Historical information

This document is a speech titled "Empire Day 1933. A message to the children at Olinda School from their member".
It is signed G H Knox. It was written by Sir George Hodges Knox and read to the children at Olinda School as part of the Empire Day celebrations in 1933.
Sir George Hodges Knox (1885-1960) was a veteran of WW1 and was elected to the Ferntree Gully Shire Council in 1922. He held this post until 1927.The City Of Knox is named after him. He won the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat for Upper Yarra in 1927 for the Nationalist Party. He became Speaker for the Victorian Parliament in 1942 and remained there until 1947. Between 1945 and his death in 1960 he held the seat of Scoresby. He was knighted in 1945.
The celebration of Queen Victoria's birthday on May 24 was renamed Empire Day in 1903 after her death in 1901. Empire Day was observed in state schools from 1905 with a program of addresses, pageants and patriotic songs, with children swearing allegiance to King and Empire with a loyal declaration. The last celebration of Empire Day in Australia took place in 1958.

Physical description

Five sheets of unlined paper that appear to have been torn from a writing pad with a speech handwritten in thick, black fountain pen commemorating Empire Day.