Historical information

Two page document recording anecdotes about Melbourne Legacy Presidents, including Bill Cremor, Syd Birrell, Ray Hall and Cyril Smith, written by Ray Hall's successor in 1935, H.G. Brain. According to his account relationships were not always smooth; not only did Hall chair a fractious Board in 1934, but in 1931 insults were hurled during a meeting (by no less than Stan Savige) which resulted in the immediate resignation of the then President Smith, later retracted. Brain himself upset Mildura Legacy when he put forward his view to the Mildura Annual Dinner that 'the returned soldier section of the population was big enough ... to carry its own welfare activities, and that it ought not to pound the general populace too hard.' He had inadvertently broadcast his ideas over the national network, thinking that the microphone was only for local hearing assistance.
More amusingly Brain also tells a story about Cremor when he ran against Harold Holt for the the House of Representatives seat of Fawkner 'in 1942 (?)', and one about Birrell showing a group of the Women's Nationalist League (a conservative women's organisation established in 1904 to support the monarchy and empire) members around the Flemington Saleyards.
The handwritten notation at the end references the funeral of 1949 President Syd Birrell, who died in 1966.

Significance

Eyewitness account of early Melbourne Legacy presidents, which is indicative of the times and attitudes.

Physical description

2 typed sheets, black on white

Inscriptions & markings

'Birrell funeral' handwritten in blue ballpoint, tick beside the final paragraph on each sheet.