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Hometown hysteria . . . Savage
Garden in a huge homecoming concert at the Brisbane
Entertainment Centre in February 1998.
Picture: Mark Cranitch |
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APRIL 24, 1847: Brisbane's fledgling newspaper, the
Moreton Bay Courier, makes a breathless announcement to
the citizens of this far-flung outpost of empire. On Monday
"at 8 o'clock precisely", an advertisement declares, an
entertainment is planned by one Mr George Croft, "from the
Victoria Theatre, Sydney, and late of Astley's Royal
Amphitheatre, London" at his new Amphitheatre in South
Brisbane.
Among his feats will be a series of evolutions on the tight
rope, after which "Mr Croft will dance an opera dance on the
tight rope and the highland fling in character". The
performance packs them in, with the Courier reporting
"nearly 50 people having to stand".
Fast forward, to a considerably larger premises 15km north
of the site of the old amphitheatre, where no one inside has
ever heard of Mr George Croft or his evolutions on the tight
rope . . .
February 7, 1998: Savage Garden take the stage at
Brisbane's Entertainment Centre to the kind of roar only the
biggest bands hear. It's the first time a Brisbane band has
risen to the heights of popularity that allows them not only
to play such a venue but to sell it out twice on this tour.
Only a few years before, local boys Darren Hayes and Daniel
Jones had been making demo tapes at home seeking that elusive
big break. Now they are receiving the kind of response that
greeted The Beatles at their peak. Few Australian acts can
fill the Entertainment Centre, no Brisbane band had ever
headlined there, but no one has history on their minds on this
night – 10,000 people have paid their money and they are going
nuts . . .
It was a long, dusty road from that 1847 night in South
Brisbane to Savage Garden's hometown triumph but slowly, the
world became a different place.
When Savage Garden wrote their second album, Jones and
Hayes were on different continents, exchanging ideas via
computer.
The stars of that early British settlement around the
shores of Moreton Bay were very different from the flashy,
photogenic entertainers of today, but who is to say they were
any less skilled, less daring?
'On a stage three yards square, Hamlet philosophised on
the vanity of the human condition while contemplating a
hollowed out pumpkin.'
After the adventures of Mr Croft, another early entertainer
to make a mark was the Flying Pieman, who arrived with a
splash in 1848 with newspaper advertisements promising he
would perform "feats of pedestrianism" provided the locals
would cough up for a new pair of boots.
He failed to keep these appointments, although soon
afterwards he was reported as leaving Ipswich on foot at the
same time as the regular steamer and arriving in Brisbane one
hour ahead of it, carrying a 100-pound weight on the journey.
Visiting performers were rare. One of the earliest
professional groups to visit Brisbane was led by German
immigrant Andrew Seal, with his brother August and strapping
English brothers Fred and Ernest Cramer. They arrived in
Brisbane in 1857 and set off to tour the interior.
There were no railways, stage coaches or even roads, with
only rough bridle tracks to visit the scattered, lonely
stations. After taking the steamer to Ipswich, the four
musicians bought horses and set off for Toowoomba and beyond,
where they were welcomed by the settlers keen for any event to
colour their harsh lives.
In the 1870s, gold discoveries in Queensland led to a
population boom and increased demand for entertainment.
West Indian tragedian Morton Tavares took over the Royal
Victoria in Brisbane, which he refurbished and renamed the
Queensland Theatre, home for a new breed of hardy, touring
entertainers.
French writer Edmond Marin La Meslee saw one of the last
performances there in 1883: "Shakespeare's masterpieces were
performed on a stage three yards square, and the ghost of the
King of Denmark could be seen making his exit behind a
backdrop representing Mount Vesuvius in eruption. Hamlet,
dressed like an undertaker's mute, philosophised on the vanity
of the human condition while contemplating a hollowed out
pumpkin."
Live theatre and vaudeville flourished in venues such as
Her Majesty's Opera House (later Her Majesty's Theatre),
opened in 1888, the Theatre Royal in Elizabeth Street and the
Empire Theatre in Albert Street.
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