Remembrance Day in Ballarat: 1914-1918

During WWI, Australia lost so many young men that some country towns had difficulty recovering - emotionally of course but economically as well. This brand new nation was only 13 years old when war started, yet 60,000 lads died, 152,000 were wounded and 4,000 were taken prisoner.

Within a few years after the end of The Great War, there were very few towns throughout Australia that did not have their own war memorial. Many of them were simple stone figures of classless soldiers without rank, of sombre expression, resting on arms, reversed on a plinth.

Less frequently the memorialising function was allocated to a shady road; there each tree was given a plaque, dedicated to the name of a local lad who went off to war eg Ballarat’s Avenue of Honour (1917-19). The avenue consisted of 3,771 trees planted at regular intervals along 22km of the Ballarat-Burrumbeet Road.

Ballarat Arch of Victory, opening onto the Avenue of Honour

The planting of the Ballarat Avenue commenced in June 1917 on the suggestion of Mrs WD Thompson, a director of clothing firm E. Lucas & Co, Ballarat. Her hope was that an avenue of trees would be planted in honour of the men and women of the district who had enlisted for service.

The planting of one tree for each enlisted person began in June 1917 with funds of £2,600, raised by the 500 “Lucas Girls” employed in the factory. The planting was carried out in phases over the next two years, until its completion in June 1919. Done by staff of the Lucas factory, with the support of local farmers, the planting included 23 species of trees. These exotic deciduous species were planted in single lines along either side of the road, at regular spacings of 10 - 12 metres. Each species was planted in blocks of 25 trees, on either side of the road. A timber plaque was originally attached to each tree, although in 1934 these were replaced by permanent bronze plaques.

Ballarat, Avenue of Honour, 
each tree with a personalised plaque

Following cessation of hostilities in 1919 and completion of the avenue of trees, the Lucas Girls next began planning and fund raising of £2600 for a commemorative arch; it was to provide an impressive entrance to the already existing Avenue of Honour.

This Arch of Victory was designed by HH Smith, Head of the Art School at the School of Mines Ballarat. It was a grand cement-rendered masonry structure, having one central arch flanked by wide piers 20metres in width, spanning the roadway. The 18 metres high arch, erected in 1920, was crowned by the Rising Sun symbol of the Australian Commonwealth Military Forces. And beneath it, the words Avenue of Honour and Victory were written prominently across the arch.

In addition to the initial costs, for the Avenue of Honour and the Arch of Victory, a further £400 was donated by the public to a Maintenance Fund, with a returned soldier employed to attend to the trees.

The Ballarat Avenue project required a high level of community participation because the work took place over a substantial period of time. The Arch of Victory and Avenue of Honour became emblems of civic commitment to the war effort, both projects being officially opened by Prince of Wales in June 1920.

The Avenue of Honour at Ballarat set a precedent. It was soon followed by the planting of 91 similar avenues in Victoria, especially in Central Victoria, after the Great War ended. The Bacchus Marsh Avenue of Honour was dedicated in August 1918; 281 Canadian elms were planted alongside the 2 kilometres of road leading into the town. The dead soldiers of Bacchus Marsh were remembered in alphabetical order, allowing surviving family members to grieve for their sons, brothers and nephews together.

Other Arches of Victory, in the tradition of the grand Roman victory arches erected across major carriage ways, can be seen at White Hills Botanic Gardens Bendigo and in Murtoa. Clearly neither had the size nor prominent location of Ballarat’s Arch of Victory, but they were much loved in their grief-stricken rural communities

Bacchus Marsh, Avenue of Honour,
each tree with a personalised plaque

 

The National Museum of Australia in Canberra says this country built more WW1 memorials per head of population than any other country. They suggested it was because so many men were buried overseas and the memorials were seen to represent their graves. I think that, had the bodies been returned to Australia, parents and widows would have had private graves to go to. But each community would still have needed public sites to memorialise the town's sacrifice and to honour Australian heroism.

Photographers Sarah Wood and Rosemary Simpson have recorded 23 heritage-listed memorial avenues from WW1 across Victoria, plus one or two great memorial arches. Their photographic exhibition, Avenues of Honour, was displayed at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne until January 2011.

Barbara Villiers, King Charles II's mistress

Portrait miniatures became very popular in the C17th so that men might carry an image of their wife and children while travelling away from home, or a young woman could give her fiance a very special gift at marriage. The first miniaturists used watercolour to paint on stretched vellum. During the second half of the C17th, vitreous enamel painted on copper became increasingly popular, as did watercolour on ivory in the C18th. Whatever the material, portrait miniatures remained tiny, perfectly painted and jewel-like. And expensive.

Barbara Villiers, by Richard Gibson, c1663, 9cm long

Christie’s Spencer House Sale (July 2010) included lots of items that caught my eye, but one in particular that I would love to have bought - a fine portrait miniature of Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, painted by Richard Gibson in the mid 1660s. Alas I didn’t have the necessary USA $45,522 to win the bidding war.

The Duchess was wearing a gold dress with puffed sleeves, slashed to reveal white underdress and fastened at shoulder with three pearl-set bands. She had a diamond-set crucifix worn at corsage, pearl necklace and drop-pearl earrings and partly upswept dark hair dressed with further pearls. The background was non-specific, except for a pillar.

Like all beauties at court, the model was depicted as if she just got out of bed from a spot of mid afternoon delight – dressed in a house-dress with masses of auburn hair, slanting and heavy-lidded eyes, creamy skin and a sexy mouth.

The miniature was done in watercolours on vellum, inside an oval, gilt-metal frame with spiral cresting. According to a catalogue from a 1974 exhibition called Samuel Cooper and His Contemporaries (D Foskett, London, 1975), this miniature was by family descent from Robert, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, who was the grandson of William, 2nd Baron Spencer. It is only 9 cm at its longest.

Barbara (1640–1709) had come from ennobled families on both her mother's and father's side, but she didn't hit pay dirt until she became King Charles II's mistress in 1660. At that stage she still theoretically married to Roger Palmer, although they separated in 1662. As a reward for her services, the King made her husband "Baron Limerick" and "Earl of Castlemaine" in 1661. Palmer was certainly laying down his wife for his king and country.

The court of King Charles II must have been very busy indeed - Barbara was openly and famously one of his long term mistresses. Together they had (at least) five children, all of whom he acknowledged and gave titles and land to. In June 1670 Charles created her Baroness Nonsuch and owner of Nonsuch Palace. Then he showered her with titles, making her "Countess of Castlemaine" and "Duchess of Cleveland".

Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, 

painted by Peter Lely in 1666

King Charles' wife, Queen Catherine, became even less impressed when Barbara was appointed Lady of the Bedchamber in 1662, despite opposition from the Queen and her advisors. Queen Catherine was certainly aware of King Charles long line of mistresses and illegitimate children, so the last thing she needed was Barbara waking her up and dressing her every day. History does not record what the other royal mistresses thought - Louise de Keroualle, Nell Gwynne, Duchess of Mazarin and the others.

In Dec 1663, Barbara decided to convert to Catholicism, possibly in an attempt to consolidate her position with the King. Or perhaps to reconcile with her Catholic husband.

Other stunning portrait miniatures were painted in the C17th by the Hilliards, Peter Cross, John Hoskins, Samuel Cooper, Thomas Flatman, Cornelis Janssens van Ceulen-Johnson and the Olivers. Since the world of portrait miniatures was rather specialised, it did not surprise me in the least that several of the finest artists were closely related: Nicholas Hilliard was succeeded by his son Lawrence Hilliard (died 1640); his technique was similar to that of his father, but bolder and more colourful. Isaac Oliver and his son Peter Oliver (died 1648) succeeded Hilliard. John Hoskins (died 1664) was the uncle and art teacher of Samuel Cooper. 

For some lovely examples of portrait miniatures, see the blog A Private Portrait Miniature Collection.

Lyons Tea Rooms: the Salmon and Gluckstein families

Lovely tea rooms emerged in Britain in the late C19th. Staffed by smart waitresses in black uniforms and serving tea and cakes, tea rooms were patronised by a new class of clientele. Classy enough to attract well dressed women, but not beyond the budget of the new working women who were being increasingly employed as office workers in the big cities. These were places women could comfortably visit, with their husband or women friends, or even alone; their presence was seen as perfectly respectable.

None was more successful than the Lyons Tea Rooms group. The Salmon and Gluckstein families, struggling Jewish families from the Netherlands and Germany respectively, had had a tough time in the East End of London. They weren't naturalised as citizens until 1861.

The two families worked extremely long hours in Aldgate High St; until 1887, their business interests united in the firm of Salmon & Gluckstein, tobacco manufacturers and tobacconists. So it would be interesting to know why the two families wanted to diversify into NEW business interests (catering). Initially the two men funded the food business, and eventually J. Lyons & Co. Ltd was registered as a limited public company. The first directors of the 1894 J. Lyons & Co Ltd were:

Isidore Gluckstein (1851-1920) was the accounting genius who took over the family tobacco interests of Salmon & Gluckstein when his father died in 1873. Isidore’s brother Montague Gluckstein (1854-1922) became the Chairman of J Lyons & Co in 1917. It was Montague's idea to branch out of cigarette and cigar manufacturing and to diversify into catering. He was a fine businessman and oversaw the firm’s growth to the largest food producer in Europe.

Barnett Salmon (1829-97) became a tobacco salesman who met Samuel Gluckstein, also a tobacco salesman. Their friendship flourished after Barnett Salmon married Samuel Gluckstein's daughter in 1863 and became Isidore’s and Montague’s brother in law. Many of the subsequent descendants from this branch of the Salmon (nee Gluckstein) family played active roles in the story of Lyons.

Sir Joseph Lyons (1847-1917) was a talented and successful water-colour artist. As a teenager Joseph Lyons wrote short plays and sold them to the theatre goers at the Pavilion Theatre (where he met his theatrical wife). But it was while he was running a stall at the Liverpool Exhibition in 1887 that he was first approached by his cousin Montague Gluckstein to join them in the new catering venture. Sir Joseph was made Chairman of J Lyons & Co in 1887.

Sir Joseph was only a cousin of the original and most hard working of the directors. So I have to assume that the tea rooms were named "Lyons" because it was more acceptable to English ears and less foreign sounding than "Salmon and Gluckstein".

Alfred Salmon (1894-1928) was the eldest son of Barnett Salmon and eventually became Managing Director. One of his grandchildren, Vanessa Salmon, married the Chancellor of the Exchequer in Margaret Thatcher's government, Nigel Lawson. Their daughter, Nigella Lawson, became very famous in her own right.

postcard of Maison Lyons in Marble Arch

The first tea room opened in 1894 and was soon followed by 250 other modest tea houses. The first impressive Corner Houses first appeared in London in 1909 when Lyons opened huge restaurants on four or five levels, each staffed by some 400 workers. Each floor had its own restaurant style, and all had orchestras playing to the diners almost continuously throughout the day and evening.

The Corner Houses were particularly fond of modernist architecture and decoration, eventually specialising in an art deco style. The ground floor was usually taken up by a large food hall where many speciality products from the Corner House kitchens could be bought.

In 1938, Lyons purchased the Bee Bee Biscuit Company in Blackpool, and changed the name to Lyons Biscuits. But in my memory, it was the cakes and pastries that stood out.

There were three Corner Houses in London: Coventry St, Strand and Tottenham Court Rd. The two Maison Lyons were at Marble Arch and Shaftsbury Avenue. After WW2 a new type of restaurant opened called the Steak House, popular in the leafy, prosperous suburbs. Some were opened further afield in the prosperous towns like Tunbridge Wells, Brighton, Bristol, Norwich and Gloucester.

Lyons began to close some of its London tea shops and hotels in the early 1960s, caused by economic circumstances and changing eating habits. I have no doubt that the Edwardian Period, loosely defined as 1900-1914, was the actual peak of tea room culture. Nonetheless I was still besotted with these lovely old sites in the middle 1960s.

The horrors of WW1 ended and life could become somewhat normalised again.
Photo credit: J Lyons and Co homepage

Nicholas Chevalier, a Russian-Swiss-Australian artist

Nicholas Chevalier (1828–1902) was born in St Petersburg, to a Swiss father who had gone to Russia to manage the estates of the Prince de Wittgenstein, a nobleman close to the Czar. The mother was Russian. As the family lived on the Prince's estate, young Nicholas became familiar with the paintings in the de Wittgenstein collection, presumably a powerful factor that first aroused his interest in art.

Nicholas spoke Rus­sian with his mother, French and German with his father, and learned fluent English, Italian and Portuguese for pleasure and travel. Languages became important as soon as Nicholas left Russia while still a teenager (in 1845); he studied art and architecture in Switzerland and Germany.

Six years later young Chevalier moved to Britain as a professional illustrator. How did he obtain patronage by the British royal family? I can’t find the answer but I do know that some of his paintings were hung at the Academy as early as 1852.

 

Chevalier, Survey Paddock, 1861, National Gallery Australia

Nor am I clear why Chevalier sailed to Australia in 1854, to join his father and brother. Three possibilities have been mentioned. Bronwyn Watson noted that he quickly found work as an illustrator at Melbourne’s magazine, Punch, and the Ill­ustrated Australian News. Perhaps he had organised the job, before he sailed from Europe. Christopher Allen said he had no choice – he had to travel to help dad with a timber business in rural Victoria. Or perhaps the family was simply rushing to the Victorian goldfields, like many other men before them.

Things were going very well for the young Russian who could not stand still. In the early 1860s he went on a scientific tour of rural Vict­oria where he concentrated on landscapes. In 1864, when the National Gallery of Victoria was founded, an exhibition of pictures by Victorian artists was held, the state govern­ment committing itself to buying the best picture. A Chevalier oil landscape was selected, the first picture painted in Australia to be included in the newly-prestigious NGV.

Then in 1865 Chevalier visited New Zealand for the first of three trips, travelling and painting, later displaying his oeuvre in Melbourne.
                                         

Chevalier, Self portrait, 1857, Art Gallery New South Wales

Nicholas and his wife Caroline Wilkie had no children so their lovely home in Royal Terrace Fitzroy became a European-style cultural salon. Writers, artists and musicians, many of them members of the Society of Fine Arts and the Royal Society, gathered for intellectual exchange, good company and wine. Even better, the Wilkie cousins in Melbourne ran Wilkie's Music Pianoforte Saloon in Collins St. The window of Wilkie's shop was a venue for many prominent Melbourne artists to show their work, including Chevalier. 15 exciting years in Melbourne!

The Sydney Morning Herald noted that in the days before the photo­grapher had established himself as a recorder of history, an artist was an essential member of the staff of a Royal traveller. When Prince Alfred Duke of Edinburgh came to Australia in 1868, he invited Chevalier to join his staff as an artist. In 1869 they went aboard the HMS Galat­ea, en route to India, Japan, China and finally back to Britain, permanently. The pictures painted during this last voyage were hung on display in London. 

In January 1874 Chevalier was commissioned by Queen Victoria to trav­el to St Petersburg and paint the royal wedding between his old patron Prince Alfred and Grand Duchess Marie of Russia. Chevalier was then permanently based in London and was a regular exhibitor at the Academy throughout the 1870s and 80s. Not only a skilled artist and linguist, Chevalier was a talented musician in the Royal Amateur Orchestral Society.

Chevalier, Grassdale Near Casterton, 1863, ANZ Collection

A large history painting called Buddha’s Renunciation 1884 was commissioned by a wealthy Australian landowner, Sir William Clarke, who then had it shipped back to Australia. Buddha is too romantic and sentimental to fit in with his earlier work, draped in exotic fabrics and lush Indian sandalwood. But perhaps Orientalism was becoming more popular then, particularly Orientalist history painting. Buddha has been in the Art Gallery of Ballarat since 1923

Even in old age he was an art agent in London, seeking out works for the Art Gallery of NSW to buy. Nicholas Chevalier died in London in 1902, after a very full life.

Interested readers might like to examine a major survey exhibition and publication, Australian Odyssey, which presented Australian art. This exhibition was held at the Gippsland and then the Geelong Art Galleries in 2011-2012.

Art critics asked, then and now, who was the best en plein-air artist in Australia, Swiss-born Louis Buvelot (1814-1888), Viennese-born Eugene von Guérard (1811–1901) or Russian-born Nicholas Chevalier (1828–1902)? During the 1860s Chevalier probably had a better name than von Guér­ard. Then Louis Buvelot became more popular in Melbourne than Chev­alier or Eugene von Guerard. Now I prefer von Buvelot’s landscapes.

My major reference has been An Artist’s Journey Through Canterbury (NZ) in 1866.

Chevalier, Buddha's Renunciation, 1882,

152 x 215 cm

Ballarat Art Gallery