Page:ChroniclesofEarlyMelbournevol.2.pdf/180

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THE CHRONICLES OF EARLY MELBOURNE.

T h e following Board of Management was elected:-President: Mr. James Simpson; Vice-President: Mr. Edward Curr; Treasurer: Mr. E d m u n d Westby; Auditors: Messrs. William Hull and Charles Bradshaw ; H o n . Secretary : Mr. G. A. Gilbert; Committee : Messrs. Edward E. Williams, Thomas Wills, William Firebrace, George Shaw, F. B. St. John, J. D. Pinnock, W . H . Campbell, W . B. Wilmott, Henry Moor, J. F. Palmer, A. H . Hart, T h o m a s Strode, W . F. Splatt, George Barber, and C. J. Sanford. This was about as decent a team as could be well found, yet strangely enough its component parts did not pull together. Whether through too little enthusiasm or too m u c h apathy, or dissension, was not known, but it is certain that nothing was done, and the ensuing April Anniversary of the Knight of the Dragon was suffered to pass in solemn silence. T h e Society m a y be said to have died prematurely, and with it for a time the memory of the great Mythical Saint was "sent to Coventry," one of his apocryphal birth-places. In 1846 steps were taken for a veritable celebration of the National Anniversary, and a St. George's Club was hastily organized. A dinner was determined upon, and to give it proper spectacular effect, M r E. Opie, a painter of the period, was commissioned to supply a banner of white silk with a red cross and blue satin border, and emblazoned with a central group of St. George and the Dragon. Opie turned out a work of art, tastefully designed, and happily executed. T h e entertainment came off on the 23rd April at the Royal Hotel, with Mr. Henry M o o r presiding, and the new standard unfolded over him. T h e Vice-Chair wasfilledby Mr. E. E. Williams, and about eighty persons collected to partake of good fare, and hear a few excellent speeches. It was intended that this spread should be the prelude of a re-organized Society on an enlarged and enduring basis, but the wish was father to the thought, for little or nothing was done to produce the desired effect. St. George's D a y 1847 was treated to an almost fac simile compliment at the same place, under the same banner, with the same Chairman and Vice, and only 60 instead of 80 convives. 1848 witnessed the smallest National Festival ever held in the colony, for the 60 Anglo-Saxons of the preceding year dwindled to 17. A s St. George's D a y fell on Sunday, the fete was kept up on Saturday, 22nd April, at the Royal, with Messrs. Henry M o o r as Chairman, and Edward Curr as Vice-Chairman. With such a damper as paucity of attendance is upon an occasion of the kind, a Melbourne newspaper thus writes consolingly :—" But there was never a better dinner served, and the evening was very pleasant." The year 1849 was an annus non with the St. Georgians—a blank which doubtless shamed the Melbourne Englishmen into an effort in the following year, thus making up in a large measure for former failures. T h e movement was taken out of the hands of a select coterie, and enlisted a wider circle of supporters, and therefore it was a tremendous success. It was held at the Queen's Theatre on the evening of the 23rd April, when the interior of the building was extensively decorated with laurels, emblems, and banners. N o less than three hundred and thirty-five persons were there, the Mayor (Mr. W m . Nicholson) presiding, with Messrs. H . M o o r and D. S. Campbell on his right, and Messrs. J. D. Pinnock and W . Hull the left-hand supports. There were no less than three Vice-Chairmen, viz., Messrs. C. W . Rowling, W . K. Bull, and - - Norman. Hore's Saxehorn band was present, and the toasting and speechifying were good. Messrs. Collier, Heales, Ashley, Bailey, Best, and Carter treated the company to a number of glees and songs. T h e three best speeches were delivered by Dr. Greeves, Messrs VV. Hull, and H . Moor, and more songs were sung that night than at any previous public dinner in Melbourne. Unquestionably the largest National Demonstration on record is a St. George's dinner which came off on the 23rd April, 1851. There was none of the former cliquism in it, and through the manner in which the shop-keeping element of Englishmen went to work, it was a thorough carousal. Ample preparations were made, and so numerous were the applications for tickets of admission, that it was feared no place could be found available in town of sufficient capacity to hold the intendant diners. After considerable searching a large store in Queen Street, belonging to Mr. Isaac Hinds, was obtained. It could seat seven hundred, though from its external appearance one would imagine it an impossibility to stow away more than half the number there. T h e interior was, considering