The first Bendigo Easter Fair was held on April 10th and 11th 1871 and remains one of Australia’s longest running annual community events. Taking place over the Easter long weekend, the Bendigo Easter Fair features events throughout the City of Greater Bendigo and celebrations culminate in a parade through the streets on Easter Sunday. In 1892, large processional dragons became an integral part of the annual parade. The three principal golden dragons are Loong (1892–1970), Sun Loong (1970–2019) and Dai Gum Loong (2019–present), housed at the Golden Dragon Museum in Bendigo. The Bendigo Easter Fair Society is custodian of the Bendigo Easter Fair and continues to support the City of Greater Bendigo’s largest festival. Each year the City produces a poster to advertise the upcoming fair and this one from 2006 had the theme Boomba which may have been a play on the word Moomba, a Melbourne festival which takes place annually around Easter.Commercially printed promotional poster for Bendigo Easter Fair 2001 featuring Sun Loong and fairground attractions. Attached to foam core. April 13th to 16th, 2001In mount; Presented to / CITY OF GREATER BENDIGO / In recognition of their invlauable / commitment to the / Bendigo Easter Fair / and their substantial sponsorship / of the 131st 2001 Festival / 'A Celebration of Federationcity of greater bendigo easter fair, city of greater bendigo tourism

A Bioscope show was a fairground attraction consisting of a travelling cinema. The heyday of the Bioscope was from the late 1890s until World War I. Bioscope shows were fronted by the largest fairground organs, and these formed the entire public face of the show . A stage was usually in front of the organ, and dancing girls would entertain the crowds between film shows. Films shown in the Bioscope were primitive, and the earliest of these were made by the showmen themselves. Later, films were commercially produced. Bioscope shows were integrated, in Britain at least, into the Variety shows in the huge Music Halls which were built at the end of the nineteenth century. After the Music Hall Strike of 1907 in London, bioscope operators set up a trade union to represent them. There were about seventy operators in London at this point. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioscope_show) The Projector was a rather unreliable piece of apparatus, powered by a variety of light sources, including Calcium Oxide (Lime-Light). A Calcium Carbide Burner, or the rather more superior Carbon Arc. All these methods were highly unpredictable & quite frankly...dangerous! Often resulting in explosions, burning down the entire Show! (which is probably why NO original Shows still exist. Alfred Ball's Bioscope, pictured below, built in 1905 was struck by lightning, shortly after the picture was taken! (http://www.circus-entertainer.co.uk/heritage.htm) In 1909 the first bioscopes pictures were shown at the Ballaarat Mechanics' Institute.Brass and green painted metal film projectorbioscope, vector, entertainment, projector, film, theatre, movie

Princes Court was an amusement park in Melbourne, located on St Kilda Road. Established in 1904, it closed its doors in 1909 after poor ticket sales due to Melbourne's temperamental weather. The park featured a toboggan ride and water chute ride where patrons inside open carriages were plunged down sloping structures from a height at great speeds. The park's other facilities and activities included a rifle range, a tug of war game, a Japanese tea house, a wine bar, a variety show, an open air cinema, and roller skating and bicycle races.This item contributes to our understanding of social life and recreation in early twentieth century Victoria. A souvenir booklet for Princes Court, an amusement park in Melbourne, printed for the years 1904-5. The booklet features photographs of the park's attractions, and advertisements for local businesses in Melbourne. wodonga, melbourne, princes park, amusement park, rides, fair, fairground, japanese tea house, st kilda

Black and white wide screen photo: large group of people standing in front of and on steps of, Eaglehawk Town Hall, including men, women and children of all ages. On RH side of photo, visible behind group is a fairground ride, with chains and seats. In centre of photo, man in mayoral robes ( ? ) with three women on LH side of man carrying posies of flowers. On rear of mount,' K.J.G. Biggs, Health Inspector ' stamped on top LH side. ' Mrs. W. Pithie, 54 Church St., Eaglehawk' written in biro on LH side. Stamp ' Elsie M. Dicker, Photographer, 10 Armadale St., Northcote'Elsie M. Dicker, Photographer, 10 Armadale St., Northcote.place, eaglehawk, eaglehawk town hall