Tag:flinders st
Melbournes newsboys were a familiar sight on the city’s streets from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries. They were typically young boys from poor families who sold newspapers to earn a living. The first newsboys in Melbourne appeared in the 1840s, and their numbers grew rapidly in the following decades. By the 1890s, an estimated 2,000 newsboys were working in the city.
Newsboys, usually aged between 8 and 16, often worked in challenging conditions for long hours. They braved the elements and were sometimes subjected to violence from customers or other newsboys. You could find them at popular locations such as Flinders St Station, the Town Hall, Young and Jackson pub, theatres, and other pubs. These spots were highly sought-after by newsboys as they were perfect for distributing newspapers.
The Rise of the Newsboys
During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Melbournes newsboys emerged as an integral part of the urban landscape. Armed with stacks of newspapers under their arms, these young entrepreneurs eagerly took the day’s news to the city’s residents. Often hailing from lower-income backgrounds, these young boys found an opportunity to earn a living and contribute to their families’ financial well-being.
In 1891, the Education Department convened a special committee to consider what would be done about the city’s neglected children. It was estimated that upwards of 10,000 children were not attending school at all. The report recommended that newsboys be licensed and wear a badge displaying where they went to school. No boys under 17 should be allowed to trade on Saturday nights after 8 pm or 9 pm. Girls under 18 years of age were forbidden to apply for a licence at all.
The newsboys were a diverse group, coming from various cultural backgrounds and ages ranging from as young as six to teenagers. They were a familiar sight to Melburnians, darting through the streets, their voices echoing with the cries of “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” as they offered the latest editions of newspapers.
Life as a Newsboy
Many city newsboys were often barefooted rather than wearing boots so they could run faster. The boys had their own pitches, gangs and hierarchies — the leader of the mob could have his mates around him in a trice with a quick whistle. One such gang was Crutchey, Tabby-cats, Spud, Little Charlie, Snowy, Curley, Sport, Jack, Cock-eye, Battler, Spud, Fossie, Dicko, Soldier, Morry, Tom, Ginger, and all their mates.
Being a newsboy was a tough job, and the young entrepreneurs who did it had to overcome many challenges and obstacles. They had to endure harsh weather conditions, carry heavy newspapers, and navigate through chaotic city streets. Their success depended on their salesmanship skills, as they had to persuade people passing by to buy the newspapers they were selling.
When not selling papers, the boys had a reputation for roaming the alleyways: ‘whiffing cigarettes, chewing tobacco, swearing and fighting,’ or gambling their earnings in the game, ‘pitch and toss’
Running afoul of the law
By the turn of the century, many saw newsboys as a public nuisance. Lawmakers began charging them under an obscure council by-law, which prescribed that: “No person shall make any violent outcry, noise or disturbance in or on any of the streets, carriageways, footways, or public places within the City of Melbourne to the annoyance of any person or persons frequenting the same“.
Boys could also be charged for using fictitious headlines to lure passersby to purchase their newspapers. In February 1914, newsboy John Quilty was fined one pound for calling out: ‘Herald, final edition, a full account of the Fern Tree Gully railway accident.’
The headline about an accident was a work of fiction. Constable A.E. Strickland led the effort to apprehend newsboys shouting on the streets, accusing them of causing a “violent outcry” (as reported in Truth on June 28, 1903). As a result, many of these newsboys were brought to court, fined, and given a week to pay. They would be incarcerated for a week if they failed to pay within that timeframe.
The Newsboys Foundation
Miss Edith Charlotte Onians, a 28-year-old woman from a devout and wealthy Anglican family, began dedicating her life to helping underprivileged boys in Melbourne. With her help, life for the boys improved in the 1920s. Onians played a significant role in establishing and developing the Newsboys Foundation in Melbourne, Australia.
Photograph by L. Shea. Courtesy of Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales; 9624429
On a wet afternoon late the previous year, she had come across the first of Melbournes newsboys as they waited for a delivery of papers. They were floating bits of wood with improvised sails down the flowing gutters, wagering their pitifully small earnings on the race. Most were intermittently homeless. They slept rough on the Yarra riverbank or in the Richmond paddock by the old morgue. None could read or write.
Young boys who worked as newsboys during the early 20th century faced numerous difficulties, such as poverty, limited educational opportunities, and harsh living conditions. Moreover, they were at high risk of being victimised by sexual predators. Onians was aware of these challenges and dedicated herself to finding solutions. She became involved with the City Newsboys’ Try Society, founded in 1893 and later known as the Melbourne Newsboys’ Club. She started volunteering there and asked the boys if they would attend a school class if she organised one. They agreed to try it out. It was the beginning of her lifelong commitment to the cause.
The Newsboys Homes
The Newsboys’ Homes were established as safe havens for newsboys, offering them shelter, education, and guidance. Onians believed in providing these young boys with a nurturing environment where they could grow, learn, and thrive. The Homes provided accommodation, educational opportunities, and vocational training, empowering the boys to break the cycle of poverty and build a better future for themselves.
Over time, the Newsboys Foundation expanded its reach and broadened its scope to include support for disadvantaged youth beyond Newsboys. The organisation extended its programs to include scholarships, mentoring, and funding for educational initiatives. Over the years, it continued to adapt and evolve to meet the changing needs of young people in Melbourne, focusing on empowering them to reach their full potential and succeed in life.
The introduction of the Street Trading Act in 1958 meant that no boy under the age of 12 was allowed to sell newspapers in Melbourne. Those between the ages of 12 and 14 could only do so with a licence. The newsboys of Melbourne left an indelible mark on the city’s cultural and historical narrative.
Education pays off
Onians believed that no child was irreclaimable, and she proved that tenfold through the Foundation’s providing education to the boys. More than 20,000 boys passed through the Foundation, with many succeeding greatly in their respective fields. Melbournes Newsboys went on to become religious ministers, barristers, dentists, and notable sportsmen. Victorian boxing title-holder Norm Gent and former amateur welterweight champion Bill Seewitz were particularly noteworthy among the athletes. Champion wrestlers Bill Davies, Paul Buckley, Olympian Bob Clarke, and footballers Fitzroy captain Alan (Butch) Gale and North Melbourne skipper Les Foote were also among the accomplished athletes. In addition, former newsboy Vic Hartney became a jockey and won the 1943 Melbourne Cup on Dark Felt, while Len Woodhouse became the Australian middleweight weightlifting champion. Basketball players included All-Australian Tommy Nash and state representatives Eric Lund and Norm Davenport.
Reproduced courtesy State Library Victoria
Among the former newsboys were a librarian, several mayors, a president of the Returned Sailor’s, Soldier and Airmen’s Imperial League of Australia, a special magistrate of the Children’s Court, several tram conductors, a bookie, and a successful chef with a thriving business. All in all, 626 boys signed up and fought in WWI, with some losing their lives at Lone Pine, the Somme, North Africa, and the skies over Germany in WWII. However, thousands of other newsboys became exemplary fathers, devoted husbands, diligent workers, compassionate businesspeople, and conscientious members of society.
The Legacy of the Newsboys
The memorable cries of “READ ALL ABOUT IT!” or “Get your “ERRR-AAALD!” still echo in our minds. These newsboys played a crucial role in shaping public opinion and spreading information. Their infectious enthusiasm and unwavering dedication to sales made them more than just newspaper sellers; they were messengers of the changing times. The newsboys of Melbourne were not just people who sold newspapers. They embodied resilience, determination, and entrepreneurial spirit. In doing so, they became essential to the city’s history and helped the news industry grow.
The Rone Time Exhibition spans eleven rooms of the long-abandoned third wing of the heritage-listed Flinders Street Station.
Internationally renowned Rone (real name Tyrone Wright) is a Melbourne-based Australian street artist known for his large-scale mural paintings. Rone has created works in cities worldwide, including Melbourne, Sydney, Paris, and New York, often featuring portraits of women. He is known for his ability to create a sense of emotion and movement in his pieces which have also been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide. Additionally, his work can be found on the streets in many major cities.
Flinders Street Station
Flinders Street Station sits on the corner of Flinders and Swanston Streets in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was the first steam rail station in Australia, and today, it still serves the entire metropolitan rail network. Opening in 1854, it is the oldest railway station in Australia, still in operation. It is also the busiest railway station in Australia’s second busiest city, with millions of passenger movements per year. Due to its age and architecture, Flinders St station is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register and, with its famous clocks, is considered a Melbourne cultural icon.
Previous Exhibitions
Rone has developed a stellar international reputation over the last twenty years. Previous installations such as Empire in 2019 (in the decaying Burnham Beeches mansion), The Omega Project in 2017 (A house about to be demolished) and Empty in 2016 (the Lyric theatre just before demolition), transformed abandoned and derelict spaces into hauntingly beautiful odes to the past. Time is no exception. It is Rone’s most ambitious project to date and the culmination of three years of work.
The Time exhibition by Rone celebrates Flinders Street Station’s grand scale, history and character, reimagining a period of Melbourne’s past long lost to progress. The immersive exhibition is inspired by an era when European migrants powered the city’s booming manufacturing industries, capturing the beauty in a forgotten, mid-century, working-class life.
The ballroom
The Flinders Street Station Ballroom is located on the third level of Flinders Street railway station. The ballroom was built in the 1920s as part of a redevelopment and was used as a venue for dances, balls, and other social events. However, the ballroom was closed to the public in the 1980s and has since fallen into disrepair. In recent years, efforts have been made to restore and reopen the ballroom, but apart from Patricia Piccini’s exhibition, A Miracle Constantly Repeated, it remained closed. Time, however, takes you through the ballroom plus ten additional closed-off rooms that have also been hidden away for half a century.
For years, I had heard all these stories about the mysterious ballroom above Flinders Street Station. I always wondered how much of it was truth and how much was urban myth. I was desperate to get in there,’
Rone
Rooms with History
Time is also a nostalgic love letter to Melbourne of the 1950s. Hence, each carefully curated room offers up a fictional history of the era. Large-scale portraits of model Teresa Oman, who has worked with Rone for over ten years, appear hauntingly on the walls. For Time, Rone put together a team of more than 120 professionals who worked for several months to complete Time’s delicate and intricate installation process. Because of the sheer scale of the exhibition, behind the scenes, the installation required scenic artists, lighting designers, heritage experts, riggers and many more.
Time Capsule
The exhibition is beautifully and authentically done. As you wander from room to room, becoming immersed in the installation, you forget it’s a fictional history. It’s not hard to imagine that if you rolled the clock back and stepped into postwar Melbourne of the 1950s, this is precisely what these hidden, upper floors were like. You begin to feel like you have just stepped into a time capsule with rooms frozen in time.
For instance, there are administration rooms with the typist pools of yesteryear, the lamps still burning, and a sewing room that is turning out uniforms with cobwebs undisturbed on the cotton reels. Classrooms for apprenticeships and mailrooms with massive canvas mail sacks and letters strewn on the floor. Coupled with haunting music and evocative lighting, the sets ooze history.
Further on, there are cardigans over the backs of chairs—a cup and saucer on bench. A switchboard with snaking cords connecting the outside world to the workers within, with one last incoming call blinking on the switchboard, never to be answered. A handbag hangs a coat hook, and a phone is left off the hook. Moreover, it brings to mind a disaster where everyone suddenly up and ran out, never to return. Chernobyl or On The Beach by Neville Shute, anyone?
In the background, music, by composer Nick Batterham plays, spilling from a gramophone in the ballroom – and from tiny speakers hidden inside answering machines and other objects. No part of the immersive experience is overlooked. For example, if you listen closely as you walk the corridors and rooms, you will actually hear a ghost train rumble through in the distance.
Behind the Scenes
While everything looks as old as the building – a lot of it was made for the exhibition. However, the pieces were designed and crafted to look old and authentic to the era. Numerous items were also sourced from Op shops, garage sales and gumtree. Twenty-four truckloads of props were delivered to Flinders Street, and everything needed to be brought up to the third floor. Specifically through narrow doors and up a tiny elevator or multiple flights of stairs. All the while life continued to hustle past on the busy street, coupled with an adjacent working train platform right on their doorstep.
The Newsagent
Just before the door that takes you to the Time exhibition is ‘the newsagent’. Here, an empty shopfront has been transformed. It’s now part retail, part exhibition and is free to visit.
Rone ~ Time Exhibition runs until April 23rd 2023. The exhibition is mainly sold out, with a few tickets remaining at rone.art for March and April.