Seven seated and fifteen standing men dressed in suits around a long table in a panelled room hung with formal portraits of men. A trophy sits on the long table amongst loose paper sheets. Research by project volunteer, Fiona Collyer: The Commercial Travellers’ Association of Victoria (CTA) was formed at a meeting of 40 commercial travellers held at the Duke of Rothesay Hotel, 24 Elizabeth Street on 1 December 1880. Their charter was to advocate for better working conditions for commercial travelling salesmen, including improved accommodation at discounted rates and travel concession fares. At first by locomotive, horse and buggy, steamers and horseback, later also by motor car and motorcycle, “The Man on the Road” went into the back-blocks of the country to extend the interests of commerce to the stores and households of Australian regional towns and isolated settlements. Affiliated organisations existed in all states and New Zealand and in 1895 they integrated to form the United Commercial Travellers’ Association of Australasia (UCTAA). By the turn of the 20th century, the Victorian branch of the CTA had 421 Association Members and 520 Club members. The CTA continued to hold meetings in leased rooms in hotels and offices until 1898 when they commissioned purpose-built premises at 190-192 Flinders Street (extant, now the Macstore, next to former Metropolitan Gas Company Buildings). Designed by leading architectural firm of brothers H.W. & F.B.Tompkins (Dimmey’s Model Store, Swan Street, London Stores, Herald and Weekly Times, Myer building, Diamond House, Centreway Arcade, Manton’s Store) in the Queen Anne Revival style at the cost of £20,000, the four storey building had a facade of red Northcote bricks and an entrance of Pyrmont stone. It was very modern for the time, featuring elevators, offices, bars, kitchen, dining, card and billiard rooms and 31 bedrooms with shared bathrooms for the footsore travellers. However, despite adding two storeys in 1901, and another storey and a basement in 1905, they soon outgrew their premises, and in 1912 the CTA commissioned a new building at 328 Flinders Street. At this time, buildings in Melbourne were constrained by the city height limit of 132 feet (40 metres)- the maximum height of firefighting ladders. The new CTA building was the tallest building in Melbourne until 1932 when regulations changed allowing the Manchester Unity Building to be built. The new CTA headquarters was the epitome of comfort and luxury with cutting edge facilities to ease the fatigued salesman and prepare him for another stint on the road. General Secretary, James Davies travelled to Britain and America to acquire the very best and latest innovations. After visiting the new premises, Punch magazine 11 June 1914 reported “furnishings, appliances, and labour-saving conveniences which were more than up to date- they were up to-morrow.” The Edwardian Baroque style building was again designed by architects H.W. & F.B. Tompkins at the cost of £100,000 and built by contractors F.E. Shillabeer and Sons (Nicholas Building, Kellow-Falkiner Pty Ltd car showroom). The nine storey plus basement building is of steel frame construction with concrete floors. The ground floor facade is of grey granite and above that it is faced with cream glazed bricks chosen to combat discolouration from the pollution emitted by Flinders Street Station trains across the road. The facade is decorated with mascarons, gum leaf trim and balconies with classical style balustrade. The club was entered through revolving doors into a two storey high, circular, domed lobby with white columns, American oak panelled walls and intricate mosaic flooring. The ceiling is festooned with plaster gum leaf and gum nut detail, a theme that is repeated throughout the building. The basement kitchen had modern, labour saving appliances that would be the envy of any Edwardian housewife, including an electric toaster, a potato peeling machine, heated dumb waiter, dishwashing machine and electric refrigeration and cooking. It serviced the commodious second floor dining room which seated 200 people and the cafe/breakfast room, 80 people. Members were permitted to entertain their lady friends there for afternoon tea between the hours of 3 and 5 pm every day, except Sunday. The members’ facilities included a barbershop, clothes pressing machine, boot cleaning chair, pipe and cigar stall with electric humidor, public telephones, lockers and safe deposit. The building was serviced with five elevators, a built in vacuum cleaning plant, hot water radiators and linen and postal chutes. The first floor was devoted to business and relaxing, containing the Board, Writing, Reading and four Business Rooms. The board room had Queensland maple panelling with huge blackwood tables topped with blue morocco and golden tortoise-shell trim and cane bottomed chairs. Large framed photographs of past presidents since 1884 lined the walls. The Reading Room ran the whole width of the building. Arthur Streeton’s painting “Between the Lights, Princes Bridge 1888” and Frederick McCubbin’s “Looking North from Mount Macedon” were hung there, as well as paintings by renowned Australian artists Hans Heysen, Walter Withers, John Mather, Jan Hendrik Scheltema. The Argus 30 May 1914 quipped “Around the walls hang evidences that the commercial traveller's soul has not been killed in his pursuit of commerce”. The blackwood panelled room was furnished with Queen Anne style tables and chairs and green leather armchairs with inviting rocker foot rests allowing weary travellers to relax after traversing the railways and dusty roads of Victoria while planning their next sales trip. “The Australasia Traveller” Volume 10, Number 2, April 1914 page 35 noted “An attendant will be constantly employed on this floor to take care of the stationary supply, to tidy up newspapers, and generally study the convenience of members.” The third floor was for amusements with billiards, a bar and four rooms for playing cards, dominoes and chess. The huge billiard room had seven Alcock billiard tables including a table in a partitioned match-room for tournaments, exhibitions and matches. The walls were lined with members’ cues and for spectators, comfortable lounges with marble topped tables and electric bell pushes for drinks service. There were 150 bedrooms over five floors, each with their own telephone and wash basin and five suites with a private sitting room attached. There were four bathrooms per bedroom floor and capacious, well-lighted shaving rooms. Top rate club tariff for bed and breakfast - 6 shillings, if called for a country train leaving Melbourne before 8am - 4 shillings, suite and breakfast- 9 shillings, sixpence. “The Australasia Traveller” Volume 10, Number 2, April 1914 page 35 reported “All “early calls” will be made from the Club Office to Bedrooms by means of the Telephone, so that instead of waking everybody else up on the corridor, only the member concerned will know that it is his unpleasant duty to get up.” The new CTA premises was widely regarded as the finest club in the Southern Hemisphere. The CTA also built the adjacent six storey Commerce House with 52 sample rooms for travellers to display their wares with the remainder rented to retail businesses and a post and telegraph office. After the CTA moved into their new, larger premises in 1914, neighbouring department store Ball & Welch expanded into the former CTA. The CTA saw themselves in a nation building role and were an influential lobby group to the Government. They advocated for inter city trunk telephone lines, standard gauge railway lines between NSW and Victoria, improved roads and highways, the Murray River water scheme and maintaining the White Australia Policy. They were very active in fund raising for the war efforts. The CTA offered its members support in other ways with benevolent funds for widows and orphans, mortuary, accident, sickness and an annuities fund for members over 65 years. There were scholarships for members’ children and home purchase scheme to assist with home ownership. A secondary membership scheme provided access to non commercial travellers (men only) to its exclusive club premises. They also organised social events and activities such as billiard tourneys, golf tournaments, dances and an annual “Smoke Social” which was a social event where men gathered for a formal dinner, community singing, lectures, speeches and of course, to smoke! Daylesford born James Davies OBE, (1865-1931) worked at the CTA for 50 years, starting as an office boy and working his way up to General Secretary and editor of the monthly trade journal for UCTAA members, “The Traveller” (1890-1905, later “The Australasian Traveller” 1905-1924 and then “The Australian Traveller” 1925-1976) and the annual colour supplement magazine “Australia To-Day” (1904-1973). “The Australasia Traveller” featured commentary on the issues of the day like wars, tariffs and trade, articles on new products and hotel recommendations and their rates and lots of advertising, especially alcohol, tobacco and accommodation in regional hotels. There were regular columns, each illustrated with a line drawing and these included “Our Immigration Record” a state by state summary of arrivals of “desirable immigrants” to Australia, while bemoaning the declining (white) birth rate. The column followed the arrival of British boys sent to Australia as agricultural apprentices to work on rural properties which were short of labour. Between 1913-1928, 1750 “Barwell Boys”, some as young as 14 years of age arrived in South Australia to work. NSW had a similar program known as the Dreadnaught Boys Scheme where 5595 boys immigrated between 1911-1939. The boys were considered of “good British stock”. There was a “Home Page For The Ladies” showcasing the latest fashions in women’s clothing, millinery and hairstyles and tips and trends in home furnishings.“Children’s Corner for Dear Little Folks” which featured puzzles, jokes and stories and members could send in photographs of their children. “Road Echoes” devoted to “The Man On The Road” and his doings. “Face Massage, Smiling is the Best Face Massage”, the humour page full of jokes and funny stories. “Railway Rumbles” news of innovations, timetables, tickets and grumbles about lavatories, food and drinking water on trains and at railway stations. And in case we forget that members had a home away from their CTA home, gardening tips with “The C.T. as Gardener”column. The annual magazine “Australia To-Day” was a vehicle to promote Australia here and overseas as a modern, prosperous country with abundant opportunities and pleasant climate. It sought to showcase its manufacturing, agriculture and tourism and encourage British immigration to Australia. The magazine featured articles about recently arrived migrants at work, quirky native flora and fauna, beach culture, recreation and the Australian way of life in the settler nation. Many of the articles were written by politicians of the day, including Robert Menzies. The UCTAA commissioned original artwork for the front covers and feature articles of “Australia To-day” from leading Australian artists. These included Norman Lindsay, Frederick McCubbin, Napier Waller, Lionel Lindsay, Hans Heysen, C Dudley Wood, Louis McCubbin, Penleigh Boyd, Louis Buvelot, Christian Waller and Ellis Rowan and her Australian wildflowers. Some of the photographs in “Australia To-Day” were provided by state and federal government departments as well as manufacturers, newspapers and mining companies. Amongst of the credited photographers was Helmut Newton who later earned world acclaim as a fashion photographer and architectural and industrial photographer Wolfgang Sievers (unfortunately their photographs remain in copyright and aren’t available online). Also featured was Richard C. Strangman, a professional photographer from Canberra, William Howieson of Melbourne, who has 22 photographs in the collection of NGV, Tasmanian wilderness photographer Frederick Smithies, Athol Shmith, portrait photographer and educator from Melbourne, Gordon de Lisle, a Melbourne commercial, industrial, aerial and society portrait photographer. (One of Gordon’s assignments was as the stills photographer for the 1959 movie “On The Beach” filmed in Melbourne). Photographs taken by acclaimed Antarctic and official war photographer Captain Frank Hurley OBE for Adelaide’s Centenary were also featured. The Australian Government was keenly aware of the influence and quality of the UCTAA publications. On 1 June 1914 The Age reported that to advertise Australia in Great Britain and elsewhere, the Department of External Affairs purchased 6500 copies of “Australia To-Day” magazine for £515 to distribute free to “places where they are most likely to come under the notice of a desirable class of immigrants.” In 1950, the office of Prime Minister Robert Menzies ordered 2550 copies of that year’s issue of “Australia To-Day” for the Department of Commerce and Information to distribute. The CTA donated their archives to University of Melbourne Archives which includes original artworks and photos used in “Australia To-Day” (Melbourne University has digitised 1114 photos) and sundry items including trophies, ashtrays, commemorative souvenirs, menus, a rare “Safechek” sovereign changer, a bust of James Davies and even a CTA embossed wash bowl and chamber pot. After the death of General Secretary James Davies in 1931, the CTA held the annual “James Davies Memorial Cup” golf tournament at various Melbourne golf courses, the winner receiving a splendid silver cup. “Table Talk” magazine photographs from 29 June 1933 depict the travellers beautifully (and I would say correctly) attired in tweedy plus fours, Fair Isle knitwear, flat caps and of course fringed brogues. I have been unable to ascertain whether the trophy in our photo is for golf or another CTA social activity. The CTA Victoria membership peaked in 1951 with 4,672 Aassociation members and 3,693 Club members. In 1959, Hollywood came to Melbourne when film stars Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Anthony Perkins and Fred Astaire descended to film ‘On the Beach,’ directed by Stanley Kramer. The film is based on the bestselling Neville Shute novel about the aftermath of World War Three, a nuclear war that has obliterated most of the Northern Hemisphere. Radioactive dust is heading toward Australia and everyone is preparing for death. Scenes with Anthony Perkins were filmed in the CTA billiards room as the exclusive Pastoral Club. Anthony Perkins’ character, Lieutenant Commander Peter Holmes of RAN tells Gregory Peck’s character, Commander Dwight Lionel, that The Pastoral Club is…”A mahogany and polished brass sort of place-some people claim it was the stuffiest club in the Commonwealth” before assuring him that despite shortages, the club is likely to have some Scotch left. In a scene at the Pastoral Club two, old (probably red faced) codgers discuss the challenge of drinking all of the 400 bottles of Gould Campbell vintage port in the club wine cellar before they succumb to radiation sickness in five months time. The NGV has 12 photographs in their collection of wardrobe stills of Ava Gardner modelling costumes designed by the Fontana Sisters of Rome for “On The Beach”, taken by Italian photographer G.B.Poletto. During the filming, Gregory Peck and his family stayed at “Kurneh” 206 Domain Road, South Yarra, the former home of three times Grand Slam winner Norman Brookes. Through the decades, Australian society was changing and in order to stay relevant, the CTA had to change too. In 1971, two women were elected for club membership, although they were only granted limited access to the club’s facilities and in 1972, women were invited for the first time to participate in the previously men only annual “Smoke Social”. In 1975, dwindling membership forced the closure of The Commercial Travellers’ Association building and in 1977, the building was sold, with the CTA ceasing to operate in 2014. It was the end of the road for the “Knights of the Road”. In 1992, the CTA building at 328 Flinders Street was placed on the Victorian Heritage Register in recognition of its architectural and cultural significance. The building has been meticulously restored with many of the original fittings, decorative plasterwork, mosaic flooring, stained glass windows, columns, chandeliers and the panelling made from Australian timbers retained. After renovations the building became first the Euro Asia Hotel, then the Duxton Hotel and in 2005 The Rendezvous Hotel, Melbourne. In tribute to the history of the building and the film “On The Beach”, the Rendezvous Hotel has the Ms Ava Bar, Perkins room, Mr Tompkins restaurant, Commerce Room and the Davies Room. References: COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS' ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA. (1899, May 27). The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), p. 25. Retrieved February 21, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article138615498 COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS. (1914, May 30). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 8. Retrieved February 13, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7272511 NEWS OF THE DAY. (1914, June 1). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 8. Retrieved February 19, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article189414314 COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS' "AT HOME." (1914, June 11). Punch (Melbourne, Vic. : 1900 - 1918; 1925), p. 32. Retrieved March 19, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129699692 https://archives.library.unimelb.edu.au/nodes/view/69669 https://vhd.heritagecouncil.vic.gov.au/places/757 http://www.pikitiapress.com/blog/2015/1/26/australia-today Commercial Travellers at Yarra Yarra (1933, June 29). Table Talk (Melbourne, Vic. : 1885 - 1939), p. 6. Retrieved February 28, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article149547845 https://archives.library.unimelb.edu.au/nodes/view/537460 https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE7420895&file=FL19171568&mode=browse https://www.history.sa.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Barwell_Boys_Catalogue-compressed-compressed-compressed.pdf Australia Today," 1927 (1926, December 11). Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic. : 1869 - 1954), p. 15. Retrieved March 17, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article223844810 https://blogs.unimelb.edu.au/librarycollections/2020/12/19/an-inhabited-space-helmut-newtons-lovers/ https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/2075/ https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/?s=Poletto+&type=collection https://rendezvousmelbourne.com.au/digital-history-tour/Photographer notations on slide: "Commercial Travellers Group B6".clubs, department stores, 1930-1939, commerce, manufacturing, federation/edwardian style architecture, railways, tourism, games, agriculture

Photographer notations on slide: Seventh Day Adventists Camp at Hampton W.J. Westerman, G.G. Stewart & C.H. Watson Published: 28 December 1933 Published title: SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS. Published caption: “I. — The Annual Camp of the Seventh Day Adventists in Highett-road, Hampton, comprising more than 250 tents and accommodating over a thousand persons. II. —W. J. Westerman (vice-president of Australasian) and Pastor G. G. Stewart (president of Victoria), conversing with Pastor C. H. Watson (world president of the Seventh Day Adventists).- III.— Evangelist E. R. Gane and family.” SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS. (1933, December 28). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 9. Retrieved August 1, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203356427 Research by project volunteer, Fiona Collyer: In December 1933, the annual Seventh Day Adventists Conference of Victoria was held, with over a 1000 participants camping for ten days at Highett Road Hampton. Pastor Charles H. Watson, world president of the Seventh Day Adventists, Walter J. Westerman, vice-president of Australasian and Pastor George G. Stewart, president of Victoria attended. Interestingly, The Age newspaper modified the original photo in their publication, placing the three men close to each other. Description: Three middle aged men dressed in suits converse in front of tents. In December 1933, delegates from all over Victoria and beyond travelled to Melbourne for the annual Seventh Day Adventists Conference of Victoria, held over ten days on a vacant allotment at Highett Road Hampton. A canvas town of 250 tents for over 1000 campers was created along with large marquees for lectures, devotional services and kitchens. Many daily visitors also attended the lectures and services. The principal speaker was Victorian born world president of the Seventh Day Adventists, Pastor Charles H. Watson (1877-1962), who travelled from Washington DC for the event. The Highett Street campers attended a busy schedule of bible readings, devotional services and health lectures during the ten days of the camp. Lecture subjects included- “Among the Head Hunters of the Solomon Islands”, “ Looking Through the Prophetic Telescope into 1934”, “Soul Surgery”, “Viewing the Celestial Land Through the Prophetic Telescope”and “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”. The Seventh Day Adventist religion was established in the USA in 1863. One of its co-founders was American Ellen G. White whose writings are regarded as divinely inspired and are still adhered to today. Ellen preached on the “Eight Laws of Health”- Nutrition, exercise, water, sunshine, temperance, air, rest and trust in God. Adventists regard their bodies as holy temples and avoid food deemed by the Bible as unclean. They eat a mainly plant based diet with no caffeinated beverages and abstain from alcohol and tobacco. They believe in the observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and Hebrew calendars as the sabbath and the literal and imminent second coming of Jesus Christ. New converts are baptised by immersion in water. The Adventists opened the Warburton Sanitarium in 1910 as a health retreat, integrating their holistic health philosophy of physical, mental and spiritual well being. It was a resort in the hills “among picturesque mountain scenery…surrounded by tall forests and deep fern gullies…” where highly strung Melburians could alleviate their digestive maladies, stress and jaded nerves as “…worn down nervous systems mend quickly in this peaceful environment…invigorating air and an abundance of home-grown fruit, vegetables, fresh eggs, milk, and cream help to build healthy bodies”. The resort also offered hydrotherapy, massage and electrical treatments. An advertisement in The Argus- 1 December 1947 assured readers- “EVERYTHING SUNNY AGAIN." “That's how you'll feel when you say farewell to Warburton Sanitarium and Hospital after spending a holiday here. Victoria's Hydro is famous far and wide for wonders worked with sufferers from nervous and digestive disorders. Wholesome food, perfectly cooked; splendid air, regulated exercise, sweet natural sleep; these quickly correct faulty digestion, restore vitality, bring back that sunny optimism natural to healthy people. Massage and curative baths under medical supervision…” Later, after further building work, it became the Warburton Hospital with medical, casualty and obstetrics wards as well as offering strategies to stop smoking, lose weight and for stress management. The hospital ceased operation in 2001. Ellen G. White wrote “God sent me to Australia” and in 1891, accompanied by her son William C. White she arrived in Australia to start a Bible school, spread her health philosophy and for missionary work. At first health food products were imported from America, but it soon became apparent that due to the expense and the food becoming stale over the long journey, that local manufacturing was necessary. In 1898 William secured the services of American Adventist baker Edward C. Halsey, who had worked at Dr Kellogg’s Battle Creek (“Cereal City”), Sanitarium, Michigan, USA. They rented the St George’s bakery in Northcote, Melbourne, producing the first ready to eat breakfast cereal Granola, Caramel Cereal, and peanut butter. The fledgling company relocated to larger premises in Cooranbong, NSW soon after. The Sanitarium Health Food Company opened a factory in Warburton in 1925, manufacturing Granose Biscuits, Cerix Puffed Wheat, San-Bran, Bixies malted wheat flakes, Betta peanut butter, Marmite, “Kwic-Bru - A delicious health “coffee” made from choicest cereals and free from drugs that affect the heart and nerves” In 1928, Sanitarium bought out Grain Products Limited who were manufacturing a sweet cereal biscuit called Weet-Bix which soon became Australia’s favourite breakfast cereal. The Warburton factory closed in 1997, with manufacturing shifting interstate. Sanitarium breakfast cereal boxes offered free collectable cards inside and children could buy albums from grocers for sixpence and mount the cards. Subjects of the albums included- “Aboriginal Tribes, Legends, Customs”, “Australia- Yesterday and Today”, “Marvels of the Great Barrier Reef”, “Advance Australia- a Pageant of the Years”. In 1902 the Adventist’s opened the “Pure Food Vegetarian Cafe” in Sydney (In 1907 the name was changed to “Sanitarium Health Food Cafe”), Eating vegetarian food was definitely a curiosity. “Cristina” reviewed the cafe for The Australasian-27 October 1906. Topics For The Block. “Feeling somewhat like a criminal, and hoping to escape detection, I stealthily made my way into a vegetarian restaurant the other day... If my friends happened to catch me walking in there, I should henceforth be considered a crank, a faddist, and little short of a lunatic! Whom did I find within, seated with the air of habitués at the small tables, but heaps of my friends. They had all this while been pursuing their vegetarian way, layin' low and sayin' nuffin'. Flesh-eaters, now that the Sydney summer has set in apparently in good earnest, are beginning to wonder if the vegetarians are not wiser in their day and generation. Roast beef, hot cornea beef, ragouts, and meat curries, the very thought of them makes one feel hot. Frosted lemon pudding, stewed fruits, wheatmeal rolls, and tomatoes sound nice when you look at their names on the vegetarian menu. Such weird messes are served, square, unintelligible blocks of some brown substance, a few bites of which form a full and satisfying meal. Cold nut foods, granose, nuttose, and jam protose, bromose, with jelly and various "ose" sandwiches, impossible for the unbeliever to diagnose, are put before you. You drink malted nut broth, you eat gluten sticks, stewed beans, lentil patties, with vegetable sauce, any or all of which are distinctly nourishing and filling at the price. A mock (decidedly mock) veal cutlet or a red lentil roast is sufficient lunch, it appears, for anyone. Thus, "you obtain the best working results from your machinery with the least possible expenditure..." In December 1906 the Adventists branched out to Melbourne, opening the Sanitarium Health Food Cafe at 289 Collins Street next to the Royal Bank building. (corner Collins and Elizabeth Streets, demolished in 1939). Their motto was “Quality and Purity”. “Cynthia” of The Leader “Social Circle” column reviewed the cafe in 9 March 1907- “Hundreds of people have a feeling of positive affection for a diet that will be satisfying, appetising and nourishing, without having meat for its backbone. It will come as news that we have in Melbourne a cafe where you can really enjoy yourself without eating anything in the way of meat. Cream, custard, cheese and the like are not cold shouldered out of the menu, and the housewife in search of new dishes will find here ever so much in the way of suggestions. Nuts figure conspicuously in the menu, and lentil and walnut cutlets may be instanced among the delicacies. Beans are cooked in quite alluring fashion, while creamed parsnips are excellent. For sandwiches you could hardly desire anything more appetising than granosi biscuits, and nut cheese. The combination is suggestive of school lunches, and nut meat might well be employed as a variant. A visit to the cafe itself — it is next the Royal Bank in Collins-street — will surprise anyone used to the average vegetarian restaurant. Every thing is fresh, fragrant, and thoroughly modern… It is run, in connection with that curious people the Seventh Day Adventists.” However, “Adele” writing for the Evelyn Observer and Bourke East Record -13 December 1907 had a different experience- CITY RESTAURANTS. “There is no glamour from the outside. We enter the dining room at six and secure a seat at a small table, for this night we are going to dine on vegetables. Some people pride themselves on being vegetarians, and devote a great deal of their spare cash and energy to disseminating vegetarian principles. I shall not in a hurry forget the dinner we tried to get through at this vegetarian restaurant. There was put before us plate after plate of vegetables not soaked, but sodden with water, not an atom of flavouring or dressing; no attempt was made to give the slightest piquancy to potato, cabbage, turnip or carrot. I beg pardon, I am unjust, there were two caterpillars in the cabbage. It is astonishing how persistently ordinary cooks spoil vegetables in the process of cooking and how little they understand the value of vegetables on a menu.” From the extensive menu of 1924, you could order cream of green pea soup, followed by nut meat with Yorkshire pudding, egg timbales, stewed brown lentils, savoury rissoles with piquant sauce. Among the dessert offerings were creamed sago, steamed figs and walnut drops. Washed down with fermented wine and to finish, “Frucerea”, a coffee substitute essence made from fruit and cereal. A four course meal of soup, entree, vegetables and sweets cost 1/6 in 1924. Proving that plant-based food was not just a novelty, 67,000 meals were served at the cafe in 1918, rising to 73,000 in 1921. Later the Sanitarium Cafe moved to 293 Little Collins Street, (opposite Royal Arcade) sharing the building with The Lilliput Golf Course, a miniature golf course of 18 holes. The course was a replica of the fashionable Lido Course in France and was open daily from 10am to midnight with a green fee of one shilling. It featured goldfish, waterfalls and dance music. Lilliput boasted that they were “Melbourne’s coolest indoor course” Miniature golf (mini, minnie, midget, miget, Tom Thumb, Wee golf, putt-putt, pigmy, peewee, crazy golf, obstacle golf) swept the globe in the 1930s, starting in the USA, then Europe. The courses provided affordable recreation during uncertainty at the start of the Great Depression. The craze arrived in Sydney September 1930 with the first mini golf course opening in the basement of the State Theatre. It featured a replica Sydney Harbour Bridge and attracted over 1000 players a day at one shilling per game. The miniature golf bug hit Melbourne hard in 1930-31 with nearly 200 courses springing up in the CBD and suburbs within a few months. The first miniature golf course to open in Melbourne was on 4 October 1930 in the basement of recently built art deco style Wentworth House at 203 Collins Street, designed by architect Cedric Heise Ballantyne, (also designed Regent Theatre, Plaza Ballroom, Athenaeum Club, National Theatre, St Kilda, built in 1930, demolished in 1974 for the City Square) It was managed by J. C. Williamson who advertised for a “Girl Spruiker” who “Must be Young, Attractive Personality, and Able to Talk to the Public” to work at the course. The Age 26 September 1930 reported - “The Wentworth House management have spared no expense in preparing the links. Water hazards, sand bunkers, running streams, ancestral castles, moats and a cunning drawbridge have each been devised to test the skill of players, while the walls and ceiling have been "atmospherically" treated to convey an exterior effect”. Even Melbourne City Council jumped on the bandwagon, leasing the lower hall of Melbourne Town Hall to colourful car dealer and racehorse owner Mr A. G. Barlow for £43 per week for the “Kit Kat Tiny Golf Course”, opening on 11 December 1930. (Turf identity, Mr Alexander George Barlow, (1880-1937) who raced under the nom de course “A. G. Vauxhall”, owned filly Frances Tressady, who in 1923 won the Victoria Derby and Oaks Stakes double and came fifth in the Melbourne Cup. The “Frances Tressady Stakes” is held each March at Flemington Racecourse in honour of the horse, the last filly to win the Derby. Barlow was the proprietor of Barlow Brothers Pty Ltd car dealership at 442 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne. He played 14 games for Carlton Football Club (VFL) on the half-forward line from 1901-1903). Patrons could vie for The Herald Miniature Golf Championship Cup, a gold cup worth £7/7, in an eight week long competition. Sports newspaper The Sporting Globe also offered a Cup and prize money. Many courses offered prizes of theatre tickets, cash and cigarettes. Myer’s department store, hoping to cash in on the fad, advertised in Melbourne’s newspapers that their Sports Department could design and equip complete miniature golf courses using “Fairway” imitation turf at 4/6 a yard. Newspaper cartoonists loved to lampoon the fad. Both Percy Leason, cartoonist for society magazine Table Talk and Syd Miller of Smith’s Weekly depicted “real” golfers causing havoc on a mini golf course, showing that being a “real” golf player was no advantage to playing miniature golf. But bust often follows boom. With such rapid market saturation, expensive novel hazards, waning interest, long opening hours, often to midnight, and price cutting of game fees from one shilling to sixpence and then to threepence amongst some courses, the bubble was bound to burst. The Sporting Globe columnist J.M.Dillon on 20 May 1931 lamented- £100,000 LOST Failure of ‘Minnie’ Golf. “Miniature golf might have provided fun and jokes for thousands of people in Australia, but there were many for whom it panned out a tragedy. It is likely that the dead losses of those who attempted to make money out of the game in Australia were in the vicinity of £100,000. …For a while there was hardly a spare block of land, or a possible “site” in the shape of a hall, or a showroom, in Sydney and Melbourne, that some one was not after to set upon it a “minnie links.” Big amusement firms and private individuals anxious to make money began to run courses. Practically every individual who touched the game had his finger’s financially burnt. …From the approximately £60,000 invested in Melbourne alone, there must have been £25,000 lost. …There are now dozens of courses going to ruin, and many more that the owners would be happy to give away if the takers would remove from them obligations of leases, &c…” The lease on the “Kit Kat Tiny Golf Club” at the Melbourne Town Hall expired on 30 April 1931, with Mr Barlow losing £798 on the venture. The hazards and fittings, which cost £400 and included a large replica of the Town Hall, now worthless. Due to declining patronage, the Little Collins Street cafe closed in 1938, although the adjacent shop continued to sell Sanitarium products. In New Zealand, the first Sanitarium factory opened in Christchurch in 1900, with the company later opening factories in Palmerston North and Auckland. The Adventists opened vegetarian cafes, firstly at 37 Taranaki Street Wellington in 1906, followed by cafes in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin. Weet-Bix is also New Zealand’s favourite cereal- there the jingle is “Kiwi kids are Weet-Bix kids.” In 1955, the Australian Women’s Weekly ran an illustrated, full colour advertisement featuring New Zealand born Edmund Hillary (later Sir) 1919-2008, who, along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, was the first climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest on 29 March 1953. The Australian Women’s Weekly, 30 March, 1955- “WEET-BIX carried by Hillary on Himalayan adventure! c/- N.Z. Alpine Club Inc., Dunedin, New Zealand. The Manager, Sanitarium Health Food Company, Christchurch, N.Z. Dear Sir. …Weet-Bix was chosen at my special request as I had always felt that some easily prepared form of breakfast was essential to the primitive conditions of high camps. Weet-Bix fulfilled its task very well indeed. We usually had them with hot milk (powdered) and sugar, and even when we were unable to eat anything else, we usually managed to have a little Weet-Bix . . . I regard them as a great success and expect they will be more widely used in the Himalayas in future. Yours faithfully, (Signed) E.P. Hillary. Sanitarium Marmite - motto- “Too much spoils the flavour”- is as beloved with Kiwis as Vegemite is with Australians. In 1966, a fire gutted the Christchurch Marmite factory causing a nation wide shortage. Once the factory was rebuilt, Sanitarium relaunched the yeasty extract in reusable glass tumblers with printed designs such as yachts, New Zealand birds and vintage cars. These popular collectibles can still be found in the kitchen cupboards of many New Zealand baches (holiday homes). After the devastating 2011 earthquake in Christchurch damaged the Marmite factory causing shortages and panic buying, a “Marmageddon” was declared with jars of the “black gold” advertised online for up to NZ$800. Consumers were advised to spread their Marmite sparingly until production resumed. (The Christchurch plant reportedly produces around 640,000kg of Marmite per year). Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing Company is exempt from paying company income tax on their profits due to their ownership by a religious organisation. Although not a compulsory rule for salvation, Adventists are encouraged to pay a tithe of 10% of their income to the church to support the ministry in God’s work. Nowadays, there are over 25 million members of the Seventh Day Adventists Church in 200 countries. ITEMS OF INTEREST (1933, December 22). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 8. Retrieved July 21, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11723188 SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS. (1933, December 28). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 9. Retrieved July 1, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203356427 EVANGELISTS' CAMP (1933, December 20). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 30. Retrieved July 1, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243213209 Master Butchers Have A Time Pilots FOR School Air Race Charity Golf At Riversdale (1931, May 1). The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne, Vic. : 1922 - 1954; 1956), p. 14-15. Retrieved September 4, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article276159136 2000 ADVENTISTS UNDER CANVAS (1933, December 27). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 17. Retrieved July 1, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243223698 TOPICS FOR THE BLOCK. (1906, October 27). The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), p. 45. Retrieved August 30, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139178204 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh-day_Adventist_Church https://www.sanitarium.com/au/about/sanitarium-story/profits-for- ENTERTAINMENT AT MENZIES'. (1906, December 6). Punch (Melbourne, Vic. : 1900 - 1918; 1925), p. 26. Retrieved August 3, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article175380296 https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=9HN0&highlight=Conference SOCIAL CIRCLE (1907, March 9). Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), p. 41. Retrieved August 3, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196649677 CITY RESTAURANTS. (1907, December 13). Evelyn Observer and Bourke East Record (Vic. : 1902 - 1917), p. 1 (MORNING.). Retrieved August 3, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61133109 Advertising (1924, May 6). The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne, Vic. : 1922 - 1954; 1956), p. 9. Retrieved August 3, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article274271406 1930, December 5). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 14. Retrieved August 5, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page26374135 Thousands Are Still Playing Miniature Golf (1931, January 2). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 11. Retrieved August 8, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242880087 MINIATURE GOLF. (1930, October 16). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 10. Retrieved August 8, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4209280 THE REAL GOLFER WHO FORGOT HIMSELF ON THE MINIATURE GOLF COURSE (1930, November 13). Table Talk (Melbourne, Vic. : 1885 - 1939), p. 13. Retrieved August 8, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146706596 Advertising (1930, December 5). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 14. Retrieved August 8, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242761991 Advertising (1931, January 9). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 12. Retrieved August 8, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242887972 1955, March 30). The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), p. 38. Retrieved August 9, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page4812489 £100,000 LOST (1931, May 20). Sporting Globe (Melbourne, Vic. : 1922 - 1954), p. 1 (Edition1). Retrieved August 14, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article183023946 1930, December 5). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 14. Retrieved August 15, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page26374135 Advertising (1931, January 23). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 14. Retrieved August 15, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242887795 MINIATURE GOLF. (1931, February 5). The Dandenong Journal (Vic. : 1927 - 1954), p. 6. Retrieved August 16, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201082526 Still Time To Enter Midge (1931, January 16). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 12. Retrieved August 16, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242888830 WIT OF THE WEEK (1930, October 23). Table Talk (Melbourne, Vic. : 1885 - 1939), p. 23. Retrieved August 29, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146455050 Advertising (1930, October 2). Table Talk (Melbourne, Vic. : 1885 - 1939), p. 16. Retrieved August 18, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146454620 MIDGET GOLF LINKS. (1930, September 26). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 6. Retrieved August 18, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article202235074 https://www.smh.com.au/national/fairfax-archive-mini-golf-20131125-2y608.html TURF NOTES (1923, November 6). The Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 - 1924), p. 6. Retrieved September 3, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article213855201 Advertising (1930, October 4). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 10. Retrieved October 14, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242937272 LAUGHTER AND TEARS. (1930, November 15). Smith's Weekly (Sydney, NSW : 1919 - 1950), p. 21. Retrieved September 9, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article234426874 Advertising (1947, December 1). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 5. Retrieved September 15, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22523355Photographer notations on slide: "Seventh Day Adventists Camp at Hampton W.J. Westerman, G.G. Stewart & C.H. Watson".religion, health food, mini golf, 1930-1939, tents, churches, camps

Photographer notations on slide: Seventh Day Adventists Camp. E Gane + family Published: 28 December 1933 Published title: SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS. Published caption: “I. — The Annual Camp of the Seventh Day Adventists in Highett-road, Hampton, comprising more than 250 tents and accommodating over a thousand persons. II. —W. J. Westerman (vice-president of Australasian) and Pastor G. G. Stewart (president of Victoria), conversing with Pastor C. H. Watson (world president of the Seventh Day Adventists).- III.— Evangelist E. R. Gane and family.” SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS. (1933, December 28). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 9. Retrieved August 1, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203356427 Research by project volunteer, Fiona Collyer: In December 1933, evangelist Mr E.R. Gane and his family gather outside their tent during the ten day Seventh Day Adventist Conference held in Highett Road, Hampton. Description: A woman, man and four small children sit and stand in front of a tent. One child plays with a toy train. In December 1933, delegates from all over Victoria and beyond travelled to Melbourne for the annual Seventh Day Adventists Conference of Victoria, held over ten days on a vacant allotment at Highett Road Hampton. A canvas town of 250 tents for over 1000 campers was created along with large marquees for lectures, devotional services and kitchens. Many daily visitors also attended the lectures and services. The principal speaker was Victorian born world president of the Seventh Day Adventists, Pastor Charles H. Watson (1877-1962), who travelled from Washington DC for the event. The Highett Street campers attended a busy schedule of bible readings, devotional services and health lectures during the ten days of the camp. Lecture subjects included- “Among the Head Hunters of the Solomon Islands”, “ Looking Through the Prophetic Telescope into 1934”, “Soul Surgery”, “Viewing the Celestial Land Through the Prophetic Telescope”and “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse”. The Seventh Day Adventist religion was established in the USA in 1863. One of its co-founders was American Ellen G. White whose writings are regarded as divinely inspired and are still adhered to today. Ellen preached on the “Eight Laws of Health”- Nutrition, exercise, water, sunshine, temperance, air, rest and trust in God. Adventists regard their bodies as holy temples and avoid food deemed by the Bible as unclean. They eat a mainly plant based diet with no caffeinated beverages and abstain from alcohol and tobacco. They believe in the observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and Hebrew calendars as the sabbath and the literal and imminent second coming of Jesus Christ. New converts are baptised by immersion in water. The Adventists opened the Warburton Sanitarium in 1910 as a health retreat, integrating their holistic health philosophy of physical, mental and spiritual well being. It was a resort in the hills “among picturesque mountain scenery…surrounded by tall forests and deep fern gullies…” where highly strung Melburians could alleviate their digestive maladies, stress and jaded nerves as “…worn down nervous systems mend quickly in this peaceful environment…invigorating air and an abundance of home-grown fruit, vegetables, fresh eggs, milk, and cream help to build healthy bodies”. The resort also offered hydrotherapy, massage and electrical treatments. An advertisement in The Argus- 1 December 1947 assured readers- “EVERYTHING SUNNY AGAIN." “That's how you'll feel when you say farewell to Warburton Sanitarium and Hospital after spending a holiday here. Victoria's Hydro is famous far and wide for wonders worked with sufferers from nervous and digestive disorders. Wholesome food, perfectly cooked; splendid air, regulated exercise, sweet natural sleep; these quickly correct faulty digestion, restore vitality, bring back that sunny optimism natural to healthy people. Massage and curative baths under medical supervision…” Later, after further building work, it became the Warburton Hospital with medical, casualty and obstetrics wards as well as offering strategies to stop smoking, lose weight and for stress management. The hospital ceased operation in 2001. Ellen G. White wrote “God sent me to Australia” and in 1891, accompanied by her son William C. White she arrived in Australia to start a Bible school, spread her health philosophy and for missionary work. At first health food products were imported from America, but it soon became apparent that due to the expense and the food becoming stale over the long journey, that local manufacturing was necessary. In 1898 William secured the services of American Adventist baker Edward C. Halsey, who had worked at Dr Kellogg’s Battle Creek (“Cereal City”), Sanitarium, Michigan, USA. They rented the St George’s bakery in Northcote, Melbourne, producing the first ready to eat breakfast cereal Granola, Caramel Cereal, and peanut butter. The fledgling company relocated to larger premises in Cooranbong, NSW soon after. The Sanitarium Health Food Company opened a factory in Warburton in 1925, manufacturing Granose Biscuits, Cerix Puffed Wheat, San-Bran, Bixies malted wheat flakes, Betta peanut butter, Marmite, “Kwic-Bru - A delicious health “coffee” made from choicest cereals and free from drugs that affect the heart and nerves” In 1928, Sanitarium bought out Grain Products Limited who were manufacturing a sweet cereal biscuit called Weet-Bix which soon became Australia’s favourite breakfast cereal. The Warburton factory closed in 1997, with manufacturing shifting interstate. Sanitarium breakfast cereal boxes offered free collectable cards inside and children could buy albums from grocers for sixpence and mount the cards. Subjects of the albums included- “Aboriginal Tribes, Legends, Customs”, “Australia- Yesterday and Today”, “Marvels of the Great Barrier Reef”, “Advance Australia- a Pageant of the Years”. In 1902 the Adventist’s opened the “Pure Food Vegetarian Cafe” in Sydney (In 1907 the name was changed to “Sanitarium Health Food Cafe”), Eating vegetarian food was definitely a curiosity. “Cristina” reviewed the cafe for The Australasian-27 October 1906. Topics For The Block. “Feeling somewhat like a criminal, and hoping to escape detection, I stealthily made my way into a vegetarian restaurant the other day... If my friends happened to catch me walking in there, I should henceforth be considered a crank, a faddist, and little short of a lunatic! Whom did I find within, seated with the air of habitués at the small tables, but heaps of my friends. They had all this while been pursuing their vegetarian way, layin' low and sayin' nuffin'. Flesh-eaters, now that the Sydney summer has set in apparently in good earnest, are beginning to wonder if the vegetarians are not wiser in their day and generation. Roast beef, hot cornea beef, ragouts, and meat curries, the very thought of them makes one feel hot. Frosted lemon pudding, stewed fruits, wheatmeal rolls, and tomatoes sound nice when you look at their names on the vegetarian menu. Such weird messes are served, square, unintelligible blocks of some brown substance, a few bites of which form a full and satisfying meal. Cold nut foods, granose, nuttose, and jam protose, bromose, with jelly and various "ose" sandwiches, impossible for the unbeliever to diagnose, are put before you. You drink malted nut broth, you eat gluten sticks, stewed beans, lentil patties, with vegetable sauce, any or all of which are distinctly nourishing and filling at the price. A mock (decidedly mock) veal cutlet or a red lentil roast is sufficient lunch, it appears, for anyone. Thus, "you obtain the best working results from your machinery with the least possible expenditure..." In December 1906 the Adventists branched out to Melbourne, opening the Sanitarium Health Food Cafe at 289 Collins Street next to the Royal Bank building. (corner Collins and Elizabeth Streets, demolished in 1939). Their motto was “Quality and Purity”. “Cynthia” of The Leader “Social Circle” column reviewed the cafe in 9 March 1907- “Hundreds of people have a feeling of positive affection for a diet that will be satisfying, appetising and nourishing, without having meat for its backbone. It will come as news that we have in Melbourne a cafe where you can really enjoy yourself without eating anything in the way of meat. Cream, custard, cheese and the like are not cold shouldered out of the menu, and the housewife in search of new dishes will find here ever so much in the way of suggestions. Nuts figure conspicuously in the menu, and lentil and walnut cutlets may be instanced among the delicacies. Beans are cooked in quite alluring fashion, while creamed parsnips are excellent. For sandwiches you could hardly desire anything more appetising than granosi biscuits, and nut cheese. The combination is suggestive of school lunches, and nut meat might well be employed as a variant. A visit to the cafe itself — it is next the Royal Bank in Collins-street — will surprise anyone used to the average vegetarian restaurant. Every thing is fresh, fragrant, and thoroughly modern… It is run, in connection with that curious people the Seventh Day Adventists.” However, “Adele” writing for the Evelyn Observer and Bourke East Record -13 December 1907 had a different experience- CITY RESTAURANTS. “There is no glamour from the outside. We enter the dining room at six and secure a seat at a small table, for this night we are going to dine on vegetables. Some people pride themselves on being vegetarians, and devote a great deal of their spare cash and energy to disseminating vegetarian principles. I shall not in a hurry forget the dinner we tried to get through at this vegetarian restaurant. There was put before us plate after plate of vegetables not soaked, but sodden with water, not an atom of flavouring or dressing; no attempt was made to give the slightest piquancy to potato, cabbage, turnip or carrot. I beg pardon, I am unjust, there were two caterpillars in the cabbage. It is astonishing how persistently ordinary cooks spoil vegetables in the process of cooking and how little they understand the value of vegetables on a menu.” From the extensive menu of 1924, you could order cream of green pea soup, followed by nut meat with Yorkshire pudding, egg timbales, stewed brown lentils, savoury rissoles with piquant sauce. Among the dessert offerings were creamed sago, steamed figs and walnut drops. Washed down with fermented wine and to finish, “Frucerea”, a coffee substitute essence made from fruit and cereal. A four course meal of soup, entree, vegetables and sweets cost 1/6 in 1924. Proving that plant-based food was not just a novelty, 67,000 meals were served at the cafe in 1918, rising to 73,000 in 1921. Later the Sanitarium Cafe moved to 293 Little Collins Street, (opposite Royal Arcade) sharing the building with The Lilliput Golf Course, a miniature golf course of 18 holes. The course was a replica of the fashionable Lido Course in France and was open daily from 10am to midnight with a green fee of one shilling. It featured goldfish, waterfalls and dance music. Lilliput boasted that they were “Melbourne’s coolest indoor course” Miniature golf (mini, minnie, midget, miget, Tom Thumb, Wee golf, putt-putt, pigmy, peewee, crazy golf, obstacle golf) swept the globe in the 1930s, starting in the USA, then Europe. The courses provided affordable recreation during uncertainty at the start of the Great Depression. The craze arrived in Sydney September 1930 with the first mini golf course opening in the basement of the State Theatre. It featured a replica Sydney Harbour Bridge and attracted over 1000 players a day at one shilling per game. The miniature golf bug hit Melbourne hard in 1930-31 with nearly 200 courses springing up in the CBD and suburbs within a few months. The first miniature golf course to open in Melbourne was on 4 October 1930 in the basement of recently built art deco style Wentworth House at 203 Collins Street, designed by architect Cedric Heise Ballantyne, (also designed Regent Theatre, Plaza Ballroom, Athenaeum Club, National Theatre, St Kilda, built in 1930, demolished in 1974 for the City Square) It was managed by J. C. Williamson who advertised for a “Girl Spruiker” who “Must be Young, Attractive Personality, and Able to Talk to the Public” to work at the course. The Age 26 September 1930 reported - “The Wentworth House management have spared no expense in preparing the links. Water hazards, sand bunkers, running streams, ancestral castles, moats and a cunning drawbridge have each been devised to test the skill of players, while the walls and ceiling have been "atmospherically" treated to convey an exterior effect”. Even Melbourne City Council jumped on the bandwagon, leasing the lower hall of Melbourne Town Hall to colourful car dealer and racehorse owner Mr A. G. Barlow for £43 per week for the “Kit Kat Tiny Golf Course”, opening on 11 December 1930. (Turf identity, Mr Alexander George Barlow, (1880-1937) who raced under the nom de course “A. G. Vauxhall”, owned filly Frances Tressady, who in 1923 won the Victoria Derby and Oaks Stakes double and came fifth in the Melbourne Cup. The “Frances Tressady Stakes” is held each March at Flemington Racecourse in honour of the horse, the last filly to win the Derby. Barlow was the proprietor of Barlow Brothers Pty Ltd car dealership at 442 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne. He played 14 games for Carlton Football Club (VFL) on the half-forward line from 1901-1903). Patrons could vie for The Herald Miniature Golf Championship Cup, a gold cup worth £7/7, in an eight week long competition. Sports newspaper The Sporting Globe also offered a Cup and prize money. Many courses offered prizes of theatre tickets, cash and cigarettes. Myer’s department store, hoping to cash in on the fad, advertised in Melbourne’s newspapers that their Sports Department could design and equip complete miniature golf courses using “Fairway” imitation turf at 4/6 a yard. Newspaper cartoonists loved to lampoon the fad. Both Percy Leason, cartoonist for society magazine Table Talk and Syd Miller of Smith’s Weekly depicted “real” golfers causing havoc on a mini golf course, showing that being a “real” golf player was no advantage to playing miniature golf. But bust often follows boom. With such rapid market saturation, expensive novel hazards, waning interest, long opening hours, often to midnight, and price cutting of game fees from one shilling to sixpence and then to threepence amongst some courses, the bubble was bound to burst. The Sporting Globe columnist J.M.Dillon on 20 May 1931 lamented- £100,000 LOST Failure of ‘Minnie’ Golf. “Miniature golf might have provided fun and jokes for thousands of people in Australia, but there were many for whom it panned out a tragedy. It is likely that the dead losses of those who attempted to make money out of the game in Australia were in the vicinity of £100,000. …For a while there was hardly a spare block of land, or a possible “site” in the shape of a hall, or a showroom, in Sydney and Melbourne, that some one was not after to set upon it a “minnie links.” Big amusement firms and private individuals anxious to make money began to run courses. Practically every individual who touched the game had his finger’s financially burnt. …From the approximately £60,000 invested in Melbourne alone, there must have been £25,000 lost. …There are now dozens of courses going to ruin, and many more that the owners would be happy to give away if the takers would remove from them obligations of leases, &c…” The lease on the “Kit Kat Tiny Golf Club” at the Melbourne Town Hall expired on 30 April 1931, with Mr Barlow losing £798 on the venture. The hazards and fittings, which cost £400 and included a large replica of the Town Hall, now worthless. Due to declining patronage, the Little Collins Street cafe closed in 1938, although the adjacent shop continued to sell Sanitarium products. In New Zealand, the first Sanitarium factory opened in Christchurch in 1900, with the company later opening factories in Palmerston North and Auckland. The Adventists opened vegetarian cafes, firstly at 37 Taranaki Street Wellington in 1906, followed by cafes in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin. Weet-Bix is also New Zealand’s favourite cereal- there the jingle is “Kiwi kids are Weet-Bix kids.” In 1955, the Australian Women’s Weekly ran an illustrated, full colour advertisement featuring New Zealand born Edmund Hillary (later Sir) 1919-2008, who, along with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, was the first climber to reach the summit of Mount Everest on 29 March 1953. The Australian Women’s Weekly, 30 March, 1955- “WEET-BIX carried by Hillary on Himalayan adventure! c/- N.Z. Alpine Club Inc., Dunedin, New Zealand. The Manager, Sanitarium Health Food Company, Christchurch, N.Z. Dear Sir. …Weet-Bix was chosen at my special request as I had always felt that some easily prepared form of breakfast was essential to the primitive conditions of high camps. Weet-Bix fulfilled its task very well indeed. We usually had them with hot milk (powdered) and sugar, and even when we were unable to eat anything else, we usually managed to have a little Weet-Bix . . . I regard them as a great success and expect they will be more widely used in the Himalayas in future. Yours faithfully, (Signed) E.P. Hillary. Sanitarium Marmite - motto- “Too much spoils the flavour”- is as beloved with Kiwis as Vegemite is with Australians. In 1966, a fire gutted the Christchurch Marmite factory causing a nation wide shortage. Once the factory was rebuilt, Sanitarium relaunched the yeasty extract in reusable glass tumblers with printed designs such as yachts, New Zealand birds and vintage cars. These popular collectibles can still be found in the kitchen cupboards of many New Zealand baches (holiday homes). After the devastating 2011 earthquake in Christchurch damaged the Marmite factory causing shortages and panic buying, a “Marmageddon” was declared with jars of the “black gold” advertised online for up to NZ$800. Consumers were advised to spread their Marmite sparingly until production resumed. (The Christchurch plant reportedly produces around 640,000kg of Marmite per year). Sanitarium Health and Wellbeing Company is exempt from paying company income tax on their profits due to their ownership by a religious organisation. Although not a compulsory rule for salvation, Adventists are encouraged to pay a tithe of 10% of their income to the church to support the ministry in God’s work. Nowadays, there are over 25 million members of the Seventh Day Adventists Church in 200 countries. ITEMS OF INTEREST (1933, December 22). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 8. Retrieved July 21, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11723188 SEVENTH DAY ADVENTISTS. (1933, December 28). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 9. Retrieved July 1, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203356427 EVANGELISTS' CAMP (1933, December 20). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 30. Retrieved July 1, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243213209 Master Butchers Have A Time Pilots FOR School Air Race Charity Golf At Riversdale (1931, May 1). The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne, Vic. : 1922 - 1954; 1956), p. 14-15. Retrieved September 4, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article276159136 2000 ADVENTISTS UNDER CANVAS (1933, December 27). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 17. Retrieved July 1, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243223698 TOPICS FOR THE BLOCK. (1906, October 27). The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), p. 45. Retrieved August 30, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139178204 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventh-day_Adventist_Church https://www.sanitarium.com/au/about/sanitarium-story/profits-for- ENTERTAINMENT AT MENZIES'. (1906, December 6). Punch (Melbourne, Vic. : 1900 - 1918; 1925), p. 26. Retrieved August 3, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article175380296 https://encyclopedia.adventist.org/article?id=9HN0&highlight=Conference SOCIAL CIRCLE (1907, March 9). Leader (Melbourne, Vic. : 1862 - 1918, 1935), p. 41. Retrieved August 3, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196649677 CITY RESTAURANTS. (1907, December 13). Evelyn Observer and Bourke East Record (Vic. : 1902 - 1917), p. 1 (MORNING.). Retrieved August 3, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article61133109 Advertising (1924, May 6). The Sun News-Pictorial (Melbourne, Vic. : 1922 - 1954; 1956), p. 9. Retrieved August 3, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article274271406 1930, December 5). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 14. Retrieved August 5, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page26374135 Thousands Are Still Playing Miniature Golf (1931, January 2). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 11. Retrieved August 8, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242880087 MINIATURE GOLF. (1930, October 16). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 10. Retrieved August 8, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article4209280 THE REAL GOLFER WHO FORGOT HIMSELF ON THE MINIATURE GOLF COURSE (1930, November 13). Table Talk (Melbourne, Vic. : 1885 - 1939), p. 13. Retrieved August 8, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146706596 Advertising (1930, December 5). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 14. Retrieved August 8, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242761991 Advertising (1931, January 9). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 12. Retrieved August 8, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242887972 1955, March 30). The Australian Women's Weekly (1933 - 1982), p. 38. Retrieved August 9, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page4812489 £100,000 LOST (1931, May 20). Sporting Globe (Melbourne, Vic. : 1922 - 1954), p. 1 (Edition1). Retrieved August 14, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article183023946 1930, December 5). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 14. Retrieved August 15, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page26374135 Advertising (1931, January 23). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 14. Retrieved August 15, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242887795 MINIATURE GOLF. (1931, February 5). The Dandenong Journal (Vic. : 1927 - 1954), p. 6. Retrieved August 16, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article201082526 Still Time To Enter Midge (1931, January 16). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 12. Retrieved August 16, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242888830 WIT OF THE WEEK (1930, October 23). Table Talk (Melbourne, Vic. : 1885 - 1939), p. 23. Retrieved August 29, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146455050 Advertising (1930, October 2). Table Talk (Melbourne, Vic. : 1885 - 1939), p. 16. Retrieved August 18, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146454620 MIDGET GOLF LINKS. (1930, September 26). The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), p. 6. Retrieved August 18, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article202235074 https://www.smh.com.au/national/fairfax-archive-mini-golf-20131125-2y608.html TURF NOTES (1923, November 6). The Ballarat Star (Vic. : 1865 - 1924), p. 6. Retrieved September 3, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article213855201 Advertising (1930, October 4). The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), p. 10. Retrieved October 14, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242937272 LAUGHTER AND TEARS. (1930, November 15). Smith's Weekly (Sydney, NSW : 1919 - 1950), p. 21. Retrieved September 9, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article234426874 Advertising (1947, December 1). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1957), p. 5. Retrieved September 15, 2025, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22523355Photographer notations on slide: "Seventh Day Adventists Camp. E Gane + family".religion, health food, mini golf, 1930-1939, tents, churches, camps

The Peace Palace was officially handed over in the presence of the Dutch Royal Family in 1913. Australia was part of the international community watching the inauguration of this new headquarters of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. Australia's contribution to this symbol of international peace was the donation of an office desk made of Australian Blackwood, Silky Oak and Queensland Opals, with a matching ink stand. The offer from Sir George Reid, former Prime Minister, was accepted, delivered and installed in 1914 shortly before the outbreak of World War II.(Blackwood, Silky Oak, and Queensland Opals)This bookmark and invitation to the world to visit the Peace Palace is a reminder that Australia was one of the nations that contributed to the establishment of the Peace Palace, contributing a commissioned desk and inkwell for furnishing the Palace. These items were designed and made by leading Australian designers and craftsmen and used Australian materials.Printed massage 'Holland welcomes the World in1913' with border printing 'Come and see the Peace Palace'.bookmark, peace palace, holland, invitation, tourism, carnegie, arbitration, gifts