222 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



foreigner, by himself or his agent, began to make his mark in the 

 arena of trade, both wholesale and retail. Continental buyers came 

 out in annually increasing numbers to attend the local wool sales. 

 A branch of a leading French bank was opened in Melbourne and 

 Sydney, and the proposals of a German bank to follow suit were 

 only diverted by the offer of satisfactory agency arrangements by an 

 Australian institution. The Exhibition was kept open for seven 

 months, and in addition to the army of servants and officials 

 employed, upwards of a million persons paid for admission. 



From that day forward much of the narrow provincialism of 

 the colonists vanished. The "new chum," once the derided butt 

 of the old identities, was no longer rudely stared at, and Collins 

 Street began to take on a cosmopolitan aspect. The vague notions 

 of Victoria's whereabouts and social conditions which had hitherto 

 prevailed on the European continent had been replaced by know- 

 ledge, and the little colony, with less than 800,000 inhabitants, had 

 actually won some sort of a standing in the regard of many leading 

 foreign nations. 



During the currency of the Exhibition one man passed away 

 who had been the general adviser and director in previous move- 

 ments of this character, and who had presided with memorable 

 dignity over the colony's earlier displays in London and Philadelphia. 

 Sir Eedmond Barry died on 22nd November, after a very short ill- 

 ness, and left a blank hi social, artistic and educational circles which 

 was not readily filled. It has been well said of him that though he 

 was not a man of deep learning himself, he had been, above all others, 

 the means of bringing both learning and learned men to the colony. 

 He had unquestionably been in the forefront of every movement 

 for the intellectual development of the people amongst whom he 

 spent his life. The University, the Public Library, and the National 

 Gallery were his foster-children, and for their advancement he worked 

 with unceasing activity. The huge attendance at his funeral testi- 

 fied to the estimation in which the citizens held his generous services, 

 and a public subscription raised a memorial which, in the form of a 

 handsome bronze statue, appropriately stands in front of the noble 

 building in Melbourne which holds the fine library and the rich art 

 treasures of the colony. 



