Collins Street with Emma Steinfort
Emma has kindly made her talk given 6 May 2014 available for Old Treasury to publish.
The Women of the ‘Golden Street’.
Introduction:
In 1860, when Clara Aspinall first arrived in Australia, she wrote that:
‘Collins Street is to Melbourne what Regent Street is to London… Ladies may walk in Collins
Street, and find a pleasant variety… No lady ventures into other streets, excepting on urgent
business.’
One of the most dynamic streets of Melbourne, Collins Street is, and has always been, the
centre of culture and influence in Melbourne. Since its creation, it has been home to people
from all spheres of society and from all careers in its history we can trace the history of
women in Australia.
Art:
On the 23rd of August 1889, the Impressionist Exhibition was opened at the Melbourne
Town hall. This was a watershed moment in the history of Australian Art. When people think
of Australian Impressionism, many think of the Heidelberg School and the rural imagery
which marked the artwork they produced. However if the Heidelberg School was the retreat
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of Australian Impressionists, the studios found in Collins Street were their home both
literally and figuratively.
Where today, we talk about art districts, in the late 1800s, there was an interesting
dichotomy found on Collins Street. This one street was home to the Melbourne Club, and
members of the financial and medical profession, but also to the bohemians of the arts
world.
Dotted up and down Collins Street were studios that were the creative hub of Melbourne.
One of the most important was Grosvenor Chambers on number 9 Collins St. Built in 1888, it
was the first purpose built studio complex. It housed beautiful, light filled studios which
were where artists such as Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton, and Charles Conder, lived,
worked, taught and entertained. In many ways, these studios are the place where Australian
Art as we know it today, was created.
Grosvenor Chambers was also home to many female artists. Jane Sutherland and Clara
Southern shared a studio from 1888 to ’98. During that time their studio was also, on
occasion, home to Jane Price.
The three artists often worked together, sharing a passion for plein air painting. Though
they visited rural sites for inspiration and spent time at the Heidelberg School with artists,
their studio on Collins Street was their base.
In the foreword Price wrote for Ada Gregory’s novel 'The Clouded Dream', she wrote:
'Art is a matter of life and death for the building of a nation. Australia cannot do without it.'
This belief reflected the progressive nature of late 1800s thought. The time Sutherland,
Southern and Price spent on Collins Street coincided with a period of progressive political
and social thinking. This sense of change helped spur creative and exciting art. Their work
was deeply tied to the Australian landscape. Sutherland and Southern often placed women
in their artwork, creating evocating commentary about the place of women in the newly
forming Australian society they found themselves in.
Art also meet commerce on Collins Street.
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Collins Street was where many professional photographers from around the world plied
their art and trade. At number 41 and then at 57, the American Perez M. Batchelder opened
a house of photographic portraiture which became a favourite of the fashionable elite,
nouveau riche, and politicians of which he photographed every sitting member of
parliament from the 1850s-90s. Just down from both studios was that of Australian’s first
female professional photographers, Miss Hampson. She opened her first studio at number 4
in 1854. Sadly no surviving examples of her work have been located however from records
from the period, it is known that she specialised in collodion portraits of women.
Fashion:
The images of women that Miss Hampson captured, reflected how Collins Street was where
people came to be seen. ‘Doing the block’ or promenading at the Block Arcade became a
common pastime for Melbournians at the turn of the 20 th Century. The delight of this
practice was captured by Hume Nisbet in 1880 when he described it as:
‘A moving phantasmagoria of colour and loveliness, with a crowd of faultlessly attired, eyeglassed exquisites thrown in by way of relief to the almost overpowering brilliancy of the
Feminine division.’
In a society in flux, promenading allowed for people to express their place in a shifting social
hierarchy, and to form and strengthen social bonds. Fashion was key in this complex ritual.
When Rose Pasternack arrived in Australia in the late 1800s, her brother took her directly to
a milliner telling her, ‘In their country you don't go to work without a hat."
If her brother took her anywhere, it probably was to Collins Street. Home to the finest
drapers, tailers, milliners, Collins Street from the 1840s onwards was the heart of fashion in
Australia. In the late 1880s, department stores were born. The most prestigious had to be
Georges which was founded in 1879 by William and Harley George, and the silk merchant
Leonard Robinson. Two years later, Robinson passed away and the George bothers took
over the store and ambitiously move from 37 Collins Street to the larger premises on 11-17
Collins Street. The new location was renamed George and George’s ‘Federal Emporium’.
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The ambition of Georges reflected the optimism in Australia. This vision was redefined by
Reta Findlay in the 1940s. She was the first female advertising executive in Australia. Under
her leadership, Georges stopped trying to compete with Myers and instead focused on
creating a sense of exclusivity. She introduced mannequin parades, runway shows and
championed minimalism in store presentation. The windows of Myer and David Jones we
see today with only one mannequin beautifully styled is directly taken from the windows
Findlay created for Georges.
This exclusivity in Collins Street was echoed in the boutiques of Collins Street, in particular
Le Louvre. Founded in the late 1920s by Lillian Wightman, it specialised in European haute
couture and was by appointment only. Wightman and her granddaughter Georgina Weir,
claim that Le Lourve is the reason the eastern end of Collins Street is known as ‘Paris end of
Collins Street.’
Their claim is disputed. Some claim the name came from the Oriental Hotel, which featured
Melbourne's first sidewalk café in the 1950s. Others point to similarities between Paris and
what remains of the grand architecture and the tree lined street, while some point to the
many European artists who had studios up and down Collins Street. It seems to be a
mystery.
If you want to learn more about Collins Street, I would recommend you read Collins: The
Story of Australian’s Premier Street, by Judith Raphael Buckrick.
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