when it assumed national proportions in times of prosperity and 

 finniiaM ease. Victoria had early caught the infection, for daring 

 the first twenty years of her golden age she was never in want of 

 cash. Indeed, her first display of this kind was out of the very 

 wantonness of her wealth, for she had no manufactures to show, 

 and little produce beyond the golden ore and the golden fleece. 



It was in 1854 that the Government authorised an expenditure 

 of over 20,000 in erecting a building of wood, iron and glass, which 

 was duly filled with all the imported miscellanies of a modern 

 " Universal Emporium," glorified by some valuable samples of raw 

 gold, a few hundred bales of wool, and some ponderous blocks of 

 coal, vaguely described as having "come from Westernport ". This 

 building stood on the site now occupied by the Royal Mint, and 

 during the month it remained open 40,000 people were said to have 

 visited it. The same edifice was used again in 1861 for a display of 

 local manufactures, and the intervening seven years disclosed a 

 great advance in the industries established, all of them, of course, 

 without any stimulus from protective legislation. In 1866 Victoria 

 again challenged comparisons by inviting all the other Colonies to 

 take part in an exhibition, for the suitable display of which 25,000 

 was spent in erecting an annexe to the Public Library. It was an 

 undoubted success, contributed to by nearly 3,000 exhibitors and 

 inspected by more than a quarter of a million of visitors. This was 

 the year when the strife over the initiation of Protection to native 

 industry was just beginning to rage, and yet without its aid there 

 were exhibited on this occasion the products of over 900 local 

 manufactories, covering fifty-three separate branches of trade. In 

 November, 1872, and again in December, 1875, the same building 

 was utilised for the display of a large collection of Victorian manu- 

 factures and produce which were intended for competition with 

 the outside world in international exhibitions elsewhere the earlier 

 one in London, the later in Philadelphia. 



The first International Exhibition in Australia was held in 

 Sydney in 1879, and the inherent spirit of rivalry between the two 

 jHjpfrtlg induced Victoria to essay a similar undertaking on a scale 

 of grandeur that should distance all competitors. The colony hap- 

 to be at that time in the ascending grade of one of its cycles 



