'Issue No 102 of the La Trobe Journal celebrates arts and popular culture, from the Melbourne premiere of Gustav Holst's opera Savitri in 1926, to the 1966 tour down under by stars of the British soap opera Coronation Street.
'The issue also looks at the career of Peter Hansen, who decorated the mansion Labassa, and tells the story behind the 'State of Victoria' gown designed for Victoria's centenary celebrations of 1934–35.
'The issue compares 19th-century illustrations and photographs capturing ancient sites in Egypt and Syria, and takes us from local commemorations of the poet Adam Lindsay Gordon to the pre-WWI courtship of left-wing activists Maurice Blackburn and Doris Hordern. It also provides an account of two countercultural bookshops established in Melbourne in the 1970s.' (Publication abstract)
Contents indexed selectively.
'The poet Adam Lindsay Gordon enjoyed a certain cult status from his death by suicide, in 1870, until the mid 20th century.1 Until Henry Lawson’s death, in 1922, the extensive number of monuments and memorials to Gordon was without precedent in Australian literary history.2 A dashing figure and an accomplished horseman, Gordon provided a bridge between Romantic poetry and local bush poetry, demonstrating the right combination of grand lineage, sophistication and derring-do to be celebrated as an Australian icon. He was considered a ‘second Byron’ and the unofficial poet laureate of Australia by his devotees' (Introduction)
'When Maurice McCrae Blackburn married Doris Amelia Hordern, in Melbourne, on 10 December 1914, a formidable political partnership was sealed. Both served as progressive members of federal parliament, and both made significant contributions to the social welfare of Australians.' (Introduction)
'‘Musical Melbourne owes Mrs Dyer a debt of gratitude that cannot be estimated.’1 These were the words that lawyer, public servant and arts supporter Sir Robert Garran used to express collective appreciation, on behalf of those who witnessed the occasion, for Louise Dyer’s contribution to the first Australian performance of British composer Gustav Holst’s opera Savitri. The memorable event took place on 30 September 1926 at the Playhouse Theatre in Melbourne. It was a successful fundraiser for the city’s British Music Society (Victorian Centre), underwritten and organised by Dyer, its founder.' (Introduction)
