Characters from Drug ARM’s past: George Marchant

George Marchant, 1857-1941

Drug ARM’s archive collection contained items spanning 3 centuries, much of which was donated to the State Libraries of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria in order to preserve them for future generations. However, several items pertaining to the history and development of Drug ARM were retained by the organisation. A set of framed photographs were amongst these items, including the one above labelled George Marchant, 1857-1941.

George Marchant was born in Kent, England in 1857 to Richard Marchant, a licenced victualler and his wife Sarah. He emigrated to Brisbane in 1874, a virtually penniless farm labourer, gaining employment as a gardener and a station hand in the countryside. He returned to Brisbane to work as a carter for an aerated waters factory.

In 1877, he married Mary Jane Dwyer but the couple remained childless, although they adopted a son, Christopher.

On 1886, he purchased the ginger beer manufacturing business in Brisbane from John R. Palmer, progressing to establishing his own factory in Spring Hill the same year. He than expanded his soft drink, cordial and hop beer business with the assistance of his wife to establish factories in Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. He also invented a bottling machine, which was used globally. He retired in 1913, after making a huge fortune and was succeeded by his adopted son, Christopher, who ran the company until the registration was abandoned in 1917.

Although originally an anti-trade unionist, he believed in social equality and his workers, including women earned better than average wages and some of the profits were shared amongst his employees.

He became interested in temperance as a boy and was a long-time opponent of the liquor trade. He donated £41,000 to the development of the Queensland Prohibition League’s Canberra Hotel in Brisbane, which opened in 1929 and became a director.. He was also treasurer of the league in the 1920s and its patron in 1931.

He was a prolific philanthropist through out his life and donated to several causes including the Queensland Society for Crippled Children. He died in 1941 and his estate of £48,660 was divided between charities.

Acknowledgements.

Wikipedia. George Marchant. Accessed on 14/06/2022 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Marchant

Helen Gregory, ‘Marchant, George (1857–1941)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/marchant-george-7481/text13039, published first in hardcopy 1986, accessed online 14 June 2022.

Characters from Drug ARM’s past: William Herbert Green

William Herbert Green 1878-1968

Drug ARM’s archive collection contained items spanning 3 centuries, much of which was donated to the State Libraries of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria in order to preserve them for future generations. However, several items pertaining to the history and development of Drug ARM were retained by the organisation. A set of framed photographs were amongst these items, including the one above labelled William Herbert Green, 1878-1968.

William Green was a Queensland politician and temperance advocate and has several occupations listed including businessman, philanthropist, Methodist lay leader and pharmacist. He was born on 11 October 1878, the son of Eliza Jane (Vaughan) Green and Charles Green. He was married three times and widowed twice and had five children with his first wife, Clara.

Mr Green served in the first world war in 1914, before becoming mayor of Townsville in 1920 and he also served in Queensland state politics for several years.

He was an active Methodist for over 50 years, serving in most of the committees within the church and was also a lifelong supporter of the temperance movement. He was president of the Queensland Temperance League (a predecessor of Drug ARM) until 1940 and then chairman until 1965. He also represented Australia internationally in several conferences and was awarded the OBE in 1958.

He was the chairman of private temperance hotels in Sydney, Brisbane and Toowoomba, including the Canberra Hotel.

He died in Brisbane in March 1968.

Acknowledgments

Jim Manion, ‘Green, William Herbert (1878–1968)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/green-william-herbert-6474/text11089, published first in hardcopy 1983, accessed online 19 October 2021.

A Journey into Drug ARM’s past

I’d like to share some history that surrounds the item below from the Drug ARM archives at Southport.

This warped and not so pretty item was a puzzle as to what it was or its purpose. Some articles in the newspaper, The Qld Prohibitionist helped solve the origins of this odd object which indicated evidence of it being a foundation stone casket of ‘The Canberra’.

Foundation Stone Casket – 1927

The Qld Prohibitionist newspaper -1927

‘The Canberra’ was a temperance hotel built by the Qld Prohibition League on the corner of Edward and Ann Streets, Brisbane.  An account of the Foundation Stone Laying Ceremony held on 30th July 1927 told of how editions of local newspapers (amongst other items) had been placed into a ‘hermetically sealed lead casket’.  I had recently discovered in the archives two newspapers from July 1927. The folds in these newspapers matched the shape of the casket here in the archives. Also, the builders name ‘Cunningham’ is engraved on the casket. Further, the engraved date of 1927 on the casket aligns with the year of the ceremony. The casket itself has been prised open, presumably so the contents could be retrieved. These included ‘eight coins of the realm’ as well as historical statements and the constitution of the Qld Prohibition League.

The Canberra, Brisbane

The Daily Standard – 1927

The Telegraph – 1927

However, a mystery still remains about the engraving of  ‘A H Job, 1907’ on the item (see below). Perhaps in memory of someone connected to The Canberra hotel?

It is quite exciting to solve a mystery – even if it’s not quite complete yet. 

The Canberra Hotel

A little about “The Canberra” –a temperance hotel built by The Qld Prohibition League and completed in July, 1929.

“The Canberra” hotel was named so because of its Aboriginal meaning of ‘meeting place’ and its link to the increasingly popular new Federal Capital of Australia. “The Canberra” was a first class 7 story temperance hotel. It boasted that its brick construction on a steel frame with concrete floors made it  ‘fire proof.’  It also housed the headquarters of the Qld Prohibition League as well as providing a suitable and fitting rendezvous for all State Temperance activities.

The original foundation stone from Temperance Hall 1864 was placed in ‘The Canberra’ along with two new foundation stones in 1927. This original foundation stone is now proudly on display at Drug ARM, Annerley.

The original foundation stone from Temperance Hall -1864

Temperance Hall was demolished to make way for ‘The Canberra’.

Pure Water is The Best Drink: Educating Children in Temperance

 

 

Illustration from Answers to Alcohol: Interpreting Scientific Information for Boys and Girls by L. H. Caldwell.

 

Preventing drinking for children’s welfare was one of the major arguments for temperance. This extended to educating children about abstinence from alcohol in the hope that they would never be tempted themselves, thus breaking the drinking cycle. A 1925 letter to the editor of The Argus by W. H. Rose, Band of Hope of Victoria, describes the importance of educating children about not drinking. “There is an urgent need that the child, the future citizen, be given proper training in the truth concerning alcoholic liquors before the liquor has been gripped or the liquor habit acquired.”

One of the ways this teaching could be done was through non-fictional and fictional literature. The Healthy Options Australia archive contains many examples of textbooks, other non-fictional works and stories, which may be of great interest to historians and researchers of children’s education, medical history and temperance. As well as the temperance message, they provide insight into social attitudes of their time.

Periodicals were one way to spread the temperance message, and there were often segments for children within temperance periodicals such as the Queensland Prohibitionist like The Prolliwog’s Own. These were filled with riddles, stories, comics and activities and provided instruction and encouragement for children to take action.

 

Some typical pages from The Prolliwogs Own

Some typical pages from The Prolliwog’s Own.

Children could join a Band of Hope branch, in which they signed a pledge never to touch alcohol as part of their initiation and were taught more about abstinence. One such pledge can be seen in the Museums Victoria collection.

Some works take a strictly factual approach. Examples of these are Albert F. Blaisdell’s scientific textbooks: The Child’s Book of Health, Our Bodies and How We Live and How to Keep Well. These textbooks were aimed at teaching temperance along with other things including how the body works, anatomy, good posture and hygiene. They are often beautifully illustrated, as can be seen below.

An illustration from Blaisdell’s The Child’s Book of Health.

 

Among the scientific books in the collection are Lessons and Experiments on Scientific Hygiene and Temperance for Elementary School Children by Helen Coomber is a book of experiments that children could carry out to learn more about alcohol. Giant Alcohol; Or Talks with the Young on the Science of Temperance by William Spiers is another series of lessons for children about temperance.

Other books take a moral approach. John Murray’s Why Not Have a Drink – If You’re a  Christian? focuses on teenagers who might be tempted to drink and appeals to their sense of morality as Christians. In a similar vein, the Temperance Teaching for the Children of the Church by C. R. Gant is a series of church addresses that could be read to children about temperance.

Some authors such as Margaret Baker wrote nonfictional and fictional temperance literature, and many of her titles can be found within the archive. These stories, like many others, are often simplistic and heavy-handed to get the message across to its audience. The Bottle Explains is one example of a story in which a boy named Jack rejects alcohol, personified as a walking bottle, because drinking will not allow him to have any job.

The moral of The Bottle Explains by Margaret Baker.

 

The bottle itself was used as a symbol of degeneracy in children’s educational material by the American Women’s Christian Temperance Union.

Other stories include Jack Tayler’s Visit to Venus and Shawn Starts the Fight. These pulp fiction style books show young people learning more about temperance through adventures.

 

The Don’t-Know Family by Noel Hope follows the day to day adventures of the titular family as they make their way through life, making mistakes and learning lessons, until the climatic death of Daddy Don’t-Know from alcohol-induced causes. His death, as well as the plight of his family, is seen as a warning to others within the neighbourhood to stop drinking. This appeal to emotion, also known as pathos, is common in temperance stories.

The Don’t Know Family was also illustrated by Noel Hope.

 

The illustrations of both fictional and non-fictional books are often striking and eccentric by today’s standards. However, they show the seriousness of the issues they often discuss.

An illustration from The Don’t Know Family, the alarming cover of Giant Alcohol Talks with the Young on the Science of Temperance and a page from The Prolliwog’s Own.

An illustration from The Don’t Know Family, the alarming cover of Giant Alcohol Talks with the Young on the Science of Temperance and a page from The Prolliwog’s Own.

The Healthy Options Archive is housed at Unit 30, Jackman Street, Southport. For more details contact the Healthy Options Library on 07 3620 8871 or email library@hoa.org.au.

by Chloe Pickard

Inside The Canberra Hotel: Artefacts in the Healthy Options Archive

You may not expect to see cutlery, a key and plates in a library collection, but it can be found in the Healthy Options archive. Healthy Options Australia’s long history contains a highly important chapter – the Canberra Hotel in Brisbane. Our collection includes a large amount of artfacts from this hotel.

The Canberra Hotel’s opening in 1929 was a huge success for the Queensland Prohibition League, who had raised the money to purchase the hotel through a loan from the Independent Order of the Rechabites and donations from interested private citizens. The hotel was built on the western corner of Edward and Ann Street where the Temperance Headquarters had previously stood.

A 1929 negative of the Canberra Hotel, taken by C. Henshaw. Image courtesy of Museum Victoria.

Designed by architect Arnold Edwin Brooks in the commercial palazzo style, the Canberra Hotel originally stood three storeys tall and contained 223 rooms. The idea of an alcohol free hotel, although controversal was by no means unusual 1929. Many alcohol-free hotels aimed at attracting a high class clientele had already been built in Australia and England during the late 1800s. However, by the late 1920s most Australian examples had been demolished due to financial depression and a lack of interest. Some of these still survive in locations like Goulborn and Melbourne.

A postcard depicting the now demolished Federal Coffee Palace in Melbourne. Image courtesy of the State Library of Victoria.

Despite the concerns expressed by some, the Canberra Hotel was highly successful. As well as providing high quality accommodation, the hotel was used as a base for the Queensland Prohibition League’s outreach services. A second Canberra Hotel was built in Toowoomba in 1938, and the Oriental Private Hotel in King’s Cross, Sydney was purchased and renamed the Canberra-Orient Hotel in 1954.

While the Brisbane Canberra Hotel’s exterior was widely documented through photography (and painting in the case of William Bustard), the interior is less well-documented. The Healthy Options Library archives holds a wealth of physical objects from the hotel including cutlery, plates, a safe deposit key, and donation plaques bearing the names of those who contributed to the  building of the hotel. Among those named are George J. P. Marchant, one of the generous citizen donors. A 1983 directory for guests provides information about food and the services, including the Jacaranda and Orchid rooms that were available for events like weddings, parties and conferences.

Also of particular interest among these items is the manager’s logbook from 1938 to 1939. This unique, predominantly handwritten resource provides a detailed insight into the running of the Brisbane Canberra Hotel during these years. It includes lists of supplies, price quotations and instructions for staff.

Instructions about the receipt and disposal of cash

Some of the information is a little out of the ordinary like the night time incident of a man calling loudly for help who could not be found by any staff that is recounted in the night porter’s report.

The Night Porter’s report

At the end, the logbook records the minutes of the Meeting of the Advisory Board in regards to advertising for the hotel.

An example of the advertising for The Canberra Hotel, featuring William Bustard’s painting. Image courtesy of the State Library of Queensland

Architectural plans of additions and alterations to the hotel from the 1950s to the 1980s can be examined. Some of these were created by A. H. Job, J. M. Collins and C. W. T. Fulton, architects who created other historical buildings around Brisbane.

The Canberra Hotel was sold in 1985 due to loss of profits and became a licenced hotel until 1987. Unfortunately, it met the same fate of the many coffee palaces that had preceded it and was demolished.

The Canberra Hotel collection is housed at Unit 30, Jackman Street, Southport. For more details contact the Healthy Options Library  on 07 3620 8871 or email library@hoa.org.au.

by Chloe Pickard

The Australian Temperance Magazine: The Oldest Item in the Collection

The Healthy Options Library archive holds a large variety of Australian temperance literature. The oldest item in it dates from early in the Australian temperance movement. It is a copy of the Australian Temperance Magazine Volume II, dated from 1838-1839. It binds each monthly edition of the magazine from July 1838 to June 1839 together. The magazine’s contents are a mixture of Australian temperance activities including articles and notes from the New South Wales Temperance Society meetings, updates from other temperance societies around the world and correspondence, as well as poems and stories.

The magazine’s publishing body, the New South Wales Temperance Society, was among the first temperance society to be founded in Australia. In ‘Temperance in Australia: the memorial volume of the International Temperance Convention’, J.W. Meaden mentions that Australian temperance societies were formed in 1832,  but they do not seem to have been highly organised. The details of the New South Wales Temperance Society’s founding meeting on November 19, 1834 can be read in this Sydney Herald article. The need for the society was agreed upon as it was felt alcohol had negatively impacted people within the colony, and that alcohol was unhealthy.

As well as its importance in depicting the early Australian temperance movement, the magazine has additional value. Like the archive’s copy of ‘An Apostle in Australia’, the magazine is an association copy. Its front free end paper is inscribed by seemingly two different people, and their words hint at an overseas journey and possible personal connection between the English and Australian temperance movements.

The inscription within the Australian Temperance Magazine.

The first part reads “Geo* E Forman Esq with the editor’s kind regards 5 April 1839”. Unfortunately, nothing could be found on Mr Forman. The second inscription reads “One hundred years later – 21^st of June 1939. This book is being returned to Australia with the best wishes of William E Moss. A disciple of Joseph Livesey and for over 50 years Teetotal Missionary in Blackburn England.”

Thankfully, there is more information available about Mr Moss. He can be quickly identified as William Edward Moss (1863 – 1951) from the details he provides about himself such as his work and location in Blackburn. His entry in ‘Temperance Standard Bearers of the Nineteenth Century: A Bibliographical and Statistical Temperance Dictionary’ by Peter T. Winskill describes him as a collector of temperance literature, “collecting, prizing and using all that he can secure of the early standard writings of the pioneers and advocates for the cause”. From this, it could be guessed that the Australian Temperance Magazine may have come to be in his personal collection.

Image courtesy of Blackburn Library.

Mr Moss worked as a missionary at the Lees Temperance Hall with Mrs. Lewis, a well-known and respected figure in the English temperance movement. As well as collecting temperance literature, he was an author in this genre. Among his work is a biography of famous temperance worker Joseph Livesey titled ‘Joseph Livesey, Friend of the People’ and another book ‘Mrs Lewis, the Drunkard’s Friend’. He may have been in the habit of giving away books, as the Stanford University catalogue notes his lengthy presentation inscription in a copy of ‘Mrs Lewis, the Drunkard’s Friend’.

Mr Moss did not limit himself to writing books. The Blackburn Library contains his personal correspondence in its temperance collection, and shows he and Mrs Lewis were both prolific letter writers. The places he wrote to include Wellington, New Zealand, so it is possible he may have written to people within Australia. If any readers have further information on Geo* E Forman, Mr Moss or his correspondence in regards to Australia, please let us know!

The Australian Temperance Magazine is stored at Healthy Options Australia Library, Unit 30, 15/3 Jackman St, Southport. For more details contact the Healthy Options Library on 07 3620 8871 or email library@hoa.org.au.

 

*  unable to decipher writing.

by Chloe Pickard

Unlocking a Book’s History

The Healthy Options Library archive holds many surprises in its collection, which is comprised of material such as books, films, photographs and ephemera from mid-19th century to late 20^th century. As I was cataloguing ‘An Apostle in Australia: the life and reminisces of Joseph Coles Kirby, Christian pioneer and social reformer’ by Edward Sidney Kiek, I came across an inscription on the book’s front free endpaper.

It reads ‘To A. T. Wreford Esq., as a personal tribute that in the catholicity of his charity, he finds a place in his heart for Port Adelaide Seamen’s Mission from the son of the subject of this book. B. Kirby. July 31^st 1930.’ The book is not otherwise annotated, with no other identifying marks such as stamps or watermarks indicating another’s ownership. Unfortunately, how Mr Wreford’s copy came to be in the archives is still unclear as there are no surviving records of its acquisition.

I was highly intrigued by this personalisation, as it was a real insight into the book’s life before it came to be in the library. ‘An Apostle in Australia’ itself is not rare, as it is held in multiple Australian libraries. However, the inscription makes this particular volume an association copy and directly reveals how its owner came to have it. But who were the people behind this inscription? I decided to investigate further.

I began by looking for the book’s recipient. A 1950 obituary in The Advertiser revealed that Mr A. T. Wreford (full name Arthur Talbot Wreford) was a prominent community figure in Adelaide, well known for his involvement in the YMCA in which he worked for boys’ welfare. He was also a South Australian Methodist and a member of the Laymen’s Missionary Movement.

The book’s gifter, Bevan Kirby, was the younger of Joseph Charles Kirby’s two sons. As detailed in Yvonne L. Potter’s thesis, Joseph Coles Kirby had previously undertaken much social reform in Port Adelaide relating to temperance such as the closure of pubs at 6 o’clock as well as work relating to the well-being of women. While Bevan Kirby worked as a chemist, he followed in the footsteps of his father, and was involved in the Congregationalist Church and the charitable works it was part of. One of these was the Port Adelaide Seaman’s Mission mentioned in the inscription.

This photograph from approximately 1928 shows the Port Adelaide Seaman’s Mission.

 

The Mission was founded in 1879 and was dedicated to providing hospitality to the sailors who came to Port Adelaide.  The port was a hotspot for sailors, who were required to live off their one-time payment after they had left the ship before setting sail again.

These sailors were seen as a vulnerable group of people who were regularly away from their family and friends and may have been taken advantage of by those around them. Bevan Kirby had a long involvement with the mission in several positions such as treasurer and trustee, and became its president in 1931, the year after the book was gifted.

Unfortunately there is no record of how Bevan Kirby gave A. T. Wreford this copy of ‘An Apostle in Australia’. However, three years after Mr Wreford received it, he attended a special service at the Mission to mark its 54^th anniversary.  There is another recorded incident of Mr Kirby giving a copy of ‘An Apostle in Australia’ as a gift, as he presented the Australian Band of Hope Union president, Mr Albert Keeling with one. Mr Keeling had also been on the Mission’s board in different positions. Unfortunately as far as we know, we do not have this copy too!

‘An Apostle in Australia’ and the archive collection is located at Unit 30, 15/3 Jackman St, Southport, QLD. For more details contact the Healthy Options Library on 07 3620 8871 or email library@hoa.org.au.

by Chloe Pickard