Newsreel in 1862: The Grand Moving Diorama of the Victorian Exploring Expedition.

This book produced by the Australian Documentary Facsimile Society in 1963 in a limited edition of 250 copies. It gives details of the first “Moving Diorama” to be shown in Australia in 1862 which was of the Victorian Exploring Expedition of 1862, led by Burke and Wills. Hard cover, 4to, 10 pp, 6 bw ill, one of 250 signed by Keast Burke.

The Grand Diorama of the Burke and Wills Exploring Expedition (1865).
This diorama was first exhibited in Melbourne and Sydney in 1862, taken to Hobart in 1863, then taken on a tour of Australian country centres. After being exhibited at Portland and Warrnambool in Victoria the diorama was advertised to appear at the Mount Gambier Hotel in November 1865, after which it was to be shown at Port MacDonnell. An advertisement in the Border Watch said: ‘The Moving Diorama of the Burke and Wills Exploring Expedition… painted by the best artists in the colonies, occupies upwards of 2,500 feet of canvas, and is the original and only diorama of the subject in Australia. During its tour through the colonies it has been patronised by the Governors, Clergy, and elite of Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Tasmania and New Zealand. Carriages may be ordered for 10 o’clock.’

By the end of November the Diorama had reached Adelaide, and was being exhibited at Port Adelaide, from where it was moved to White’s Rooms in King William Street. The programme commenced with a lecture on ‘all the explorers of Australia and their separate routes, illustrated by a mammoth map of the continent. Music– appropriate selections by the Concordia Band.’ However, when the diorama reached Kapunda the Kapunda Herald noted that the map should have shown the ‘late tracks of Stuart and McKinlay.’

The Diorama consisted of twelve painted scenes which were apparently illuminated from behind the canvas as the Herald said, ‘After the close of the introductory lecture the lights were turned down and the moving diorama was exhibited.’ Painted scene Number 4, “The Stony Desert,” was described on the printed programme as having ‘some novel dioramic and automatic effects.’ These effects were noted by the Register which said, ‘the audience were equally surprised and delighted by an automatic representation of the passage of the party across the Stony Desert.’

When the Concordia Band could not be present due to other commitments the lecturer, Mr J.B. Walker, played appropriate tunes on the piano while each new scene was being wound onto the stage. One evening, after a ‘somewhat profuse distribution of vases, brooches, fans, dolls, albums, draught boards, etc.’ the lecturer informed the audience that due to the low attendance the proprietor, Mr Hunter, could not afford to give away the sewing machine as advertised, but would do so when he returned from touring the townships north of Adelaide.

In National LIbrary of Australia collection: Bib ID 2825067