Historical information

The Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition, held at Bendigo from 13 November 1901 to 14 May 1902.

The courts were numbered from one, or had titles like “Machinery”, “Agricultural”, “Naval & Military Court” and “Art”.

The female visitors to the Exhibition were able to view exhibits deemed suitable for the fairer sex and located within their own “Women’s Court”. There were exhibits such as “Parasols & Umbrellas”, cotton and haberdashery from Manchester and Staffordshire, “Corsets & Embroideries” from Paris.

The most valuable exhibits were mining machinery such as Taylor Horsfield’s £850 “Air Compressor & Rock Borer”. “Bohemian Glassware” brought down from Sydney was valued at £600.

The profits from this Exhibition were used to fund the sculpture known as the Gold Monument, which still gazes along Pall Mall (from the McCrae Street end). The Exhibition’s Cash Book shows payments, which totalled £1160, were made to then up and coming sculptor C.D.Richardson. Recently a City of Greater Bendigo staff member used both these volumes to write a detailed report about this monument, for Heritage Victoria.

Physical description

Carol Holsworth Collection: Small book Souvenir, 29 pages plus cover; each page. has a photo of the exhibit. Exhibition was held on the site of the present Bendigo Library between Hargreaves St and Lyttleton Terrace.
* 8662.1a Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Front Cover: Printed 'Souvenir', 'Bendigo 1901-1902'; a photo of the Entrance to the exhibition beside the Town Hall.
* 8662.1b Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Inside Front Cover - Page 1 of 29. Portraits of Exhibition President S.H. Cowen esq.; and G.V. Allen esc., General Secretary. Photos by W.H. Robinson publisher. Printed by T. Cambridge, Market Square Bendigo.
* 8662.1c Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 1 of 29 The Governor General at the Exhibition. Photo of the crowd, police, trooper and horse drawn vehicles.
* 8662.1d Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 2 of 29 Procession Passing the Fountain, Pall Mall. The crowd and horse drawn vehicles.
*8662.1e Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 3 of 29 James Martin and Co's Exhibit. James Martin & Co was an Australian engineering company which progressed from making agricultural equipment to making railway locomotives.
* 8662.1f Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 4 of 29 Old Pioneers. Elderly gentlemen on foot and carriage - at the Bendigo Railway Station.
* 8662.1g Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 5 of 29 Robert Harper and Company's Exhibit. From Trove - The Brisbane Courier 25 Aug 1891: One of the best known firms in the Southern hemisphere is Messrs. Robert Harper and Co , tea importers, coffee, rice, and spice merchants and manufacturers Then productions circle this continent, and every thrifty housewife is familiar with their Empire tens, their Star' brand of goods, then oatmeal, wheatmeal, and other breakfast table luxuries The headquarters of the firm are placed at Port Melbourne, and the manufactory there occupies over an acre of ground, while the mills at Sydney and Adelaide are as great in proportion It is eight cars since the firm opened business in this colony. The step was taken with much confidence, the principals the firm being quite attracted.
* 8662.1h Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 6 of 29 The Electric Tram
* 8662.1i Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 7 of 29 G. Weymouth Proprietary Ltd. The business of G. Weymouth & Co was founded in 1898 by George Andrew Philip Weymouth, who began operating from a small workshop on City Road, South Melbourne (opposite Princes Bridge). An early advertisement describes the firm's activities at this time as being 'makers of dynamos, (electric) motors, x-ray apparatus and electrical instruments, &c' together with 'repairs to every class of electrical work'.
* 8662.1j Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 8 of 29 The Exhibition Fernery
* 8662.1k Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 9 of 29 Cohn Bros'. Exhibit. In 1857 at the height of the gold rush, with people pouring into Central Victoria from all over the world, three brothers from Denmark – Moritz, Julius and Jacob Cohn – founded a small cordial factory in the booming town of Bendigo. They went on to build an empire and, through introducing lager, which is served cold, to the country, changed the drinking preferences of Australians.
* 8662.1l Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 10 of 29 Ornamental Lake in the Exhibition Grounds
* 8662.1m Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 11 of 29 Australian Explosives and Chemical Co.'s Exhibit. The Australian Explosives and Chemical Company began manufacturing explosives in Melbourne's outskirts (the area now known as Deer Park) in 1875. In 1897 the Company was purchased by Nobel, forming Nobel (Australasia) Ltd.
* 8662.1n Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 12 of 29 Tasmanian Court
* 8662.1o Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 13 of 29 N. Guthridge's Limited Exhibit. Guthridge sold a variety of mining supplies and equipment; also 'Rackarock' which was used to fill the mining drill holes before blasting.
* 8662.1p Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 14 of 29 Navel and Military Court (LARGE File)
* 8662.1q Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 15 of 29 Women's Court
* 8662.1r Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 16 of 29 T. J. Connelly and Co's Exhibit. T.J. Connelly an American immigrant came to the Bendigo goldfields where he later established Connelly’s Tin Shop on the corner of High and Forest Streets 1853. Connelly was named after Thomas Jefferson the famous statesman who wrote much of the American Declaration of Independence in 1776 and became the third United States President. Connelly, along with other prominent citizens of the time established Bendigo’s first Fire Brigade, Mechanics Institute.
* 8662.1s Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 17 of 29 The Potter's Wheel
* 8662.1t Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 18 of 29 G. D. Guthrie and Co.'s Exhibit. In 1863 the Bendigo Pottery was set up by Guthrie.
* 8662.1u Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 19 of 29 The Ladies' Committee
* 8662.1v Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 20 of 29 J. Kitchen and Sons Exhibit. In Port Melbourne since the 1850s they made such products as Velvet Soap and Electrine Candles from the tallow and other animal fats from the nearby slaughter yards. In recent decades the company has become Kitchen & Lever then Unilever and most recently Unichema.
* 8662.1w Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 21 1of 29 The Executive Committee
* 8662.1x Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 22 of 29 Taylor Horsfield Exhibit. The most valuable exhibits were mining machinery such as Taylor Horsfield’s £850 “Air Compressor & Rock Borer”
* 8662.1y Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 23 of 29 A Peep at the Education Department
8662.1z Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 24 of 29 John Danks and Co's Exhibit. John Danks & Son was a major manufacturing company in Melbourne, Victoria and Sydney, New South Wales.
* 8662.1aa Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 25 of 29 Glance at the Agricultural Department's Court
* 8662.1bb Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 26 of 29 T. York's Exhibit. Thomas York was an instrument repairer and brass instrument maker that resided in Melbourne in the late 19th to the early 20th century. While old newspaper advertisements suggested he repaired all instruments, it appears the focus of his business were military and brass band instruments. (BrassandWoodWind.com)
* 8662.1cc Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 27 of 29 T. McPherson and Son's Exhibit. Possibly monumental masons.
* 8662.1dd Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 28 of 29 T. Lewis and Whitty's Exhibit - Inside Back Cover. Lewis & Whitty were prominent boot blacking manufacturers as well as a number of other chemical products such as “Odourbane" disinfectant.
* 8662.1ee Victorian Gold Jubilee Exhibition - Page 29 of 29 Singer Manufacturing Coy's Exhibit