Summary
Black & white photographic print from an original glass lantern slide looking east from the stadium towards the Eastern Annexe, depicting the maypole dance performed by students from State Schools on the Exhibition Oval on the northern side of the Exhibition Buildings, as part of the celebrations surrounding the arrival of the American Fleet in Melbourne in August 1908.
This is one of 959 photographs (or images) of the Exhibition Building collated by the Exhibition Trustees as a 10 volume pictorial history of the Exhibition Building spanning the years 1880 to 1985. The pictorial history was instigated by the centenary of the Exhibition Building in 1980 and forms part of a larger Royal Exhibition Building collection of documents, photographs, objects and research files.
Description of Content
View looking east across the Exhibition Oval from the stadium, showing five maypoles with children dancing around them, spectators lined along the Oval's fences, and in the immediate foreground several umbrellas.
Physical Description
A black & white silver gelatin print on a page of a photograph album. There is a printed caption below the photograph.
Significance
The Exhibition Trustees' album containing this photograph provides an invaluable visual record of past maintenance and restoration work undertaken on the Royal Exhibition Buildings prior to the building being recognised with a World Heritage Listing in 2004.
More Information
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Collection Names
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Collecting Areas
Public Life & Institutions, Images & Image Making, Royal Exhibition Building
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Acquisition Information
Transfer from Trustees of the Royal Exhibition Building (REB), Jan 2000
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Place & Date Depicted
Royal Exhibition Building (REB), Melbourne, Greater Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1908
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Format
Photograph, Black & White
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Inscriptions
Printed below photograph: 12,892. THE AMERICAN FLEET IN AUSTRALIA. State Schools' Demonstration,/ Exhibition Oval, Melbourne. The Maypole Dance. COPYRIGHT, 1908.
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Classification
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Category
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Discipline
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Type of item
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Image Dimensions - Photograph
202 mm (Width), 252 mm (Height)
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Keywords
Buildings, Exhibitions: Melbourne International, 1880-1881, Military History, Performances, Royal Exhibition Building, Royal Exhibition Building Trustees, Royal Exhibition Building: History of Events, 1900-1949, United States Fleet Visit to Melbourne, 1908