Images of death in the Victorian era

The idea of photographing the dead might be seen as morbid today but it made perfect sense to Victorians. Readers might like to find Audrey Linkman's book Photography and Death, published by Reaktion Books in 2011.

Most photographs of a recently deceased person were taken by professionals, and were kept at home in the same way as all other family photographs were kept – mounted on the wall or inserted into family photo albums. But why did they have the deceased photos taken at all? Ordinary Victorian families could not have afforded dozens of photographs. So the post-mortem photograph was often the only image the family would ever have of their loved parent, sibling or child. There was little choice - if families did not record the person’s image just before he/she was buried, how would they properly memorialise their loved one?

A little girl in mourning clothes standing close to her younger, deceased sibling.

Norwich, N.Y.

Photo credit: Etsy

In the examples I've seen, the portraits were posed peacefully. The person may have suffered terrible pain for months or years, but appeared as peaceful as he/she had before the suffering set in. Linkman noted that at least for people who died within a familial context, the picture reminded the family that their loved one was truly at rest.

With high mortality rates in childhood, the photos filled a painful void. They honoured the loved relative and seemed to have been part of the healing process for the survivors.

Postmortem photography of the dead, esp children, was also an obsession for late C19th Americans. Bereaved families wanting to keep a memory of a lost child would have a photo made of the child lying in its coffin. Some of these photos were given to family members and friends, or appeared on memorial cards announcing the child’s death. Or these photos could be on one side of memento mori lockets and brooches, with the other side containing a lock of hair. These lockets were emotional keepsakes post death.

Photography and Death is important as it revealed the significance of images that might make modern families queasy. We may respond with equanimity when the deceased person lay on a bed with the eyes closed, as if asleep. But often the formally dressed body was seated erect on a couch, playing with toys, surrounded by flowers or propped up between live people. Daily Oddities noted that the dead eyes were "open"; this was done either by propping the subject’s eyes open or painting pupils onto the photo-graphic print. And many early images had a rosy tint added to the corpse's cheeks. The book’s strength was that it placed these rather uncomfortable images within the context of changing cultural attitudes towards death and loss.

Mourning locket, 

photo from Carter's

Why did many of these photos look as if they were taken in the family’s front parlour? An interesting aside to the familial context came from mental_floss. The parlour/death room was an important part of funerary rituals for the Victorian era, the place where deceased family members were laid out before the burial. In the Victorian and Edwardian eras, many funerals were still taking place at home until slowly, by WW1, most funerals started to take place in funeral homes. As the professional funeral parlour came into vogue, the home parlour was quickly rebranded a “living room”. A 1910 issue of Ladies Home Journal declared that for Americans at least, the death room would become a term of the past.

For Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders,  WW1 also brought an end to elaborate Victorian-style mourning rituals. The huge numbers of soldiers who died and were buried overseas, as well as the resultant collective grief, made individual displays of mourning at home seem inappropriate.

Linkman acknowledged that for violent deaths, the situation was very different. In Western Europe, young men were clearly sent off to war whenever their nation required it. In Eastern Europe, pogrom massacres were a constant feature of life. I am assuming that families would not have been comforted by images of massacred brothers and sons, even assuming they could retrieve the bodies distant from home.

Millais, portrait of the late Cecil Webb, 

1887, NGV

One last thought about the momentos that provided a kind of therapy and a physical remembrance. Ordinary working families might have relied on a locket containing hair of the deceased or a ring. The National Gallery of Victoria has a portrait of an Australian child who died in 1886, painted by the British artist John Everett Millais in 1887. This beautiful and sombre memorial was presumably painted from a photo, sent to Britain by the grieving parents. It was expensive.

Photos may have made the death images more lifelike, but examine a funerary monument from the mid C18th. The wax head and body of Sarah Hare (1689-1744)  was placed in a mahogany box in Stow Bardolph church, Norfolk. She had instructed her family as follows: "I desire to have my face and hands made in wax with a piece of crimson satin thrown like a garment in a picture, hair upon my head and put in a case of mahogany with a glass before." So it may be assumed that the fabrics were taken from Hare's own clothing and the corset was the one she wore in life.

Although wax memorials like this were rare, it seemed to function for the mid C18th Hare family just as the Victorian death photos did 100+ years later.

Sarah Hare funerary monument, 1744

Hare Chapel, Stow Bardolph Church, Norfolk

Excellent photos can be found in Victorian History,  History and traditions of England,  Daily Oddities, Histatic and Mental Floss. Thank you to William Clements Library.

Durand-Ruel, Impressionist art, Geelong

Paul Durand-Ruel (1831-1922) was an art-dealer of belief; when the young Impressionists were ridiculed by French dealers, he bought their work and nurtured their cause, slowly influencing public taste in Europe. In 1865 he opened his first gallery in Paris. This dealer shaped the art market by discovering artists who later became global favourites.

Paul Durand-Ruel in his gallery, c1910

erinhanson.com

In the Franco-Prussian War 1870, Durand-Ruel packed his stock and left Paris for London. An artist there advised him to check out the work of two chaps named Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro. She said: this artist, Claude Monet, will surpass us all. Pissarro heard about the Monets Durand-Ruel bought, and not wanting to miss out, Pissarro left his paintings at the gallery. Durand-Ruel wrote to him saying “I am so sorry I missed you. I am delighted with the paintings you left. Could you name a price and bring me others?”

In late 1871 Durand-Ruel returned to Paris to meet Degas & Auguste Renoir, and started buying ALL the works in their studios. Buying so much so early was unusual. Other dealers would buy 10 works, wait for them to sell and then came back to buy more. But although it allowed him to corner the market, it was a risky gamble to invest his resources in an unloved art movement. It actually took 10-20 years to sell some of the paintings. There was no ready audience eg for Monet’s misty London’s Green Park, Manet’s battle between ships in America’s Civil War and Degas’ pale ballerinas.

Before he met Durand-Ruel, Monet had been so poor he tried to drown himself in the Seine. Monet and his painter friends had slaved away in poverty for years. Their abstractions of colour & light had met only ridicule from Paris’ experts. Durand-Ruel bought Renoir’s Boating Party Luncheon in 1882 and Monet’s Stacks of Wheat in 1891, 100+ works in Musee d’Orsay Paris’ collection and 100 paintings in Dr Albert Barnes’ Foundation Phil. Durand-Ruel bought c200 Manets, 1,000+ Monets, 1,500 Renoirs, 800 Pissarros, 400 Alfred Sisleys, 400 Mary Cassatts: c5,000 Impressionist works!

In 1876 he filled 3 rooms of his Le Peletier Gallery for a 2nd Impressionist show, but French critics were vicious. Durand-Ruel stayed loyal to his artists, giving them one-man shows and supporting them when they needed stipends & loans. When Monet bought his Giverny property, he bought it with advance monies from art he would present at Durand-Ruel’s gallery. Sadly Durand-Ruel did go broke and artists were anxious about their careers. Monet, painting on the Norman coast, wanted to destroy his canvases so Durand-Ruel wrote: Please don’t do that! I’ll send you money. Just send me the canvases in return.

In 1862 art student Ren­oir met Jean Frédéric Baz­ille, Mon­et and Sisley at Charles Gleyre's Paris stu­d­io, then met Edgar De­gas, Pissar­ro, Paul Cezanne and Edouard Manet via these contacts. These men socialis­ed in coffee shops and slowly created a theory base for their Impressionist style. Renoir also met Paul Durand-Ruel, in this time. At this happy meeting, Durant-Ruel agreed to be Ren­oir's agent and Renoir remained the favourite artist.

Monet, Haystacks Midday 1890

Geelong Gallery

Pissarro wrote the group's written manifesto and was the only artist to participate in all 8 Impressionist shows. At the 1st exhibition in 1874, there were 30 artists. Pissarro showed 5 of his paintings, out of the 135 on display. Even when Pissarro's work was finally beginning to attract buyers, a dealer’s support was always critical. His paintings were some of the first Impressionist works purchased by Durand-Ruel.

By 1876, Salon jurors clearly disliked Impressionist art and would not accommodate their paintings. So the young artists decided to get back together and rethink their plan. Monet, Renoir, Degas, Berthe Morisot, Sisley and Pissarro remained at the core. And then Jean-Baptiste Millet, (Jean-François Millet's brother, joined in. Gustave Caillebotte, who started out as a collector, ended up half funding the project. They opened in Ap 1876 and took 3 rooms in the Durand-Ruel Gallery on rue le Peletier, off of the Blvd Haussman. The number of paintings on display rose to 252, but the number of artists declined to 19. The critics were rude. Again! 

By the 3rd exhibition, cashed-up artist Caillebotte fully funded & organised the project, so planning began in his Rue Miromesnil home. Pissarro, Monet, Renoir, Sisley and Degas were as usual the steering commit­tee. Manet may have been in attendance too. But it was Caillebotte who risked not making a profit until money from exhibition sales arrived. They rented a spacious apartment at 6 rue Le Peletier, not far from the 2nd exhibition at Durand-Ruel Gallery, a year after the 1876 exhibition: Ap 1877. The number of works remained the same but only 18 artists participated.

But what a risk-taker he was. For 20 years 1871-90, Durand-Ruel spent hundreds of thousands of francs on pictures by the unknown and unloved Impressionists. Even after he spent millions on 12,000 paintings, incl 1,000 Monets, 1,500 Renoirs, 800 Pissarros, 400 each by Degas & Sisley, 200 Manets & 400 Cassatts. Durand-Ruel made and lost fortunes!

The other Impressionists were not pleased when Renoir went to the Dark Side i.e the Official Salon, but they were thrilled when Renoir returned to the Impressionist Exhib­itions in the 1880s. He submitted 25 of his paintings to the 7th Impress­ionist exhibition in 1882 in the Durand-Ruel gal­l­­ery. The next year, Durand-Ruel gave Renoir his first maj­or one-man show, showing 70 works! Once Durand-Ruel bought Renoir’s The Umbrellas and sold it to a collector, Renoir started to enjoy the pat­ron­age of weal­thy collectors and dealers.

There were other progressive, risk-taking art agents working in Paris in late C19th-early 20th. Amboise Vollard (1867-1939) was a fine art-dealer in the late C19th and when he exhibited the Impressionists’ art, he raised the rep­utation of individual artists and Impressionism in general. Berthe Weill (1865–1951) and Paul Guill­aume (1891-1934) were other key French art-dealers. But the rest of the Paris-based dealers seemed to be German-raised and educated: Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler (1884-1979), who dealt mainly in Post-Impressionism; Leonce(1879-1947) and brother Paul Rosenberg (1881-1959); Gaston and Jos Bernhein-Jeune’s father was a German art-dealer; and art-dealer/publisher Paul Cassirer who opened his Berlin art gallery in 1898 to specialise in French impressionist art.

Geelong Gallery

Georges d’Espagnat, Autumn afternoon,1899

Geelong Gallery catalogue

UK’s first major show honouring Durand-Ruel was in National Gallery London 2015. Inventing Impressionism included c85 works, among them some of Impressionism’s greatest master-pieces which had never seen in the UK. Most of the works had been dealt by Durand-Ruel, borrowed from the key European and American collections he helped form.

Geelong is the second biggest city in Victoria. In its 130th year, Geelong Gallery and Art Exhibitions Australia, are proud to present Discovering the Impressionists: Paul Durand-Ruel art-dealer among the artists, the most ambitious international exhibition in Geelong’s history. The exhibition, 20 June-11 Oct 2026, flows over 5 galleries, presenting 70+ works from 2 generations of Impressionist artists, most from private collections in France and never before seen in Australia, re Durand-Ruel’s remarkable legacy.

Albert André, Montmartre, view of Boulevard de Clichy, 1921

Geelong Gallery

Throughout the Gallery, works by Monet, Renoir, Morisot and Pissarro hang in direct dialogue with a second generation of painters long overshadowed by their famous predecessors: Albert Andre, Georges d’Espagnat, Gustave Loiseau, Maxime Maufra and Henry Moret. Supported by Durand-Ruel in Impressionism’s late years, these artists are now being rediscovered, and Geelong Gallery is offering visitors time to appreciate their work. Never before touring outside Europe-UK, Discovering the Impressionists is the first of its kind to trace their story via the art-dealer who made it possible.

Clunes - one of the world's few booktowns!

Clunes was the site of Victoria's 1st gold strike in 1851 which led to a goldrush sweeping through central Victoria, resulting in a massive population boost for the state and great wealth for some. Now Clunes is an agricultural, pastoral and tourist township in a scenic valley. Many of the original buildings in Clunes have been preserved from those goldrush days, perfectly illustrated in a visit to the wide and elegant Fraser St. It is lined with C19th buildings and shop fronts including the National Hotel (1862), Club Hotel (1870) and Union Bank (1865). Parallel to Fraser St is the main thoroughfare of Bailey St, featuring some historic buildings including the old post office (built 1878), town hall (1872), courthouse (1872) and some churches. See the special buildings in an earlier post.

original 19th century shops

Grattan St Press

Providing a pedestrian link between Fraser St and Bailey St are the gardens of Collins Place which include a paved square and rotunda. Another park of interest is Queens Park, located between Creswick Creek and Ligar St, just around the corner from the shops. The shady grounds of Queens Park date back to the 1870s and include a fountain (built 1887), pergola, BBQ shelter and playground. Esmond Park is on a hillside overlooking the town centre and preserves a number of old gold mining sites including the Port Phillip Mine which operated from 1857-1901. Following Scenic Drive through the park leads to a lookout which provides great views over the township and surrounding countryside. Esmond Park fronts Creswick Creek and there is a pleasant creek walk which follows the shady banks.

Clunes Booktown Festival has been funded through the latest round of the Government’s $38 mill Regional Events Fund, which also supports local events eg the Ballarat Foto Biennale. The fund is delivered by Visit Victoria and supports festivals, sporting events and art exhibitions that create local jobs, boost tourism and show off Victoria’s regional communities. It offers $500,000 for major events of national or international significance and up to $50,000 for events that draw visitors from across the state and country. In the past year, regional events in Victoria have attracted 1 mill+ attendees and led to 300,000+ hotel nights being booked. Since 2016, the Government’s Regional Events Fund has supported 450+ events across regional Victoria. 

The first book festival, Booktown For A Day, opened 2007, organised by the not-for-profit committee Creative Clunes. The town is a charming destination near Melbourne, and is hosting the annual festival for bibliophiles with 130+ book stalls. As one of the world’s 19 designated Book Towns, Clunes is a must-visit destination for book lovers. But now, the bibliophilic Clunes Booktown Festival will return for its 20th anniversary!! Wander down the main street of this charming goldrush town, and discover 130+ book stalls, workshops, panels & live entertainment. It’s happening the weekend Sat March 21st -Sun March 22nd 2026.

Festival goers browsing inside a book shop

Ephemera Society

Festival goers search through piles of books outside.

Australian Traveller

For fans of fiction, non-fiction or poetry, there’s truly something for everyone at this beloved literary festival. 15,000+ people are expected to flock in, just 30 minutes away from Ballarat. Stroll along Fraser St and explore the outdoor book bazaar. Browse through books from specialist book traders, selling new and second-hand books, to rare & popular pieces covering all genres. Continue the journey around town and check out the resident booksellers of Clunes, who will stay open over the weekend.

There’s also a line-up of panels, covering crime writing, speculative fiction, romance, First Nations storytelling, playwriting and historical fiction. Hear from notable writers and thinkers, such as Miles Franklin winner Sofie Laguna, podcaster and author Vikki Petraitis. If you feel inspired, there’s all sorts of workshops to try too. Learn more about writing a short story, self-publishing or writing oral history.

Hay Bale Maze for children

Grattan St Press

There’s also lots of fun for younger readers, with a Kids Village offering story time sessions, puppet making, work shops and a Hay Bale Maze. And enjoy the vibes of the live music and street performers. Entry is $15, and free for children under 16. Author talks are $25, with discounts for multiple events, while workshops are $30.

Tim Jarvis, Pres of Book People the national peak body for booksellers, says many bookish-people are seeking a tree-change in response to the cost of living; this resulted in more cultural events popping up in the regions. A big-city literary festival is a very expensive affair, where regional festivals tend to be volunteer-organised, volunteer-run and operate on a budget. There’s something pleasingly idiosyncratic about such arrangements. And they can still attract big names. A regional festival is different; a more boutique, more intimate affair where people get together, building relationships with usual people and getting to know others.

Author Jacqui Horwood moved from Melbourne to Clunes with her partner in 2022. She now serves on the Creative Clunes Board and is presenting at Clunes Booktown this year. Books and arts are in the lifeblood of Clunes, and there are so many creative people living across the Goldfields area.

writers' panel: crime writing, fiction, romance, First Nations stories, playwriting, history.

Secret Melbourne

 

Travel: Clunes is 90 minutes-2 hours away from Melbourne by car. For those driving, there is a dedicated parking at the Clunes Showgrounds. From there, it’s a 5 min walk to the main festival gate. Or visit Clunes via public transport! From the railway station, there'll be a free shuttle bus taking visitors to the town centre. Soaking in the literary ambience at the annual Clunes Booktown Festival is clearly very easy. Thank you to Secret Melbourne.

Gorgeous C19th synagogues in Melbourne

From the first European settlement in Australia, Jews were arriving with 1788’s First Fleet. The first settlement was in NSW, but soon spread to Tasmania and then Victoria. Along with explorer John Batman, founder of Melbourne, Jewish Joseph Solomon was a member of Port Phillip Society. It was in that society that Solomon with Batman received a grant of land from the local aboriginal community in 1835.

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Mikveh Yisrael Synagogue and School,

Exhibition St  Melbourne, 1859

architects Knight and Kerr.

National Trust Data Base

The 1841 census showed Melbourne had 57 Jews whose religious services were conducted in a Collins St drapery shop. It was decided to create the Jewish Congregational Society, seeking a governmental land grant to build the first synagogue. In 1844 they obtained a grant of land in Bourke St, consecrating the synagogue in 1848. Designed by Charles Laing & built by James Webb, the tiny congregation grew! In 1850 they applied for a government grant to build a bigger synagogue. It was approved and a new, larger synagogue designed by James’ brother Charles Webb: a rectangular building, gabled roof and columned portico!

Church Lane doesn’t have a church in it as it used to. And nearby Synagogue Lane doesn’t have a synagogue in it anymore, renamed Little Queen St in 1968. So why did only one of the two lanes not keep its name? Historian Robyn Annear* said that it was renamed as Bourke Lane in a civic cleansing ahead of the 1880 International Exhibition. The name change was recorded by Public Works Committee in June, suggesting the new name reduced annoyances directed at those attending Lt Bourke St. So was it an anti-Semitic move or one designed to stop problems for local Jews? Read Street names: Why was Synagogue Lane renamed? .

Bourke St Hebrew Congregation

opened 1848

By the time a separate Victorian state was established in 1851, Melbourne Jewry had their new classical Melbourne Hebrew Congregation and early congregational Presidents and Board members became aldermen and councillors of Melbourne City Council. Jews could go into both State Houses of Parl-iament, the Oaths of Office Simplification Bill in 1857 repealing the oath that parliamentarians swore: On the true faith of a Christian. 

The 2nd President Asher Hyman Hart asked Melbourne's Mayor to offer a reward for discovering gold, north of the city. Thankfully for Melbourne, the discoveries that led to the Gold Rush of 1851 slowed the emigration to NSW. These boom times and economic explosion gave Melbourne its marvellous Victorian heritage, and brought many European migrants. Since first Rabbi Moses Rintel in 1849, the congregation has been loyally served by a number of rabbis. A fine man was Rabbi Dr Israel Brodie, who went from St Kilda Rd pulpit to Chief Rabbi of British Empire pre-WW2.

Melbourne’s synagogue had been established in 1847 in Bourke St, but Rabbi Rintel & followers parted in 1857. A second congregation had formed in East Melbourne, mostly recently arrived German Jews after a doctrinal disagreement with the synagogue committee. They met in hired premises till a small synagogue was complete in 1860 in Lit Lonsdale St. They had no permanent meeting place for 20 years until the new East Melbourne Synagogue in Albert St opened Sept 1877. But the facade wasn’t finished till 1883. 

        

East Melbourne Hebrew Congregation, front entrance (above) and interior (below)

The Melbourne Synagogue came from noted Melbourne architects Crouch and Wilson. It was inspired by Melbourne’s old Bourke St synagogue. East Melbourne is socially significant for its link with that Jewish community, mainly as a focal-point for religious facilities. It is also significant for its imposing Renaissance Revival facade with the addition of the 2 octagonal domes flanking the central pediment and the survival of the tabernacle and altar. The two-storeyed rendered brick building had a slate roof. The facade was also completed in the Renaissance Revival style with 5 bays, projecting slightly on the pedimented temple front. Star of David was set in bas-relief in the tympanum. A parapet was carried over the tympanum and the cornice. Twin octagonal domes flank the central pediment. The internal space had a gallery on 3 sides on cast iron columns and the main ceiling was panelled with cornices. Victorian Heritage added the site to its Register.

The original Bourke St Synagogue was sold in 1929 when it became and stayed a justice firm. When the new site was chosen, there was a strong Jewish presence in Toorak. So the congregation moved to the new site, designed by congregant Nahum Barnet in Toorak Rd, and the foundation stone of the building was laid in Ap 1929. The interior was inspired by the Bourke St synagogue, with a Corinthian portico, copper-clad dome and glass stained windows. Barnet's plan agreed with that of overseas synagogues of Interwar Academic Classical design: semi-circular seating and a ladies' gallery. Interior decorations include stained glass windows created by Karl Duldig. In 1930 the community moved to its present Toorak site, Toorak & Kilda Rds. St Kilda Rd is one of the world’s great boulevards where congregants could walk to the new synagogue on Sabbath. 

Melbourne Hebrew Congregation/Toorak synagogue, 

front steps (above); interior (below)

Melbourne Hebrew Congregation/Toorak synagogue, of a grand design with the best Tasmanian black-wood carving, now has 1350 seats and 900+ members. With a dome 100+ feet high, it is an iconic building with Heritage overlay. It’s seen as the Cathedral Synagogue, the primary synagogue that hosts state and national events.

After 180+ years, Melbourne had c50 orthodox congregations, plus a few Liberal-Reform congregations and a Conservative synagogue. Post-WW2 immigration boosted a Eurocentric Jewish community but soon European approaches combined in a more Australian outlook. Melbourne is very cosmopolitan and Jews have been able to succeed in this society since it began. There have been many successful academics, scientists, judges, engineers, medicos, lawyers and business people. Past members of the congregation have included two Governors-General: Sir Isaac Isaacs & Sir Zelman Cowen; Sir Benjamin Benjamin succeeded with Exhibition Building; Gen. Sir John Monash was the most effective WWI commander & superb civil engineer

Read J Aron & J Arndt, Enduring Remnant, history of the first 150 years of the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation 1841–1991, Melb UP, 1992. 

And R Annear, City Lost and Found: Whelan the Wrecker’s Melbourne 2014*

 

The Edwardians: Age of Elegance Exhibit

The Edwardian era was always my favourite to read and write about. Health care services improved, mortality declined, literacy spread widely, women’s rights were debated, New Zealand & Australia women were enfran-chised, trade unionism increased and the arts and sports were now widely available. Canada federated progressively, while Australian & South African states unified.

Royal portraits and coronation cloaks

Visit London

So I was keen to see what The Edwardians: Age of Elegance Exhibition in 2025 in King’s Gallery in Buckingham Palace focused on. The exhibition went back into late Victorian era to examine the patronage of Albert Prince of Wales/King Edward VII & wife Alexandra of Denmark. The couple married in 1863, soon after Queen Victoria was widowed and withdrew from public life. Thus the young royals were leading taste-makers in society, well before 1901.

Winterhalter portraits of Edward and Alexandra, 1864

the year after their wedding.

jennifereremeeva

Queen Victoria’s son reigned on her death but unlike his very elderly mother, he died too soon 1910. Edward’s son King George V & wife Mary of Teck reigned from 1910-36, but the Edwardian Era will be labelled thus until the Golden Age ended with WW1 carnage. Thank you to Visit London & jennifereremeeva.

Court pageantry was seen in fine art eg Danish Laurits Tuxen’s Garden Party at Buckingham Palace 1897-9 and Family of Queen Victoria at her 1887 golden jubilee. The theme then focussed on the lavish court world. Note the opulent coronation robes of George & Mary and jewels.

Edward and Alexandra were patrons of leading artists: HE owned works by popular Victorian artist Frederic Leighton, while SHE collected art by Pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne Jones. Alexandra also supported Minton’s Pottery Studio in 1870s, patronising women artists. And Alexandra, like many upper-class Victorian women, was a keen photographer.

Laurits Tuxen, Family of Queen Victoria, 

1887, Historian About Town

Global royal patronage was regular. Alexandra’s Danish heritage was seen in Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Co. art, including a huge porcelain cabinet with an ornamental roof. And objects were also collected on visits and in diplomatic exchange with the colonies: India, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Africa. In the late C19th, better travel networks made the world closer, so the royal family travelled further and more often. These visits played an important role in Britain’s imperial identity eg in 1875-6 Edward toured India, producing an array of diplomatic gifts.

In 1871 Waverley Ball commemorated the 100th anniversary of Romantic author Sir Walter Scott and raised funds for the Scott Memorial in Edinburgh. Guests were dressed in costumes inspired by Scott’s Waverley literature. Edward went as Lord of Isles, titular character of an old poem, while Alexandra went as Mary Queen of Scots in the novel The Abbot. Emperor Pedro II of Brazil also attended

Edward and Alexandra hosted a Fancy Ball at Marlborough House in 1874. Actors, artists, aristocrats, musicians, politicians and bankers, called The Marlborough House Set, were invited. Named after their Pall Mall home, they were arbiters of fashion and taste, embracing new movements eg Art Nouveau & Arts and Crafts. Artist Godefroy Durand made a watercolour of the event, which showed Edward in fancy dress as Charles I, with Alexandra in Venetian costume.

A great party was the Devonshire House ball to celebrate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee 1897. 700+ invitations went out and James Lafayette photographed the guests. Edward was dressed as a Knight of Malta and Alexandra went as the C16th French queen Marguerite de Valois. Daughters Victoria and Maud, together with Maud’s husband, Prince Charles of Denmark, wore the costumes of her courtiers. And an early royal garden parties was at Buckingham Palace in 1897, marking Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, quickly becoming part of the royal calendar. While keeping strict dress codes, the Prince & Princess of Wales surrounded themselves with fashionable society figures.

A group of artists were portraying members of the set. Philip de László was renowned for his glamorous and natural portraits. In one painting of Princess Andrew of Greece-Denmark/Alice of Battenberg, George V’s cousin, he depicted the Princess in an elegant pose. A highlight of C20th royal portraiture was a striking painting of Queen Alexandra by François Flameng in 1908. In her mid-60s, she was presented as a fashion leader, promoting Cartier choker-necklaces. The best-known society portraitist of the era was by John Singer Sargent who painted Edward’s brother Arthur, Duke of Connaught & wife Duchess Louise 1908. And depicted folds of the Duchess’ dark silk and chiffon sleeves.

The social season also included sporting events eg horse racing during Royal Ascot week in June. The royal stables produced some important racehorses in the 1890s, including the famed Persimmon who won the Epsom Derby and the Ascot Gold Cup. And note the yacht racing at Cowes Isle of Wight. A small seal, enamelled in royal racing colours, marked 1896 when Britannia won 14 yacht races! And the exhibition revealed the royals’ loved dogs!

Fans and jewels

King's Gallery

Visit London

Edward and Alexandra watched theatre goers, actors and musicians in their social set. A bronze inkwell self-portrait by actress Sarah Bernhardt was in Edward’s Marlborough House study. Alexandra was a skilled pianist and Puccini's opera La Fanciulla del West of 1910 was dedicated to her.

For the royal family, and everyone, the age of glamour abruptly ended in WW1. By then Edward’s son, King George V, was on the throne. Both George and his wife Queen Mary visited the battlefields of Northern Europe to meet troops and boost morale, the first time a monarch had visited a warzone in over a century. The art collected by the royal family in this wartime period reflected a solemn purpose. George V collected military relics and images of the Western Front, including the bleak landscapes by photographer Olive Edis, Britain’s first female war photographer. She recorded the devastation caused by bombing and artillery to the buildings of France and Belgium

The monarchy which emerged after WW1 ended in late 1918 displayed a strong sense of duty. See Frank Salisbury's image of the first ceremony at the Whitehall Cenotaph Nov 1920, where King George V led the nation in collective mourning.

international gifts to the royals

todaytix

Myer: great Russian-Australian retailers

Russian Elcon Baevski (1875-1938) was born in Krichev to Hebrew scholar Ezekiel Baevski, went to a Jewish primary school, then high school and later managed his mother's drapery business. In 1896 Elcon migrated to Australia, working in Melbourne with a relative, Lazer Slutzkin. Simcha Myer Baevski (1878-1934), the youngest of the 11 siblings, attended the same schools as his brother, then he too managed his mother's store. Simcha fled poverty in Belarus and joined Slutzkin's business.

Sidney and Elcon took the family name Myer, moved to rural Bendigo and in 1901 established their drapery store. Sidney ran a rural trade in fabrics, on foot then on horse-cart. The brothers formally became partners in new premises in Pall Mall Bendigo, and in Mar 1902 Elcon married Rose Marks. 

Myer evolved from a drapery to a Bendigo department store

ABC News

Bendigo’s 1856 synagogue was replaced later by a larger, solid brick synagogue, so families had a religious centre. But the brothers’ partnership struggled because Elcon opposed Sabbath trading. He returned to Melbourne, opening clothes production in Flinders Lane. Sidney bought him out and remained in Bendigo, but they were still close. In 1905 Sidney married Hannah Flegeltaub at Ballarat.

In the Bendigo drapery, Sidney followed new fashion trends and presented stock attractively. He also advertised boldly, appealing to women's shopping habits. By 1907 Bendigo's busiest drapers had 60+ staff and expanded its premises. In 1908 Sidney bought Craig Williamson Drapery for £22,000, and a fast sale of its stock repaid his creditors.

Late 1909 Sidney travelled overseas to study British and European merchandising methods and to establish contact with exporters. In 1911 he purchased Wright & Neil, a Bourke St drapery, paying £91,450. He raised staff wages and closed up for a fortnight's stocktaking and ordering! In June, full-page newspaper ads promoted the long Myer sale.

Soon Sidney took over more Bendigo shops, then opened other Melbourne and Adelaide shops. Then Elcon rejoined his brother and managed 2 Bendigo shops. Modelled on San Francisco's Emporium, the new £70,000, 8-storey building opened in July 1914 with a popular gala sale. Myer grew the business, occupying a broad City area between Bourke and Lonsdale Sts. The area included 10 buildings built by Sidney, designed by commercial architects HW & FB Tompkins.

When war tragically erupted in 1914 and damaged trade, Myer opened a London office to deal with suppliers, sourcing more products locally and even manufacturing. It aided Sidney's plan to maintain imports in WW1. Elcon travelled to London again, to organise shipments of cloth. He joined the Army Service Corps, serving in UK and then at the front. In 1915 he built a clothing factory and bought Doveton Woollen Mills in rural Ballarat in 1918.

Myer Emporium, Bourke St, 2007

The retailer evolved from being a drapery into a department store in Bendigo, Wiki

The success of their retailing was also due to their classy window displays. The new Bourke St windows attracted customers, using theatrical sets and models to display goods. Designed by famous commercial buildings architect Nahum Barnet in 1892, two extra buildings were bought by Myer.

In mid-1919 Sidney visited U.S, getting divorced in Nevada and converting to Christianity. In Jan 1920 he married young Margery Merlyn Baillieu and had 4 happy children.

By 1920 Myer Emporium had 200 departments, famous for its motorised delivery vans! Myer's Australia Ltd brought together all firms solely owned by Sidney, with a capital of £2 million; and the London subsidiary was unified. In 1921 warnings of a post-war slump overseas prompted Sidney to predict the collapse of import prices and cut his losses with a Million Pound Master Sale. It cost £500,000+ but, by restocking the cheaper imports, he traded out of crisis.

Sidney offered 73,000 staff shares of £1 each, and 200,000+ shares among his managers (plus paid vacations, access to a sick fund, holiday homes were built) and a free hospital went in-store. He ran annual staff balls, football & cricket matches, a Christian Fellowship and choral society shows.

 

From 1925, a separate section was devoted to display design and installation. The Lonsdale and Little Bourke St building facades showed Classical and Beaux Arts styles while the Bourke St facade had an Inter-war Art Deco style. The present Bourke St façade (8 storeys) was completed in 1933. By 1925 the Bourke St front increased with the first section of an 11-storey Lonsdale St store opened with £3 million capital. In 1926 Myer opened Melbourne's first Cash and Carry grocery, plus self-service cafeterias.

Sidney was managing director, with a large committee. In 1927 the Co's net profit was £328,000 and shareholders received dividends of 17%. In 1928 Myer took James Marshall department store of Adelaide, placing Myer Emporium SA Ltd under his nephew Norman. Furthermore Myer bought out Webb Table Ware Merchants 1930, then WH Rocke smart furniture dealers 1931!

Sidney had ethical employment beliefs, and in times of financial strain here, instead of reducing worker numbers, he lowered wages and increased worker numbers! With the terrible Depression, he launched a £250,000 rebuild of his Bourke St shop in 1931, to increase employment. He’d already anticipated Scullin government's tariff embargoes and import restrictions, so reduced his overseas buying and started a Made in Australia Week. He limited profits to 5% so no retrenchments were needed!

The objects of his philanthropy were sometimes cultural, rather than charity. In 1926 he gave 25,000 Myer shares worth £50,000 to Melbourne Uni! Then he formed the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in 1932, and created a trust fund for them with 10,000 Myer shares. Sidney was on Royal Melbourne Hospital’s management committee; in 1933 he was chosen for the executive committee of Victoria's Centenary Council and raised £20,000+; and he gave an ambulance to the Victorian Civil Ambulance Service. What a great man.

Sidney died of cardiac failure in Sept 1934 and his will placed 1/10 of his wealth in trust for the charitable, philanthropic and educational needs of his community. The business was left to nephew Sir Norman Myer and Baillieu Bails Myer’s brother Ken Myer.

New windows were installed to Bourke St in 1955, the Myer Christmas windows commencing with 1956’s Olympic Games, and each year, a new theme was created. The Bourke St Myer Christmas window displays were visited by generations of children as their Christmas holiday ritual.

One of the Christmas windows for children after 1956

Mother's Little Explorers

 

Myer Mural Hall used a Streamline Moderne dining room for 1000 people, completed in 1933 on the 6th floor. It is a large space with a décorative plaster ceiling, balconies and wall panels. At one end the mannequin stairs led down from 2 balconies to the landing for fashion parades. The Hall was decorated with 10 murals by famous neo-classical artist Napier Waller (1893-1972)

half the Myer Mural Hall, completed in 1933 on the 6th floor

wedding reception, Tripadvisor

He donated to: Shrine of Remembrance, Melbourne Uni and Yarra Boulevard, roadwork for unemployed men. And when the Children's Hospital had to close wards, he donated £8000. His love of classical music meant he gave £1000 annually to concerts by Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.

He was succeeded by Elcon, with Norman Myer as managing director. Elcon presided over the completion of the modern Bourke St shop. Elcon was also active in many charitable causes eg the Alfred Hospital board and St Kilda Synagogue Board. Alas Elcon died in 1938 of cancer, and was buried with Jewish rites in Boxhill cemetery. His estate was probated at £114,353. Elcon left 2 sons of his first marriage and by his 2nd wife Myrtle Fisher (married 1929).

Bails Myer, born in San Francisco in 1926, was Sidney and Merlyn’s youngest of four children. Bails followed dad in the retail trade, after being a WW2 officer in Royal Navy. When Sir Norman died in 1956, Bails and brother Ken started an ambitious expansion strategy for the company. In 1960 they set up in a giant shopping centre, Chadstone. The brothers believed that the future of retail depended on bringing shopping to the masses, in the suburbs. Correct! Myer store became the retail heart of country’s largest mall!

Myer Chadstone, 2025

Tripadvisor

Bails was also involved in Myer Emporium’s acquisition of the Lindsay’s retail chain in Geelong. That business re-emerged as Target under Myer’s ownership and became another famous Australian retail brand. But in 1983, Bails went back into Myer’s management as a recession strangled Melbourne’s retail trade. This was just when Myer was in a corporate tussle with Grace Brothers. Myer won, securing ownership of the significant NSW department store owner in 1983. Bails led the group’s merger with GJ Coles and Myer Emporium, to create Coles Myer in 1983-5, the ?biggest deals in Australian corporate  history.

In 1994 Bails retired to focus on his interests in the arts and philanthropy, as a trustee of Victoria’s National Gallery. He also worked with the Myer Foundation, a trust that had started in 1959 by Sidney’s sons; it had distributed $300+ million since then. Re scientific studies, Bails became president of Howard Florey Institute and executive member of CSIRO. He also played a key role in the early 2000s in the refurbishment of the Sidney Music Bowl, built to honour dad’s legacy. He died (96) at home in 2022. My grandfather was correct; of all immigrants, Russians added the most to Australian culture.

Sidney Myer Music Bowl summertime venue

has been wowing crowds opened 1959.

Visit Victoria

Who are Sovereign Citizens in Australia??

The BBC reported that two police officers who were shot dead while on duty in a rural Australian town have been named, as a massive search continues for their alleged killer. Victoria Police identified the victims as a 59-year-old Detective a local officer nearing retirement, and 35-year-old Senior Constable. The pair had travelled to the property in Porepunkah, in rural Victoria north-east of Melbourne, alongside 8 colleagues to execute a warrant for alleged sexual offences. Another officer was seriously injured in the shootout but was taken to hospital for surgery. Police say the suspect, a local man aged 56, is heavily armed and still at large several days later.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said the devastating loss of the officers struck at the heart of both the broader policing family and the Porepunkah community. “It is not lost on me that our members take a risk every time they go to work to protect the Victorian community. While we all live with the knowledge that the worst could happen on a shift, we don't expect it to”, he said.

The suspect has previously described himself as a Sovereign Citizen, referring to a person that falsely believes they aren't subject to Australian laws and government authority. His hatred of authority has been well documented in online posts, videos and court documents. Police have said it is too early to answer questions about the suspect's beliefs but the incident has revived questions over how authorities deal with extremists views. Other questions remain: how did an Australian who is not a policeman or army member, get hold of guns? Did the tiny rural town of Porepunkah not know about the guns? Did the police not know about the suspect’s openly published views on killing police? He called police "terrorist thugs", compared them to Nazis and tried to arrest a magistrate during court proceedings.

Australian media reports that the suspect described himself as a sovereign citizen, who typically believe they are immune from government rules. In Australia, the movement saw a particular boom during the Covid lockdowns of 2020. Victoria's then-Chief Police Commissioner Shane Patton said at the time that officers were forced to smash the windows of cars and pull people out to provide details after they refused to answer questions or show documents. An Australian Federal Police briefing note from 2023 said the movement had an underlying capacity to inspire violence.

Protesters demanding an end to Covid lockdowns

Melbourne 2023, The Age

In 2021, the suspect was involved in an attempt to have then-state Premier Daniel Andrews tried for treason. The suspect was arrested outside a court in Victoria, where c250 anti-government protesters had assembled. The Sovereign Citizen Movement is growing group of people who believe that laws do not apply to them threatens police and law enforcement around the world, experts and officials say. So-called sovereign citizens believe they are immune from government rules and in some cases - including recently in Australia and the US - have violently confronted police. Coronavirus mitigation measures, including mandatory social distancing and mask wearing, may also have fuelled the anti-government conspiracy and spreading its message to a global minority that view the deadly pandemic as a hoax.

The FBI has described the movement as domestic terrorism in the US and calls followers anti-government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or sovereign from the US. The ideology hatched in the 1970s and grew out of Posse Comitatus, a US anti-government group that contained many followers who were anti-Semitic and believed governments were controlled by Jews. Sovereign citizens and anti-government groups became familiar to Americans in the 1990s. But any sympathy the wider public may have had towards such movements evaporated after the horrific Oklahoma City attack. Now there are signs that their ideas are catching on again. In the late 1990s, the ideology reached Canada through anti-tax groups, before later going to Australia and then the UK and Ireland. In Australia, police attributed a dangerous rise in people resisting Covid lockdown orders, sometimes violently, to the sovereign citizen movement.

135 firearms were seized in an operation targeting sovereign citizens.

WA Police

On 5/10/2025, WA Police seized 135 guns in a raid targeting Sovereign Citizens across the state. Officers also cancelled or suspended 44 firearm licences, and seven people were charged with illegal gun storage. WA Police have identified c1,000 people across the state who professed sovereign citizen beliefs, with 70 of those owning guns. The Police Commissioner said the fatal shootings of two officers in Victoria in August prompted a review of licensed firearm holders whose beliefs align with sovereign citizen ideology.

Stonington - late Victorian Melbourne

Before 1888, the Malvern site has been used for the Salvation Army's first meetings in Melbourne. John Wagner purchased the majority of the property in Glen­ferrie Road in 1888, with additional parcels of land around the main allotment. In 1890 Wagner developed this estate, naming the estate Ston­ington Mansion after Stonington in Connecticut, his wife Mary’s home town.

  

Stonington's carriage drive and front entrance

Wagner was already a partner in Cobb and Co Coaches which dominated the coach and mail business in northern and central Victoria. His coach line service was so inf­luent­ial in the growth of the Victorian colony that Wagner made a for­t­une. He also made impressive wealth from gold mining.

Stonington was designed by London-born architect, engineer and surveyor Charles D’Ebro. Together with his business partner John Grainger, D’Ebro was involved in the design of different Melbourne buildings eg Princes Bridge and the MCG grandstand and pavilion. Clearly D’Ebro loved Late Boom Style Classicism that was prevalent in Melbourne in the 1880s and early 1890s.

Stonington is a mixture of French Second Empire and Italian Renaissance Revival. See a large two storey brick and stucco classical mansion with steep French Second Empire roof forms and concentrated Baroque detail and bulk. It's an asymmetrical compos­ition with arcaded loggia at ground floor level and adjoining 2 storey servants and service wing.

The original decorative scheme and the stained glass were created by the firm Lyon Cottier and Wells, of Melbourne and Sydney. The staircase windows are a fine example of C19th domestic stained glass. Some of the original Wagner furniture pieces were manufactured by W. Walker & Sons, one of London's leading firms. The finely detailed and crafted interiors were notable, especially the great hall, stair case and glazed lant­ern.

An elaborate gate house, with impressive entrance gates and iron fence, was designed in a similar style to the house, reflecting the wealth and importance of the owner. A very large orig­inal stable building has also been retained on the estate and much of the orig­inal fabric re­mains.

 Stonington's gate house and main gates

Much of the landscaping has been retained. Note the 1890 carriage drive, front fence and gates, sweeping lawns enc­l­osed by large shrubberies, steps framed by a pair of oaks, a coll­ection of pines and winding gravel paths. Although smaller due to being covered with new buildings, sufficient gar­den sur­vives to apprec­iate its characteristics; it was typ­ical of C19th city mansion gardens.

Wagner and his family lived in the house until his death in 1901. The residence’s past high society guests included Dame Nellie Melba, King George VI and the Queen Mother as the Duke and Duchess of York, King Edward VIII as the Prince of Wales, Sir John Monash, Lord and Lady Baden-Powell, Lord Kitchener, Keith Murdoch and Ernest Shackleton.

Australia became an independent nation with Federation on 1st Jan 1901. After Federation, the central Government sat in the State Parliament building in Melbourne (until Canberra could be built) and served as the governor-general's official residence. So Stoning­ton was immediately acquired for Victoria's vice-regal res­idence, from 1901-1930s. For these state governors, British gentlemen all, the finely detailed and crafted int­eriors, great hall and staircase were perfect.

The 7 Victorian Governors who resided at Stonington were:
· 1901-3: Sir George Sydenham Clarke
· 1904-8: Sir Reginald Arthur James Talbot
· 1908-11: Sir Thomas David Gibson Carmichael
· 1911-3: Sir John Michael Fleetwood Fuller
· 1914-20: Sir Arthur Lyulph Stanley
· 1921-6: Colonel George Mowbray, Earl of Stradbroke
· 1926-31: Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Tennyson, Lord Somers

At first the Victorian Government leased the property. Then in 1928 Stonington was subdivided into two sections and the Victorian Govern­ment acquired the developed western portion, containing the mans­ion, gate house & stables. So for 30 years, until 1931, Stonington had been the State Gov­ernor's residence.

Staircase

Stained glass front door

Interior decoration

BalanceArchitecture

The Modern Era
The estate was used as St Margaret's Girls' School until 1938, post-hospital care for child polio victims until 1940 and then as a Red Cross convalescent hospital in WW2 and af­t­er. Its last health care in­car­n­ation was as the Health Department’s administ­ration from 1953-1957.

With the enormous expansion of education during the post-war baby boom, Stonington was trans­fer­red to the Ed­uc­ation Dept in 1957 and continued to be utilised by Toorak Teachers' College and the Toorak campus of State College of Victoria from 1973-1992. Then it was Deakin Univers­ity's admin­istrative headquarters, until 1995.

The most extensive building works were undertaken in the 1960s and 1970s as the property was redevel­oped for the Toorak Teachers' Coll­ege. And modifications were also made to the landscape to the east and south of the mansion, for the student teachers. The mansion inter­iors remained intact but the exterior loggias were enclosed.

By 2006 the campus became sur­plus to Deakin Uni's needs and was put up for sale to private interests. This created intense lob­bying from locals who bel­ieved the property should be retained by the government, but the government did nothing. The prop­er­ty was sold for $18 million.

In 2008 art dealer Rod Menzies purchased a smaller Stonington estate from developers who'd sliced off large sections of the yard on which they had built homes. In 2018 Mr Menzies on-sold Stonington for a new house price record of $52.5 million! Appar­ently it was sold to an Asia-based buyer and is now awaiting approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board.

Note that stunning Stonington Mansion lived through, and was involved in, the important phases of early Victoria - Federation, state governors and the development of Victorian social institut­ions.

Stonington gardens

Sydney Morning Herald

Thank you to the Victorian Heritage Database Report.