Summary

Dance card given to guests at a Ball given by the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, Sir William Brunton and Lady Brunton, at the Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Thursday 12 August 1926. Members of the official party attending the Ball included the Governor of Victoria Lord Somers and Lady Somers, the Prime Minister Mr S.M. Bruce and Mrs Bruce, the Chief Justice Sir William Irvine and Lady Irvine, the Lord Mayor of Adelaide Mr Wallace Bruce and Mrs Bruce and aldermen and councillors of the City of Melbourne.

A newspaper report from page 53 of The Australasian on Saturday 21 August describes the Exhibition Building as a space transformed from a slightly shabby, cheerless place of vast empty spaces to a ballroom decorated with images and foliage of the Australian Bush. The description of the decoration hiding the organ gives a glimpse into what the building must have looked like: ' The organ was hidden behind a lovely mountain view, with the summer sun setting in soft haze. Nearer in the picture were graceful gumtrees. with their bluish grey foliage, and still nearer a mossy slope, with tall fern trees growing. The ferns were placed among the dense undergrowth which flourishes near running water, and closer to the edge of the forest were mossy plots, in which clumps of heath, smaller ferns, and primulas were growing. This set-piece of excellent stagecraft was so well arranged that the guests were able to walk into the picture and to wander through the ferns and flowers.'

Physical Description

Dance card, printed in dark blue on off-white card. At the top, the coat of arms of the City of Melbourne, decorated on either side by fern. Reverse, the programme of dances with space for dance partners to be entered. Dances include the Fox Trot, One Step and Waltz. The dance card has a small lead pencil attached with a double silk cord through a hole punched in the top of the card.

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