteenth century and beyond. v CONTENTS Acknowledgements iii Abstract iv Contents vi List of Illustrations ix List of Tables x Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Objectives and Research Questions 2 Selection of special and temporal contexts 2 Selection of the Performing Arts 3 Selection of two mining communities and timeframe 5 Literature Review 6 General Histories 9 Cultural Histories 17 Mining Histories 20 Performing Arts Histories 23 Overview 27 Sources 29 Structure 31 Chapter 2: Ballarat 32 Part 1: Before the Discovery of Gold 34 The Port Philip District 1830-1850 34 The Performing Arts in Australia 1788-1850 37 The Discovery of Gold and old and new Chums 43 vi Part 2: After the Discovery of Gold 48 Songs for comfort and memory 48 Songs for history and protest 52 Theatres and professional entertainers 61 Opera from two worlds 72 Aboriginal corroborees 77 The travelling circus 79 An Australian repertoire 82 The supporting cast 90 An artistic legacy 94 Part 3: Building a Community 95 New ways of mining in a new town 95 The transfer of cultures and institutions 97 Recreation and socialisation 101 Establishing an identity 107 To build a town 116 Chapter 3: Kalgoorlie and the Eastern Goldfields 118 Part 1: The Early History and the Discovery of Gold 120 The Colony of Western Australia 1829-1890 120 The Performing Arts in Western Australia before 1892 124 Gold in the West and a League of Nations 132 Part 2: Songs and Ballads, Theatres and Entertainers 136 Campfire songs and local ballads 137 Makeshift theatres and travelling entertainers 147 The travelling circus in the West 163 vii Advertising and the critics 164 Mining in performance 167 The start of the new 175 Maintaining the performing arts 177 Part 3: Establishing towns and building communities 178 Three townships, Coolgardie, Kalgoorlie and Boulder 179 Concerts with a cause 180 Transporting and maintaining culture 184 The Scots 186 The Afghans 188 The Aboriginal people 193 A variety of talent 197 Towns in the bush 206 Chapter 4: Conclusion 209 Objectives and Research Questions 209 New insights 217 Avenues for further research 220 Bibliography 223 viii Illustrations Figures 1. I’m off to the diggings, song sheet. 32 2. Victorian Gold Towns map. 36 3. The Melbourne Athenaeum, the first Mechanics Institute. 40 4. Parker and Macord, Potato Salesman and Fruiters. 47 5. Gold diggings, Ararat. 48 6. View of Ballaraat, (Ballarat) from Golden Point. 49 7. Night scene in the diggings. 51 8. Concert Room – Charlie Napier Hotel, Ballarat. 54 9. Alarming prospect: The single ladies off to the diggings. 56 10. Dress circle boxes, Queen’s Theatre. 60 11. Ballarat in the early times. 62 12. Chinese quarter Ballarat with Circus Tent. 63 13. Theatre Royal, Sturt Street. 64 14. Old Theatre Royal Melbourne. 65 15. Astleys Amphitheatre, Melbourne. 65 16. Coppins Olympic Theatre. 66 17. Gustavus Vaughn Brooke. 67 18. Lola Montez. 68 19. Chinese Theatricals in Melbourne. 75 20. Theatre Royal Playbill. 82 21. Under the Verandah, wood engraving. 86 22. Theatre Royal, poster, IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND. 88 23. Poster from Gold Museum. 92 24. Main Road, Map Sketch. 97 25. ‘St Alipius’ Roman Catholic Church at Gravel Pit, Ballarat. 99 26. Subscription Ball, Main Road Ballarat. 103 27. “Dancing Saloon, Welshmen.” 109 28. ‘Interior of Chinese Gambling House.’ 114 29. Capel Cymreig, Ballarat, 1860. 117 ix 30. Off to the New Rush, 1890’s. 118 31. Map of colony of Western Australia, 1837. 120 32. Captain Stirling’s Exploring Party. 121 33. Playbill for Love a la Militaire. 129 34. Coolgardie 1894. 138 35. Advertising with camels. Carl Hertz. 148 36. Audience at Maggie Moore’s performance. 152 37. Interior of Tivoli Theatre. 154 38. Theatre Royal, Perth. 156 39. His Majesty’s Theatre, Perth. 157 40. Orpheus McAdoo’s Georgian Minstrels. 160 41. Fitzgerald Brothers Circus Poster, 1901. 163 42. Cremorne Gardens’ Theatre advertising billboard. 165 43. Poster 1896, The Duchess of Coolgardie. 174 44. Advertisement, Kalgoorlie Miner 19 September 1897. 176 45. Afghan Cameleers. 189 46. W.A. Aboriginals Xmas Dinner. 196 47. Hannans Orchestral Society, 1905. 198 48. Coolgardie Town Band, 1905. 198 49. Procession Piesse St. Boulder, 1908. 201 50. Exhibition Coolgardie W.A. opening day, 1899. 206 51. Opening of Boulder Town Hall, 1908. 208 Tables 1. Birthplaces of population in and around the Ballarat goldfields. 47 2. Population of Western Australia 1829 – 1893. 123 3. Birthplace of population of Western Australia, census 1901. 135 4. Resident population Kalgoorlie-Boulder and Suburbs 1903. 179 x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Mining has had, and continues to play, an important role in the economic, political, and social life of Australia, and, as such has been the topic of a number of historical studies.1 However, mining historians, in both academic2 and popular literature3, have generally tended to focus on the technology of mining and metallurgy, on “cataloguing stamper batteries, boilers, steam engines and water races,”4 or on economic and labour history.5 Nevertheless, over the past two decades the scope of mining histories has widened slightly with an influx of contributions from social historians6 who have included gender, and extended examinations of class and social structures as topics within the broad field of mining history. By comparison, the role of the arts, and of the performing arts in particular, in mining communities has received considerably less attention, with relatively little scholarly debate about the relationships between these two activities;7 this mirrors the likewise limited nature of any historical research into the arts in rural and regional settings.8 The 1 Mel Davies, Biography of Australian Mining History (Perth: AMHA, 2002, 2010). 2 Peter Bell, Justin McCarthy, “The evolution of Early Copper Smelting Technology in Australia”, Journal of Australian Mining History, Vol 9, (September 2011): 20-35.

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