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Amateur Entertainment 1875-1895 in Western Australia: Sex & Drugs & Gilbert & Sullivan
Brendan Kelly
Paper presented to the Darlington History Group 8 May 2024
In the late Victorian era, the word ‘amateur’ did not indicate that a person lacked skill or ability. Someone practising an art that was not their profession claimed to be an amateur to clearly state they did not have to work at their hobby professionally. A well performed amateur can be as good as any professional. To attain the status of a clever amateur had standing.
The lure of the stage for amateur performers was acceptable, as long as one maintained modesty and decorum, and family expectations were met. Being on the amateur stage was acceptable to upper class people, although any well-respected family would discourage their offspring from becoming stage-struck. The professional stage was regarded as a place of vagabonds and adventurers, effete types, stage-door Johnnies, loose women and unreliable men. However, elocution, music lessons and presentation skills were considered important for a well-rounded education. The performing arts were taught through participation in school plays and concerts, combining amusement with instruction. One could be an enthusiastic amateur singer, actor or musician, while still maintaining a degree of propriety.
In 1977, English street rockers Ian Dury and the Blockheads immortalised a phrase with their concisely named single record ‘Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll’. However, it would be impertinent to suggest that this triple notion of promiscuity, medication and anarchy is the prescribed delight of just one solitary generation. ‘Wine, Women and Song’ arrived way before. The lifestyles, behaviours and habits of humans of all cultures have always attracted hedonism of the flesh, use of stimulants and the making of toe-tapping sounds. In the last quarter of the 19th-century, at the end of the Empire of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, the edginess of indulgence had to be managed carefully.
For the upper class of Victorians, there existed a moral code about the flesh. Officially sex may have been for the purpose of procreation, but sexual desire is universal. In private the sexual puritanism of the middle and upper classes was less inhibited. In public, some reserve or mindful discretion had to be kept in mind. If one wished to exercise one’s sexual proclivities, it was best to first avoid scandal. Upper-class men and woman had their own code, shared by the aspirant middle class. One was expected to control their emotions, nod to their peers and go to church. The same was generally expected of the hoi polloi, servants and the service class.
There is something rich and quixotic about the Victorians and their drugs, at the same time as human dissolution is laced by overuse, drug abuse. The works of some authors and artists of the time benefitted in part due to the drugs that were available to them. The value of Victorian medicines, tonics and infusions had much to do with their contents of opium, cannabis and ether. For well-to-do men and women, the cost of picking up a pick-me-up was made easy by the exciting field of 19th-century pharmacopoeia. Common complaints of cold, cough and toothache could be well numbed by a potion, with high side effects. Tobacco and alcohol? Well, they were a trusty stand by.
The twizzle and twirl of stage craft shaped by the great William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan fashioned the perfect setting for Victorian gaiety and fun. At the same time the satire and lampooning of the class system was not lost on the population. The whirligig nature of Gilbert and Sullivan, the dexterous intercourse of its players, singing and dancing together, created an outwardly respectable frisson. For the Victorian well-bred classes, the amateur stage allowed shyness and inhibition to slide away, albeit under a watching eye. The amateur theatre reflected the tastes and attitudes of Perth society, offering individuals the perfect outlet for their inner expression and, perchance, a little rebellion.
The arrival in WA of Governor William Robinson in 1875 began a golden era of amateur entertainment in Western Australia. The wonderful age of the ‘amateurs’ created a level of exhilaration in Perth that waned only after Robinson departed in 1895. Over three separate terms (1875-1877, 1880-1883, 1891-1895) Robinson was the dynamic patron of the musical and literary arts. His personal ability to write and perform music – playing the violin and piano, singing and composing – demonstrated talent beyond that of the average amateur. A star of his time, he was renowned for his popular songs that could be sung around the piano in home parlours. Sheet music of his compositions sold in the thousands: "Remember Me No More", "I Love Thee So", "Imperfectus", "Severed", "Thou Art My Soul". He was a superstar!
Francis Jerome Ernest ‘Jerry’ Hart arrived in the Swan River colony in 1878 to be Third Master at the Perth High School for Boys. The only son of the distinguished British physician, public health reformist and medical journalist Ernest Abraham Hart, he drifted into journalism in 1882. Nicknamed ‘Cocky’ for his garrulous and shoot-from-the-hip newspaper commentary, he was at one time tagged as the best hated man in the community. Jerry was a highly talented musician and librettist, an actor and impresario, a valuable attribute in his profession of journalism. He became a devotee of the dramatic arts, his self-described "stage struck" affliction ensuring everything took second place to music and drama.
In lockstep with his newspaper profession, Jerry ensured advertising, opening night publicity and great theatre reviews, all the time stroking the egos of amateur ladies and gentlemen yearning for the footlights. Hart infiltrated the governor's mansion at a personal level and the partnership between the fast newspaper man and the Governor, cultivated from 1881, was consolidated. The relationship between the two around the piano, writing the songs, fixing the plot and playing the roles were intimate moments, by definition a creative rapport that gave rise to tremendous success. Their first success came with the release of the patriotic song 'Unfurl the Flag', Sir William the composer, Jerry Hart the librettist. It was the beginning of a relationship that would reach great heights in the heady days of the first great Western Australian gold boom.
St George's Hall in Hay Street turned into the pride of Perth’s amateur entertainers. Erected in 1879, the hall was the first purpose-built theatre building in Perth, signalling a new era of entertainment. The solicitors’ firm Stone & Burt sponsored the building, while Edward Stone was an enthusiastic amateur actor and singer, choirmaster of St George's Cathedral, and part-founder of the Perth Musical Union. Throughout the 1880s and 1890s visiting and local performers used St George’s Cathedral, which became an institution for respectable amateurs. Further, the edge-of-the-seat nature of Gilbert and Sullivan stagecraft made its players personalities. The amateur theatre reflected the tastes and attitudes of Perth society, offering individuals an acceptable outlet for any flamboyant aspirations. The cast of amateurs and their associated supporters from the upper class read like a who’s who of Perth.
Jerry Hart’s extrovert personality and professional hyperactivity progressed in three periods in WA – as a young school master and budding journalist (1879-1883), newspaper editor and community livewire in Geraldton (1883-1888) and a self-promoter and patron of the arts in Perth (1888-1896). It is easy to contend that Hart became the ringleader of a group of talented people who dipped their not inconsiderable gifts into the fabulous trough of wealth and cultural activity generated by the Western Australian gold boom. In Hart’s case, money slipped through his fingers as fast as it could be appropriated and his business career was punctuated by debt and bankruptcy, even though there were great times of plenty.
In the midst, his publicity machine (he was his own press secretary) churned out tens of thousands of words in newspapers, journals and handbooks, praising friends and scarifying enemies, but always promoting the State of WA. Hart’s theatre reporting is extraordinarily long-winded and wide, and his own efforts in composing and performing, producing and publicising, marked him as a formidable patron of the dramatic arts. Jerry Hart was an impresario who procured the energy and the money of a wide circle of Western Australian men and women; friends, enemies, honest folk and spivs, the rich and powerful, racehorse owners, barmaids and milk men, the newspaper boy in the street. Jerry was a force of nature.
By Jerry’s side, and just as impressive, if not more so, was his wife Lilian Hart (neé Mitchell) a.k.a. ‘Cora’. Lilian is all but absent from the chronicles of Western Australia, but she matched Jerry’s intellect, albeit assuredly with better judgement. She too was a talented musician and newspaper writer, later dubbed “A Presswoman of Repute”. In a scarce biographical sketch Lilian is described as “a very smart frocker, an out-of-the-ordinary type of woman, and very slender”. As a Western Mail newspaper columnist, Lilian was undoubtedly the prime female influencer of Perth society of her time. Born in Cornwall England, she was the second daughter of Samuel Mitchell, Captain of the Geraldine Lead Mine at Northampton.
Lilian met Jerry after he became a partner in the mid-West’s Victorian Express newspaper. In the small community, Lilian Mitchell was a girl that could not be missed. Jerry Hart’s interest in music and the stage immediately drew him to Lilian’s incredible gift as a pianist. Her feisty personality, intelligence and physical allure made her a stand-out attraction. They married in 1885. The golden couple were prime movers behind the Geraldton Musical Union, honing their skills as performers and producers of high class amateur entertainment. At the same time Lilian began to contribute to Jerry’s newspaper, sharpening her reporting skills. The couple, by this time the parents of a daughter, moved to Perth in 1888.
Lilian became a solid contributor to Jerry’s job as a journalist at first with the WA Bulletin. Upon the demise of the Bulletin Lilian was recruited to the Western Mail, where she became the celebrated Cora, and advertised to effect:
“The Compiler of this page will be glad to receive contributions of all kinds concerning women, their work and their pleasures. Items of news of local interest are especially solicited, including reports of meetings, bazaars, and social gatherings and events. Contributions should be addressed to “Cora” Western Mail Perth and be written on one side of the paper only: "Cora especially solicits country contributions”.
As a journalist Lilian knew no peer as an observer of Perth society. Under multiple by-lines, Cora reported on society balls, social entertainment, stage plays and musicals, parlour meetings and house parties. In many cases Lilian was an attendant at these functions, as well as being the reporter and editor. The Ladies Page churned out a weekly profusion of social reporting, domestic hints, chatter and opinion. Cora gained readers of both sexes. She also chose to comment on the status of women. “I could not help thinking, as I looked at the mixed assemblage in the small (Legislative) Council chamber, of the (I hope) not far distant time when the two sexes will sit together and legislate for their country”.
Cora had no peer as a commentator on Perth fashion. As prolific as she was detailed, she would describe a dress with sleeves of jetted net, a skirt with van-dyke steel trimming, or a simulated Directoire bodice of mignonette, without hesitancy. Whereas her criticism of the local fashion could be caustic, there were few, if any, willing to question her knowledge of fabric, colour and dress style. Newspaper hullabaloo about matter’s expected to be of public interest, drove sales. In January 1893, after a highly successful season, Cora observed that “Perth must no longer be regarded as a city that, socially, is far behind these rapidly moving times”. The massive gold finds in Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie caused a frenzy of excitement in Western Australia, turbocharging culture.
The cast of Perth Amateurs ranged across refined society. As a young woman, May Gibbs, the daughter of Herbert and Cecelia Gibbs played, acted and sang, described in one review as the “clever daughter of a clever woman”. Herbert was an artist and set designer. Cecelia was also an artist and a highly capable singer. George Leake - affable, popular and witty - was a lawyer, public sector administrator and third Premier of WA. He was vice-president of the ‘Perth Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society’ and the able Stage Manager for shows. A noteworthy citizen J C H ‘Horsey’ James, acknowledged as a credible amateur actor was a magistrate, lawyer and administrator. The formidable Richard Septimus Haynes was also a solicitor, politician and sportsman, and thespian, who appeared frequently in amateur theatricals.
The amateurs extended into the governing class. Mr F.D. North, Civil Servant, ADC to Governor Robinson, married into the Hamersley family, one of whom married John Forrest. ‘Freddy’ North was a talented singer and leading man, who with his wife Flora advanced the appreciation of music. He played in The Sorcerer, The Gondoliers and then the Robinson/Hart production The Handsome Ransome. Sir Thomas Cockburn-Campbell, a senior politician, newspaper editor, and key committeeman with the Perth Amateur Operatic Society was a prominent figure. President of the Legislative Council and a power broker in his individual way Sir Thomas died of an overdose of the preparation chlorodyne in 1892. His death sent a shock wave through Perth society, especially those close to the theatre arts.
The use and effects of patent medicines could lead to addiction, overdose and death. Never mind the stimulation and thrill and odd creative vision. As dire moral danger and the scourge of alcohol, tobacco and drugs appeared to be a calamitous threat to the existence of gentle folk, the temperance unions did their best to influence public decency. The Perth temperance movement was active in their call for moderation, mainly targeting alcohol. Newspapers energetically called for soberness, particularly for the lower classes, but more broadly as a warning to society of the dangers of demon drink. Caution also extended to the use of other drugs. It was necessary to keep people protected from perceived immorality, wickedness and turpitude.
Whereas reports referred to Sir Thomas Cockburn-Campbell’s frequent use of chlorodyne - containing opium, cannabis, chloral, and alcohol - to relieve himself of a ‘nervous complaint to which he was liable’. The WA Record recorded frankly:
“The official enquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Sir Thomas Cockburn-Campbell was brought to a conclusion, on Friday last. The jury returned a verdict: "We find that Sir Thomas Campbell died on September 27th from an overdose of chlorodyne taken to induce sleep, but well knowing the risk he was running of it killing him”.
There were also men like George Anderson. Anderson was an actor, who arrived in Albany at the end of 1889 with the descriptively named ‘Anderson's Opera, Comedy, and Musical Combination’. In 1890 Anderson opened the ‘Gaiety Theatre’ in Fremantle, promoting his public image as an enterprising theatrical entrepreneur. It turned out that Anderson was a predator of underage girls, against whom he offended while promising to educate them for a theatrical career. To their credit, the local amateurs quickly cancelled Anderson, who was ultimately jailed in Perth and again later in Melbourne.
Gerald Raikes was a popular and useful member of society. A bachelor gentleman, a person of neatness and good order, a diligent public official, who was a prominent arranger of fundraising events for charitable causes. He was well known in local society as an amusing, albeit risqué, amateur stage entertainer. The relationship between Jerry and Lilian Hart and their best ‘gay’ friend Gerald Raikes can be explored through the Hart’s profuse journalistic output. Raikes had a high profile in the Western Australian newspapers, as a personality and performer. The Harts maintained tabs on their good friend’s public image. Their relationship from 1884 to 1894 is measured by the high profile social reporting in numerous columns, distinguishing both the Harts and Raikes as prominent socialites.
In January 1894 the colonial light opera The Handsome Ransom debuted, afterwards expanded to the full length show Predatoras. The opera, composed by William Robinson with Francis Hart as his librettist, premiered at Government House, a major effort of organisation. It required powerful logistics and Hart was the high achiever who connected the need with the ways and means to produce the show. Obviously with the Governor’s approval. The opera, debuting to an exclusive audience of 250, was the ‘hottest ticket in town’. These days it would not have passed the pub test; public money being used to entertain the elite? Surely never!
Francis Hart the author was also a star on the stage, in the key character of stockbroker Mr Potts. Playing Algernon (Mr Potts’ lovelorn son) was the Hart’s friend Gerald Raikes, the ever enthusiastic and willing helper, who fussed around the production with distinctive care and fastidiousness. Others in the cast included F.D. North and Miss Nellie Wigglesworth, the belle of Perth. The orchestra was led by prominent musician Julius Herz and Henry Prinsep painted the sets. The audience included His Excellency Governor Robinson, Lady John Forrest, the Chief Justice and Mrs Onslow and prominent visitors Lord and Lady Percy Douglas. It was a night of nights.
In December 1894 the well-practised world of genteel civility lived by Hart’s good friend Gerald Raikes tumbled down, when he was charged in the Perth Police Court with the offence of gross indecency. Following two remands and the prosecution failing in an application for a further remand Raikes was discharged, immediately leaving WA in a cloud of odium and local gossip. The Raikes case rattled through the morale of Perth’s amateur theatre players. Raikes was part of their social circle, including Ministers and Judges, politicians and leaders, their wives, children and friends. These were the people that Lilian Hart mixed with and Cora wrote for. Many were connected and bound through their shared interest in amateur theatre. Raikes’ fall was one of notable proportions in Perth society. His ignominious end subsequently became a bitter point of ‘justice denied’ in Perth and it is not beyond imagination that it marked a change in Francis Hart’s life too.
Jerry Hart had a history of financial carelessness and keeping his creditors happy was an ongoing task. With a household to run, employees’ wages, and business expenses, money slipped in and slipped out. Stress on the marriage accompanied the lifestyle. In June the Western Mail changed its publication date from Saturday to Friday. Lilian’s marriage, fraught by pressure of keeping up appearances, was failing. The final Ladies Page (by Cora) appeared on 6 September 1895. The following week, without missing a column the Ladies Page (by Thelma) appeared, later compiled by Sigma, then Sylvia. As Lilian’s life as Cora ended, Jerry Hart was brought to court on a petty charge of using a railway ticket, for which the time for its proper use had expired. Although he was acquitted, it was a dramatic fall from grace. In 1896 he would desert Lilian and return to England.
At the end of 1895 an article appeared in the West Australian newspaper regretting that Perth had outgrown its taste for amateur entertainment. The writer praised prominent amateurs, the Perth Musical Union, former parliamentarian and Judge Alfred Peach Hensman, and the players in the Amateur Operatic Society, under Francis Hart. The report lamented that these societies were ‘seemingly defunct’ and nothing had taken their place. The writer pondered whether the ‘general race for wealth’ in an altered community after the great gold discoveries had taken away the time for genteel engagement in musical arts. Although the author hoped that there would be ‘a revival of a charming and defined art’, a splendid era had ended.
Victorians are often mocked for their prudery and restraint, but seem to have been venturesome in their pursuit of pleasure-seeking, if not occasionally falling into intemperance. The age old saying ‘Wine, Women and Song’, while sexist, can easily be tacit in terms of the gender neutral ‘Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll’. The history of Perth’s amateur entertainers includes the age old propensity of people to seek pleasure, naturally or by artificial means. Conceivably, to stay on the side of decency, a rollicking romp on stage was the next best thing. The story of the amateurs is endless and portrays the nature of humanity, reflecting the egos of all those who strove to be the centre of attention for their talents, on the stage.
Copyright © Brendan Kelly, 8 May 2024.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 11 May, 2024 and hosted at freotopia.org/books/kelly2024.html (it was last updated on 11 May, 2024). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.