Australian Industrial Exhibition, Ballarat : order of merit awarded to ___ of ___ for ___ , [signed] J. H. Dunn, President, J. H. Langford, Secretary, 1900-1901 / designed by David Kent, 1899
- Bib ID:
- 7283428
- Format:
- Book
- Author:
- Australian Industrial Exhibition (1900-1901 : Ballarat, Vic.)
- Online Version:
- National Library of Australia digitised item. Broadside 1184 copy
- Printer:
- Ballarat, Vic. : Walter Mercer Litho.
- Description:
-
- Ballarat : Australian Industrial Exhibition, 1899
- 1 broadside : colour ; 46.3 x 57.5 cm
- Summary:
-
A colour lithograph certificate printed in yellow, bronze and black against a salmon beige background, depicting two female figures and landscapes suggesting agriculture and industry on either side of a small monument on a plinth crowned by an urn with a kangaroo and emu and coat of arms above the words "Federated Australia" (the Exhibition coincided with the birth of the Commonwealth). The Latin motto "Hominis labor prima virtus" appears at the base of the urn. A central shield on the pediment provides a text block for filling in. Text on the raised platform reads "Copyright" on the left and the artist's credit on the right. The printer's credit appears in the bottom centre, below a decorative border.
- Biography/History:
-
The Australian Industrial Exhibition was held from 22 December 1900 to 21 March 1901 at the Ballarat Exhibition Grounds in Grandville Street.
David Kent, a Melbourne artist who lived in St Kilda, had to acquaint the Exhibition Commissioners with the law of copyright before they forwarded to him the sum of £5 for as recompense for the use of his beautiful design to print 400 copies of this certificate ("An Artist's Labors," The Ballarat Star, 1 August 1901, page 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207503906).
Walter Mercer was a printer and lithographer who married Elizabeth Mitchell on 13 September 1898. She put £500 into his business to pay wages and debts, but twelve months later he began to drink heavily. They spent time in Sydney, Melbourne and Bendigo before they permanently separated in 1906. In 1909 he was said to be 42 years of age and in New Zealand when they divorced on the ground of desertion and habitual drunkeness (Bendigo Independent, 6 November 1909, page 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article227820736). In New Zealand in 1923 he was described as an elderly printer, well known in both Australia and New Zealand as an advertising canvasser, when he was charged with false pretences for inducing business people to purchase advertising space on menu cards (Manawatu Times, 13 July 1923, page 2, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MT19230713.2.5)
- Notes:
-
- Caption title.
- National Library of Australia's copy is filled out for Isabel McMillan of Ballarat for point lace work.
- Also available online https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-2517941270 Broadside 1184 copy
- Source of Acquisition:
- Provenance: Mossgreen Auctions, The John Lancaster Collection of Australia's Involvement in Trade Exhibitions, MG121, 18 October 2016, Lot 396.
- Subject:
- Other authors/contributors:
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