A bazaar! On sale, goods ‘of every conceivable description’.
Barbara Cytowicz, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne Archives and Heritage Lead
St Vincent’s Hospital bazaar, opening ceremony, Royal Exhibition Building, 1st April 1899.
Source: Melbourne Punch, April 6, 1899, SVHM Archives Collection.
Mother Berchmans Daly, foundress of St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, was known for her astute and visionary leadership. Her plans to transform the hospital from its modest beginnings in a converted terrace house involved raising substantial sums. This was particularly challenging as the hospital opened in the difficult Depression years of the 1890s and there was no support available from the Government in the first years. Mother Berchmans was actively involved in fundraising, initiating major drives and fostering connections, writing letters and travelling around Victoria in a jig to rally support. One family she stayed with on country trips was the O’Shea family at Sunbury. Daughters Nellie and Nora subsequently entered the Sisters of Charity and Mary trained as a nurse at St Vincent’s.
Mother Berchmans Daly on the front steps, c.1920
Source: SVHM Archives Collection.
The most ambitious and successful fundraising campaign in the early years was a bazaar held in the grand environs of the Royal Exhibition Building in the Carlton Gardens neighbouring the hospital.
The crowd at the opening of the event was said to rival the crowd attending the opening of Federal Parliament in the same building two years later.
The bazaar ran not just for one or two days but for a month and involved the assistance of 1500 helpers, including a stall staffed by Jewish ladies.
There were goods for sale ‘of every conceivable description’, both useful and ornamental.
The entertainments offered were varied and imaginative. Well-known medical gentlemen and society ladies dressed up as cards to play a game of “living whist”. There was a “theatrephone” through which visitors could hear performances at the Princess Theatre. There was a soccer match between Chinese and Hindoo players. There were bicycle races and a tug of war competition between teams representing different nations.
A very popular attraction was a police and warders’ stall. This stall included exhibits connected to notorious criminal cases, among them apparently “still blood-stained Ned Kelly armour”.
Overall, the event cleared more than 10,000 pounds. This represented a major portion of the funds required for a state-of-the-art new hospital wing which Mother Berchmans opened in 1905.
The state-of-the art hospital wing opened by Mother Berchmans Daly in 1905.
Source: SVHM Archives Collection.