This book is an autobiography of George Meudell (1860-1936). He spent about six years in Warrnambool as a young boy when his father came to Warrnambool as the Manager of the Bank of Victoria. Meudell went to the Warrnambool Common School 646. He later became well-known in Melbourne in social, economic and political affairs. He was a company promoter, stockbroker and writer and an acquaintance of most of the influential and wealthy people of the time. In 1928 Meudell wrote an article for the Royal Historical Society of Victoria Journal detailing his memories of Warrnambool and this article is now a very important piece of local social history. He was enthusiastic about the benefits of living in Warrnambool in the 1860s and 70s. Meudell’s book, ‘The Pleasant Career of a Spendthrift, was an important publication as it gave a complete account of the commercial morality of the power brokers in the financial world - those concerned with the land boom and the banks’ crash of 1886-1893. The book was so inflammatory that it was initially withdrawn from sale. This book is of considerable interest as it was written by George Meudell who lived in Warrnambool in the 1860s and 70s and played a part in Warrnambool’s history by writing about these years. The book is also of wider interest as it has some information on people connected with Warrnambool’s history, including John Archibald and Thomas Bent. The signature in the front of the book is of no known relevance to Warrnambool.This is a hard cover book of 282 pages. The cover is red with black printing and the spine is very faded. The book has a foreword and twelve chapters of text. The first page contains a signature and notes written in pencil.‘Gordon Leitch Christmas 1942’ george meudell, victoria’s land boom (19th century), history of warrnambool

George Meudell was born in Bendigo in 1860, the son of a bank manager. He became a public accountant. He worked for B J Fink. He took up a seat on the Stock Exchange. He later wrote a book, 'The Pleasant Career of a Spendthrift'. The book caused a stir and was withdrawn from sale. There was a later edition where a lot of names were withdrawn from the book.document, names of bendigo pioneers, the meudell mystery, the land boomers, michael cannon, maurice brodzky, george meudell, table talk, bendigo high school, money miller's bank of victoria, grant meudell, hnry miller, isaac pitman, john alsop, melbourne savings bank, andrew lyell, mercantile finance co ltd, b j fink, g w taylor, thomas bent, w l baillieu, stock exchange melbourne, william knox, broken hill proprietary, f m dickenson, historical society of victoria, the pleasant career of a spendthrift, george routledge & sons ltd, routledge & kegan paul ltd, frank campbell, robertson & mullens ltd, j m gillespie, sir matthew davies's mercantile bank, unofficial history of victoria, booksellers' association, the pleasant career, theodore fink, the herald, wilke & co pty ltd, the pleasant career of a spendthrift and his later reflections, lionel robinson, william clark, s m bruce, premier building society, j kitchen & sons ltd

Articles for RHSV Bendigo Branch Newsletter Nov. 1973: 1. Bendigo Memories, 1860-80 (cont.) by G D Meudell , author of ''The Pleasant career of a spendthrift and his later reflections'. (Source 'Bendigo Advertiser' 1930); article by Mr R Buck - mention of wine growing in area; Henry Montague Marks (and father - auctioneer); Bank of Victoria; David Williamson; Dr Hugh Smith; E N Emmett; Malcolm Tolmie; Andrew Williamson; Jimmy Menzies; Lort Smith; A McD Cooper; William Davis; George Valentine; W B Reid; Bob Lewers,; Jack Tone; Dan Luxton. 2. ‘The burning of the Beehive'' (1871) - details of the fire, problems of loss of script and mention of Messrs Moore Bros; Messrs Buick & Co (drapers) using manuscript of the late Mrs Lucy Hill. 3. Article entitled '' Stiff Sentence'' re story of William Stanford (background to the Stanford Fountain, Melbourne) submitted by I Hendry; 4. Handwritten notes on ''The Diamond Hill Company (later Melbourne Hope) - two pages with the final page being located within Mosaic #6543 - mention, with mining details, of London Shaft; London Christmas Company; Melbourne Hope + typewritten article (full) published.document, names of bendigo pioneers, bendigo