NEWSLETTER No. 120 SEPTEMBER 2017 Serving the community, families, schools, students, historians and other researchers PERFORMING ARTS In 2012, the historians responsible for compiling the Thematic Environmental History of the City of Boroondara attempted to summarise and describe the history of ‘live’ performing arts from the earliest musical Contents performances in the 1860s, by groups such as the fife and drum band of the Volunteer Rifle Corps in Hawthorn and the Boroondara Choral Society in Camberwell, to the present day. Within the former City of Kew, musical and dramatic performances were largely dependent, not just on the availability of performers but also of SOCIETY NEWS 3 suitable venues. From 1880 to 1960, the former Recreation Hall in News about exhibitions and Wellington Street hosted events such as exhibitions, plays, musical donations performances and dances. The earliest item of theatrical memorabilia in our collection is a ticket to a performance of Arrah-Na-Pogue, an Irish ONCE UPON A TEA TIME 4 drama by Dion Boucicault, at the Kew Recreation Hall on Monday 2 The Griffiths of Kew: tea retailers and September 1895. The yellow ticket (overleaf) includes details of the philanthropists performance, including the name of the company performing the play - Mr. Lyons Talented Dramatic Company. Proceeds were advertised as being for EAST KEW WOMEN’S CLUB 6 a Bazaar Fund. The third instalment of organisations in Kew run by and for women The Recreation Hall was commandeered by the armed forces during the Second World War, and the interior subsequently modernised. An early SPINSTER WHO DEFEATS photograph in our collection of the interior is of a concert during the 8 PARLIAMENTS mayoral term of Cr. T.G. Jellis in 1906. It is the only known photograph of Carrie C. Jamieson of Nirvana the original interior. While the Hall was noted for its outstanding dance opposes street widening floor, it also had a stage area on which performances were held. During the second half of the 1940s and 1950s, the Recreation Hall was to ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 10 become the venue for important cultural events, including annual Kew Arts Required advice for members Festivals. The Society’s collection includes rare programmes of the Festivals of 1947, 1950 and 1951. These festivals typically comprised art NOMINATION FORMS shows, films, performances of ballets and plays, and musical recitals. 11 Proxy and Management Committee nomination forms > Page 2 Front-page Marion Smith, Maureen Lynch, Denise Lynch, & Marion Tilley in A Country Girl by Lionel Monckton, 1957 Kew Historical Society, Right Admission ticket to Arrah-Na-Pogue, Kew Recreation Hall, 2 September 1895. Arthur Dear collection, Kew Historical Society Performing Arts (< page 1) Theatrical groups included The Tin Alley Players and The Melbourne Little Theatre. 1952 saw the first production by a local theatre company - The Kew Light Opera Company’s performance of Leslie Stuart’s musical comedy Florodora. These performances coincided with what has been described as the proliferation of live theatre and Kew Historical Society Inc. music groups across Kew, Camberwell and Hawthorn. In Kew, PATRON in addition to the Kew Light Opera Company, and its successor Sir Gustav Nossal AC, CBE The ‘Q’ Theatre Guild, the Kew Repertory Players and the Kew Philharmonic Society were also active. MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE President: Hon Andrew McIntosh These groups invariably held their performances in the Vice President: Assoc. Prof. Don Garden OAM Recreation Hall, unless they were invited to perform in state- Secretary: Brad Miles wide events such as Moomba, when performances were held in Treasurer: David Benwell the Alexandra Gardens, Melbourne. The repertoire of the Kew Archivist/Newsletter editor: Robert Baker Light Opera Company was primarily musicals. In some cases, Curator: Judith Scurfield Members: Mary Kelleher | Debbie McColl-Davis | Desley these included Australian premieres, such as Goodnight Reid |Janet Walker | David White Vienna!, which had originally premiered in London in 1932. Its successor, The “Q” Theatre Guild was even able to mount and MONTHLY MEETINGS perform Donizetti’s Daughter of the Regiment and Menotti’s The Kew Historical Society holds monthly meetings in the The Telephone in 1964. Phyllis Hore Room at the rear of the Kew Library. Meetings are held at 8.00pm on the second Wednesday of the month, From the early 1950s, the Kew Repertory Players performed unless otherwise announced. Refreshments are provided. more substantial, if less spectacular fare in the Recreation Hall, Meetings are open to members and visitors. and later in the new Kew City Hall, after the former’s demolition in 1960. Their repertoire ranged from plays by Noel KEW COURT HOUSE Coward to J.B. Priestley. Many of their programmes, the earliest Members of the Society played a key role in the preservation and restoration of the historic Kew Court House. Volunteers from 1953, and the last from 1965, form part of our collection. staff the Kew History Centre on Level 1 every Friday and The Kew Philharmonic Society, which had performed before Saturday (11.00am–1.00pm). At the Centre, you can ask questions about Kew's history and view displays from the the Second World War was re-formed by Dr A.P. Ehrenfeld, Society's collection. c.1946. Performances by the Philharmonic were to feature in successive Kew Arts Festivals. Their first concert in the NEWSLETTER Recreation Hall in 1946 featured Alexander Mackenzies’ The This newsletter is published quarterly and is distributed to all Singers, Mendelssohn’s Ave Maria, Edward German’s Orpheus members. Some additional copies are made available to the community. Past newsletters can be downloaded from With His Lute, and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasia. While Dr. our website. Ehrenfeld was to die in 1954, [his baton is a treasured item in our collection], the Kew Philharmonic Society continues to WEBSITE perform to this day. www.kewhistoricalsociety.org.au A new exhibition, Performing Arts in Kew: 1945-1965, will open MEMBERSHIP INQUIRIES in October and be on display until the end of February 2018. See page 12 of the newsletter or contact the Secretary, The exhibition will draw upon theatrical and music ephemera, Brad Miles. Phone 9489 7815 photographs and objects in our collection. Email: [email protected] Robert Baker DATES FOR YOUR DIARY 09 August - Monthly meeting 20 August - Quarterly Book Sale Kew Historical Society Inc. 13 September - Annual General Meeting Inc. No. A0010789W 15-22 October - History Week ABN 97 824 890 237 18 October - Dickinson Lecture PO Box 175 Kew VIC 3101 08 November - Monthly meeting KHS Newsletter, No.119/2017 26 November - Quarterly Book Sale ISSN 0155-1337 13 December - Annual Christmas Party 2 IN THE NEWS Exhibitions & Displays Our exhibition at the Kew Court House, Scouts and Guides of Kew 1909-2009, has been a great success. We have had local school classes, many past and present cubs, scouts and guides, over 200 people as part of Open House Melbourne, as well as a number of dignitaries, including the grand-daughter of the founder of Scouting and Guiding, the Honourable Wendy Baden-Powell, visit the exhibition. The Collection Manager of Scout Heritage Victoria, who visited in July, was particularly impressed with the photos and congratulated the Society on the exhibition. The concurrent display of old Scouting memorabilia at the Kew Library (below) has also attracted many visitors and been well received. L-R: Judith Scurfield, George Fernando (Camberwell HS), Wendy Baden-Powell, Brad Miles, Marg Currie (Scouts) and Merilyn Cunningham (Guides). The Scout and Guide exhibition has brought back many special memories for visitors, including a recipe for Lemonade Scones that Vicki and Rebekah (visitors from New Zealand) learned in the Brownies. Lemonade Scones 1 cup of cream 1 cup of lemonade 3 cups of self-raising flour. Mix the ingredients and roll out approximately to 1 inch thick and cut into shapes. Into oven at 220 degrees for 15 minutes. Events & the Collection Meetings & Lectures Recent Acquisitions In August our guest speaker will be Allen Borella who is The Society wishes to formally acknowledge, and put on the proprietor of the Harp Junction Garage in Kew East. record, the following donations to the Collection: This is a small family business that was established in 1928. • A late 19th-century day dress, once exhibited in the Allen took over the business in 1977 and will share some of Queen Victoria Museum & Art Gallery, Launceston, his many stories of cars and people, as well as outline some donated by Coralie Coulston. of the huge changes in the sector that Kew has experienced Six articles of clothing, including a full-length black since the 1920s. • lace evening dress and shawl, two sequined Wednesday, 13 September is our AGM and the current capes/collars, and a Manton de Manila piano shawl, all Mayor of the City of Boroondara, Studley Ward Councillor, dating from the 1930s, donated by Susan Barnett. Philip Healey, has accepted our invitation to speak. • A c.1891 copy of Wheeldon’s Practical Needlework and a 19th-century cane and brown silk parasol, owned by Our annual Dickinson Lecture is scheduled for Edith Weir (nee Betteridge) of Broken Hill and later Wednesday, 18 October. This year’s presenter will be Princess Street, Kew, donated by Jillian Rigby. Nigel Lewis, an eminent Kew-based architect, who will speak of some of the campaigns and other work he has been involved in along the Yarra River – including Willsmere, the Studley Park boat shed and the Abbotsford Convent. 3 ONCE UPON A TEA TIME The Griffiths of Kew A wife suffering consumption and an interest in colonial In 1891 John married Margaret Wightman Davidson timber motivated James Griffiths (c.1856-1925) to (1867-1928) in the wondrous garden at Monnington.