The Victorian Intercolonial Exhibition world's fair was held in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Colony of Victoria In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...

between 2 September and 16 November 1875.

Commission

The original commission comprised Sir Redmond Barry, acting chief justice; members of the

Victorian Legislative Assembly The Victorian Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria in Australia; the upper house being the Victorian Legislative Council. Both houses sit at Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The presidin ...

(M.L.A.): J. J. Casey, J. F. Sullivan, C. J. Jennor, J. Munro; James Gatehouse (mayor of Melbourne); the former mayor J. McIlwraith; and J. I. Bleasdale. And later the following became additional commissioners:

John O'Shanassy Sir John O'Shanassy, KCMG (18 February 1818 – 5 May 1883), was an Irish-Australian politician who served as the 2nd Premier of Victoria. O'Shanassy was born near Thurles in County Tipperary, Ireland, the son of a surveyor, and came to the Po ...

(former premier of Victoria);

James McCulloch Sir James McCulloch, (18 March 1819 – 31 January 1893), British colonial politician, was the fifth Premier of Victoria. Early life McCulloch was born in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland. He was the son of George McCulloch, a quarry master a ...

, J. A. Macpherson, J.T. Smith, J. Bosisto (all M.L.A.s); S.H. Bindon; the Count de Castelnau; L.J. Sherrard; and J. Danks. G. C. Levey who had experience with the Victorian Exhibition of 1872, and the London International and Vienna Exhibitions of 1873 was appointed secretary.

Location

The exhibition was held in the Public Library (as were earlier exhibitions in 1866 and 1872) along with a specially constructed 190 ft by 60 ft iron and wood building.

Contributors

There were exhibitors from the colonies of Victoria (805),

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

(118) and

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Aust ...

(86), along with

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

(2) and Japan (2).

Displays

Displays included two beer exhibits from Yarra Bend Asylum, three copper engraved maps of Victoria organised by Alexander John Skene and A C Allen and engraved by Slight and The Lord's Prayer in 50 different kinds of shorthand The Victorian Academy of Arts organised the Fine Arts section which included paintings by Louis Buvelot,

Eugene von Guerard Johann Joseph Eugene von GuérardHis first name is variously spelled "Eugen", "Eugene", "Eugène", one source mentions "Jean" (instead of "Johann"); his surname is spelled "Guerard" or "Guérard". The most frequent combination is that used by t ...

, Isaac Whitehead and Henry Leonardus van den Houten.

Awards

The awards given during the exhibition included the Intercolonial Exhibition medal. 648 medals were produced to be awarded to winning exhibitors in various categories. The medal included a latin inscription and was designed by prominent sculptor of the period, Charles Summers. 1866-67colonialexhibitionmedalprinting

Closing

At the closing ceremony at noon on 16 November, Redmond Barry, chairman of the commissioners, addressing the acting governor

William Stawell Sir William Foster Stawell KCMG (27 June 181512 March 1889) was a British colonial statesman and a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia. Stawell was the first Attorney-General of Victoria, serving from 1851 to 1856 as an app ...

summarised the numbers of exhibitors, visitors and proceeds. He described jury selection and summarised medals awarded. He also thanked the jurors and the trustees of the Public Library and National Museum for the use of their great hall and annexes.

References

{{List of world's fairs in Australia 1875 establishments 1875 disestablishments in Australia 1875 in Australia 1870s in Melbourne Colony of Victoria World's fairs in Melbourne