1454 AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



a handsome salary. In Melbourne, too, the munificent dedication of ,20,000, by the 

 Hon. Francis Ormond to found a Chair of Music at the University, has led to the 

 appointment of Mr. G. \V. L. Marshall, late of England, at a salary of .1000 a year. 

 A noteworthy Australian musical event was the opening of the great organ in the new 

 Town Hall of Sydney, in August, 1890. Mr. W. T. ,'est, the veteran organist of Eng- 

 land, on a special engagement, " opened " the huge instrument, which is the largest in 

 the world, an audience of over 4000 people being present at the first recital. This 

 organ, built by Hill and Sons, of London, has six key-beards and one hundred and 

 twenty-six stops. The sixty-four feet pipes are a feature. In the Melbourne Town Hall, 

 a building holding over 3000 people, there is an organ, the second largest in Australia, 

 with five key-boards and sixty-six stops. Both in Sydney and in Melbourne city organists 

 are appointed to give weekly recitals, the Sydney salary being ,500 a year. 



That Australia is under an immense obligation to the gifted and experienced artistes 

 who have from time to time visited the colonies is a matter beyond dispute. The Aus- 

 tralians acknowledge their indebtedness, and they have begun to give their own native 

 talent to the older countries in return. Some few years ago, Amy Sherwin, " the Tas- 

 manian Nightingale," gained her laurels in England and Europe, and now a Melbourne 

 lady, Madame Melba (Mrs. Armstrong), who won her way to the front in two years, 

 occupies a position in the operatic w r orld second only to Adelina Patti. John Kruse, a 

 young Victorian, has made a name in Europe as a violinist, and two Australian " phen- 

 omenons," Elsie Hall and Bessie Doyle, who were sent to Europe by public subscription 

 while mere infants, have given evidence of astonishing talent as instrumentalists. Several 

 young singers hailing from Victoria and New Zealand, it may be added, have success- 

 fully opened professional careers in London. * 



The history of the Stage in Australia is rich in the records of great names and 

 performances of commanding excellence. Curiously enough, the drama has a place in the 

 first chapter of the story of the settlement in Sydney, for it is set forth, and not with- 

 out a touch of humour, that the first theatrical performance was in celebration of the 

 Sovereign's birthday, on the 4th of June, 1/89, the play being Farquhar's "Recruiting 

 Officer," and the actors a number of prisoners. A species of "free and easy" theatre sprang 

 into existence in 1796, but on account of certain abuses it was suppressed by the Governor 

 in 1798. The year 1833 saw the first legitimate play-house the Royal opened in Sydney, 

 and the Victoria was built five years later. Melbourne made its start in this direction 

 in 1845 with the Queen's, and George Coppin's theatre was in evidence in 1854. A 

 review of the drama in Australia calls forth a splendid procession of men and women 

 who trod the stage during the period extending from the fifties to the nineties, and on 

 the lives and genius of nearly all of whom the dark curtain has been rung down. 

 Standing out most prominently is the imposing figure of Gustavus Vaughan Brooke, the 

 gifted Irishman whose powers in tragedy and comedy were equally great, and who was 

 the first man in Australia to read Shakespeare "by flashes of lightning." Brooke, in 

 1855, whose name has become historic, gave the legitimate drama its first real start, and 

 with his memory are associated remembrances of Fanny Cathcart, Julia Matthews an 

 Australian, by the way, and a celebrated actress Francis Nesbitt, G. H. Rogers, Mrs. C. 

 Jones, Mrs. Guerin and many other sterling actors. After Brooke, in the legitimate walk, 



