A USTRALASIA ILL USTRA TED. 



of population would eventually open up for the manufactured products of the old world, 

 and more especially for those articles of luxury, which are the outgrowth of the complex 

 civilixation. and the artificial wants of societies, which have enjoyed many centuries of wealth 

 and culture. Hence, every nation in central, western and southern Europe France, Belgium, 

 r.i-rmany. Holland, Austria, Scandinavia, Italy, Greece, Turkey and Switzerland -was repre- 

 sented at the Melbourne International Exhibition; as well as the United States, India, 



Mauritius, Japan, China and the 

 South Sea Islands, together with 

 the whole of the Australasian 

 Colonies. Nor was the display 

 limited exclusively to the pro- 

 ductions of commercial industry, 

 for the galleries in the principal 

 building were filled with marble 

 and bronze statuary, and with oil 

 paintings and water-colour draw- 

 in""s from the chief art centres 



o 



of Europe. Great Britain, France, 

 Belgium, Germany, Italy, Holland 

 and Austria, all contributed to 

 render this department of the 

 Exhibition particularly attractive, 

 the aggregate result being a col- 

 lection of fifteen hundred works 

 of art, irrespective of a large 

 number of pictures, many of them 

 highly meritorious, sent in by 

 Australian artists. 



The Melbourne International Exhibition was opened on the ist of October, 1880, by 

 the Marquis of Normanby, in the presence of the Governors of New South Wales, 

 South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, the commanders of the British and 

 foreign war-ships lying in the Bay, and the principal personages of the colony. The day 

 had been proclaimed a public holiday, Melbourne was fairly decorated for the occasion, 

 and nothing had been neglected that was calculated to heighten the festive and picturesque 

 character of the ceremonial. Sir W. J. Clarke, as the President of the Commission, read 

 the address prepared for the occasion after the performance of a cantata, specially com- 

 posed by M. Leon Caron ; the words having been written for it by Mr. J. W. Meadcn. 

 A telegram was dispatched to Her Majesty the Queen announcing the successful opening 

 of the Exhibition. 



To the native-born population of the colony such a display of the products of the 

 looms, factories and work-shops of Europe and the East proved a revelation. It was 

 indeed an illustrated lesson-book of economic geography and industrial development, and 

 it brought about quite a revolution in public taste, more especially as regards household 

 furniture and decoration. It created a demand for elegant and artistic cabinet work, 





VISCOUNT CANTERBURY. 





