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From the collection of Melbourne Legacy

3180 Items featured online

Document, Legatee Doolan's notes on early Legacy Club meetings

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This media item is licensed under "All rights reserved". You cannot share (i.e. copy, distribute, transmit) or rework (i.e. alter, transform, build upon) this item, or use it for commercial purposes without the permission of the copyright owner. However, an exception can be made if your intended use meets the "fair dealing" criteria. Uses that meet this criteria include research or study; criticism or review; parody or satire; reporting news; enabling a person with a disability to access material; or professional advice by a lawyer, patent attorney, or trademark attorney.

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Please acknowledge the item’s source, creator and title (where known)

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Untitled image

Reuse this media

Can you reuse this media without permission? No (with exceptions, see below)

Conditions of use

All rights reserved

This media item is licensed under "All rights reserved". You cannot share (i.e. copy, distribute, transmit) or rework (i.e. alter, transform, build upon) this item, or use it for commercial purposes without the permission of the copyright owner. However, an exception can be made if your intended use meets the "fair dealing" criteria. Uses that meet this criteria include research or study; criticism or review; parody or satire; reporting news; enabling a person with a disability to access material; or professional advice by a lawyer, patent attorney, or trademark attorney.

Attribution

Please acknowledge the item’s source, creator and title (where known)

Have a question? Contact Melbourne Legacy

Historical information

Undated anecdotes by an anonymous author (by the handwriting it was Legatee Frank Doolan) about Melbourne Legacy changeover dinners at the Federal Hotel on the corner of Collins and King Streets. These were apparently convivial affairs and the writer shares his memories of three occasions. The first occasion was an impromptu and riotous performance by Legatees (organised by Pat Hanna) after the dinner of the First World War ballad 'Roses of Picardy'.
The second occasion concerned a group of 'exuberant' Legatees walking down Collins Street after dinner who spotted Harry Lauder [1870-1950], the famous Scottish comedian, in a taxi which was held up at a street crossing'. They prevailed on him to speak at the Legacy luncheon the following Tuesday. Lauder's subsequent speech at the luncheon not only amused the listeners with his humour, but also reduced them to sadness with an account of how his son had been killed in action in France.
The third story refers to 'a vacant hansom cab pulled up in Collins St as the diners were departing', which induced one Legatee to fulfil a lifelong ambition by persuading the cabby to let him drive the cab for the princely sum of one pound. Horse-drawn transport gave way to motor vehicles in the early 1930s so this story must have related to a very early Legacy dinner.