| First published in NASTAT News, no. 26, Autumn 1994. |
This book contains a fascinating wealth of detail about the land, the social and economic history of Australia, and about FM’s performing history. What follows is only a tiny sketch of this detail, perhaps just enough to wet your appetite.
The Foreword accurately states: “This book portrays both the man and the country of his birth. Even readers who know a good deal of Australian history will be both instructed and delighted by Rosslyn’s vivid pictures of life in remote northern Tasmania, in Victoria during the gold rushes, ‘Marvelous Melbourne’ in the 1880s, and later in Hobart, New Zealand, and Sydney where Alexander attracted large and enthusiastic audiences for his dramatic recitations, while offering lessons in breathing and voice production.”
The Alexander brothers came originally from England when rural discontent turned to active protest against the introduction of machinery that displaced farm laborers in 1830. While the majority of the people involved in the protests were farm workers, others actively supported them including various skilled craftsmen. Matthias (FM’s grandfather) and an older brother, Joseph, were sentenced to “transportation” to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) for 7 years for being involved in the agricultural protests. A younger brother John was later convicted of allegedly stealing some pigs and also received a 7 year transportation sentence - supposedly so that he could be with his brothers. Matthias and Joseph arrived in Hobart, Tasmania on May 29, 1833. Life was very difficult for those arriving in the 1830s via the convict ships, but the two older brothers were pardoned in 1836 and John in 1846. Eventually all of them settled in the Table Cape/Wynyard area.
For those who have visited the Table Cape/Wynyard area, excerpts from an 1832 diary of two traveling British Quakers are particularly interesting: “In some places the scrub was so thick that we could not see each other, and when we came upon Table Cape a fern [bracken]. . . was so deep as to obscure us from the view of each other. After ascending to the top of Table Cape [this is where the Alexanders settled less than twenty years later] we passed over some rich, red loam, clothed with luxuriant vegetation.” And more details follow as to the different kinds of eucalyptus and other plant life that made passage so difficult. Today the brilliant red soil is still in evidence, but the 200 foot gum trees have long been gone, and the land is all cleared for crops or for grazing sheep.
Joseph and Matthias began the first settlement in 1850 on the west side of the Inglis River - opposite to where the town of Wynyard now stands - and John joined them a few years later. The small community was called Alexandria, and the families ran a hotel, a store, had a schooner, The Alexander, built for produce and timber trading, and they cleared and farmed a large area of nearby Table Cape. Matthias’ fourth son John (a blacksmith) was FM’s father, and FM was the eldest of several children.
In 1879 Mr. Robert Robertson was appointed teacher at the Wynyard School, its second headmaster, and he was there until 1886. He is said to have been the school teacher who encouraged and developed FM’s love of literature, especially poetry and Shakespeare. When FM was 14, he was appointed to be a paid Monitor at the Wynyard school - a position he held for two years. The Monitor was an older pupil who would be given duties to carry out under the supervision of the head teacher.
In 1885 he moved to Waratah to take a job as a junior accountant at the Mt. Bischoff Tin Mine, and also obtained the responsible position as Collector for the local Road Trust. (Money collected by this Trust was used to upgrade the terrible roads). During his three years in Waratah, he developed his interest in the arts, studying violin and taking part in amateur dramatic performances.
During his Melbourne years in the1890s, a favorite style of entertainment was the elocutionary recital, and he later established himself as a “vocal art teacher” there in 1897. Tours of Tasmania and New Zealand also took place during the 1890s and McLeod’s book includes in fascinating detail several of the actual programs that were presented. Teaching in Melbourne seems to have become more prominent than performing; however, the performances continued. Details of early teaching brochures (invitations to potential students) are included in the text. According to McLeod, A. R. and their sister Amy (Marjorie Barlow’s mother) both joined FM in his teaching practice in Melbourne. The move to Sydney came in 1900 and he continued to combine some performing with his teaching. We take leave of this history when FM goes to London in 1904.
© Jane R. Heirich. Reproduced with permission.
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This edition © Mouritz 2005. All rights reserved. |
