"... he got stage struck, and that ruined him commercially." - Ballarat Star, November 23, 1889

Witness – “I have belonged to the theatrical profession for 43 years. Have played everything connected with the stage from leading man to prompter.”
His Honor – “And not crushed yet?”
Witness – “No, not crushed yet, your Honor.”   - Express and Telegraph Adelaide, January 20, 1883

It turns out that his association with magic, though ground-breaking,  was relatively brief. However, Brown’s involvement with the development of Theatre in this country, particularly in his home town of Ballarat, proves to be a much more important feature. As an actor, theatre developer and manager, writer and local identity, he deserves far more prominence than the scanty mentions given to his name in theatrical histories to date. So, the story on this site highlights Brown as a worthy contributor to Australia’s theatrical life, in addition to his several appearances as a magician.

The essay will cover the life and career of William Maxwell Brown,  but it is not an attempt to record every detail of his life. There are more family history details, more civic records at Ballarat and more stage plays featuring Brown, that could be unearthed. Using mainly the information available on the public record, we will address some of the aspects of his theatre career that should be more visibly recorded in history  – and, of course, his place in the magic history of Australia.

William Maxwell Brown’s life resembles a Roly-Poly toy which can be pushed over, only to rebound every time. He was not the greatest, nor the most famous actor of his generation, yet he appeared on theatre bills alongside some of the best. He never managed to have a consistently successful career either on the stage or in communal life, yet he was the driving force behind the development of some of Ballarat’s pioneering theatres. He was not a magician, yet he brought to Australia the ground-breaking “Sphinx” illusion for the first time. He was declared insolvent a number of times, yet he returned time and time again to the theatrical pursuits that he loved. Brown’s name is not prominent in the history books, but he can be found just behind the curtains of some of our country’s formative events.

Though the details are not clear, William was also associated during his time in Britain with the Nottingham and Surrey theatres, both as a performer and stage manager. In 1858 he would tell a court “I was stage manager at Nottingham at the time, and had been for two years before.” (1) There is also a possibility that he acted at Liverpool in amateur roles. As a young man in his early twenties, he might have been actively involved with the theatre, but would not have been playing any major acting roles.

However, on May 16, 1853, the Standard Theatre (Shoreditch, London) opened a production of “The Will and the Way, or, the Secret Vault and the Voice of Death” adapted by W.M. Brown, which would later become one of his mainstay productions in Australia. The story was not original with Brown; he had adapted it for the stage, based on a March 1853 tale in the London Journal by John Frederick Smith called Harry Ashton; or The Will and the Way. (3) Nor was Brown’s the only adaptation; the 1853 production opened simultaneously with three others around London, and there were more by other writers. In context, Charles Dickens was publishing his “Bleak House” novel at this time.

William was not the first of the family to emigrate to the colonies. His brother Thomas appears in the township of Geelong, south-west of Melbourne, as early as August 1852 (11), where he had set up as a bookseller and commercial stationer at Market Square, Moorabool Street, near Malop Street. Unlike some of our other magical subjects (Courtier, Du Pree, Wilton) there is no indication that either Thomas or William had any convict connections; and given that Victoria’s goldrush history started around 1851, it is likely that Thomas had moved to Australia to take advantage of the money flowing in the colony – not by taking his chances as a miner, but by selling to the local populace.

Probably receiving an invitation from his brother to “come on in, the water’s fine”, William arrived  in  Australia on August 1, 1854 as “W.M.Browne”, aboard the square-rigged ship ‘Carpentaria’ carrying 542 second and third-class passengers, after a passage of 79 days. With him were wife Margaret (listed as age 24), daughters Jane (age 1) and  Frances Mary (age 2). William’s age was shown on the register as 26 but he was near to 23.
Other children were born to the Browns in years to come (4), and although it is not known when she arrived, William’s mother Mary also came to live in Australia; her death notice in early September 1872 (5) noted that she was at her son’s residence in Errard Street Ballarat, and also notes another brother of William named Joseph (who was at Ballarat in January 1860).

Having arrived, Brown is not visible in the public record until around September of 1855, when he is mentioned at Ballarat with the phrase “whose experience is sufficient guarantee for its able fulfilment.” Clearly Mr. Brown had been active during the past year to develop some kind of reputation. A reminiscence, written in 1869 by George Truscott, recalls the start of the gold rush at Magpie Gully (6):

"… October, with August and September 1855, those were months that the great rush did take place at those gullies ......whilst in October or November at Magpie, Mr W.M. Brown opened a theatre adjoining the Empire hotel, of which Mr Geo. Hathorne and the well-known Dutch Harry were landlords, at which place poor Sherecroff (10) , if I recollect aright, assumed the leading character. Besides this theatre, there were two or three large concert-halls. The main road at Magpie was in a crowded state; proprietors of hotels were taking large sums of money daily, as much as £70 or £100. These facts I can prove, as I was a landlord of one of them myself."

In mentioning that Brown’s theatre at Magpie Gully was ‘adjoining’ the Empire Hotel, Truscott probably indicates that it was, like others of the time, an ante-room to the hotel itself, and possibly not much more than an open room with benches and possibly a raised platform.

In 1873 (7) a pioneer wrote their recollections of Magpie Gully circa 1855, working as a scenic artist for Lola Montez:- “To return — we reached Magpie Gully early in the evening, four or five miles from Ballarat, and near the township now called Sebastopol. Seeing a placard announcing Joe Rave or, the juvenile tragedian, as Hamlet, that night, in a canvas theatre, with a powerful cast, W. M. Brown, I remember, being the ghost, first actor, and first grave-digger, I resolved to stay and witness the production of one of the nefarious and inspired deer-stalker's best plays.

My most vivid recollection of the performance consists in the fact that the juvenile tragedian was at least five and forty, and that for Yorick's skull he held in his hand an unskinned and recently decapitated sheep's head. When he came down to the footlights, endeavoring as much as possible to conceal his burthen, and commenced, "Alas! poor Yorick, I knew him well, Horatio — an infuriated stickler for the niceties of Thespis shouted out, "It's a lie, boys, it's not Yorick, it's a ‘Jimmy!’ "
The roar which followed this announcement, stopped the action of the play for a considerable length of time — the tragedian meantime holding infuriated recriminative dialogue with the first grave-digger — finally he indignantly flung his gory prop into Ophelia's grave, to the intense delight of the hairy, unwashed audience.”

Magpie Gully (now just ‘Magpie’) had become a new gold-rush centre in August 1855; just one of many “gullies” in the region,  with miners discovering nuggets as much as twelve pounds in weight. (7a) It was a little south of Ballarat and Sebastopol, the two most developed townships. The constant ebb and flow of the population and infrastructure of the region, as gold miners chased the current high-yield areas, was a feature of the time, and the Ballarat area was not just booming, it was exploding with new finds.

The hotels and ‘theatres’ at the Gully might be thought to be rudimentary structures (16) , and indeed some of the earliest venues around the gold fields were not much more than tents; but when the Empire Hotel was put up for sale in 1856 (8) it had two parlours, a dining room, billiards room, five bedrooms, a kitchen and stables. The rapid influx of money, and the demand from the miners for some evening release after their physical labour, led to a surge of drinking and entertainment, gambling, horse racing, prize fighting and cock fighting. In the provincial areas such as Geelong, Beechworth and Ballarat, infrastructure was developing at an astonishing pace, such that a humble tent or rude wooden building in the early 1850s would, by the end of that decade, be supplanted by a far more permanent structure, or even a brick building. Brown’s involvement in the community’s life was right in the middle of the most transformational years of Ballarat theatre.

The writings of actor Joseph Gardiner (9), speak of his arrival at Geelong in 1851:-
“I arrived there, as per engagement, and went straight from the boat to the theatre - that is, it had the name theatre painted on the front; otherwise the structure more resembled an auction mart or lumber repository. The inside was of the most primitive construction - pit unboarded, stakes driven into the earth, and rough slabs nail on for seats .... such a place to be called a theatre was never more falsified by the name.”

What more natural than that Brown should have been drawn to this place and started his life in Australia, by organising entertainments on the goldfield, and creating himself a reputation for getting things done.

By late 1855 William Brown was probably resident in Ballarat and, though his first business dealings are not clear, it is likely that he started as a stationer cum bookseller, on similar lines to his brother Thomas in Geelong (13). By September 1856 the brothers had become partners, each at their own towns, and were known as “T. and W. Brown, Stationers”.  William advertised originally as being located next to the Post Office (at Armstrong and Mair Streets), but his later business, from March 1858, was in the Temple Chambers in Lydiard Street South, next to Bath’s Hotel (which still exists as Craig’s Royal Hotel).  The brothers retailed all the necessary papers, pens and other accessories of the stationers’ trade, and stocked the latest books.  Thomas was also a printer and his name appears on a number of routine publications of the day, which are detailed at the end of this essay.

There were also several books of considerable historical importance, for which the Browns were publishers,
or co-publishers with Melbourne firms:
- Language of the Aborigines of the Colony of Victoria and other Australian Districts by Daniel Bunce, pub. Thomas Brown - second edition was 1859.

- Twenty three years wanderings in the Australias and Tasmania, including travels with Dr. Leichhardt in north and tropical Australia by Daniel Bunce, pub.Thomas Brown, 1857 [also pub. J.T.Hendy, Melbourne].

- Victoria Illustrated by S.T.Gill, pub. Sands & Kenny Melbourne, and Thomas Brown Geelong,  1857. The artist Samuel Thomas Gill created some of the most iconic illustrations of early colonial life.

Into this exciting environment came the Wizard Joseph Jacobs, starting as the opening attraction of the “Royal Montezuma Theatre” on August 13, 1855.  The Montezuma was a considerable improvement over previous structures, which the press described as a “splendid new building” of some elegance and well fitted-out interior, though it had been constructed in a mere fortnight. Jacobs initially announced only a short season, but played to crowded houses until at least mid-September, and The Argus (17) said, “great credit is due to him for having provided such an unexceptionable and respectable place of amusement as the Montezuma now presents; smoking and other objectionable proceedings are entirely and effectively prohibited … no doubt a brilliant tour awaits the Wizard Jacobs throughout the colonies.” Indeed, Jacobs was the most famous touring magician of the period. He visited other areas around Ballarat, but famously was back at the United States Hotel in the town when it caught fire in early December, forcing him to jump for his life out a window. (18) The recently rebuilt Adelphi Theatre, where he had been performing with his younger brother assisting as “Sprightly”, was among some fifty or more buildings destroyed, and with it all of Jacobs’ magic apparatus. For a first-hand telling of this story, and a fascinating glimpse into Ballarat theatre at the time, see the Jacobs link.

William Brown enters the Ballarat township’s theatre scene for the first time in September 1855, when an amateur performance was announced, to be given by the members of the newly-founded Ballarat Literary and Dramatic Society, at the Arcade Rooms of the Golden Fleece Hotel, which was on the west side of town, away from the bustling Eastern side. For the Dramatic Society, Brown acted as stage manager (effectively the company manager) , “whose experience is sufficient guarantee for its able fulfilment”, in Dion Boucicault’s “London Assurance” followed by a vocal and instrumental concert.

Whether or not Brown was the sole founding member of the Society, he was certainly the driving force behind its couple of years in existence, and consciously pioneered one of the earliest stable pools of performers in the town, as opposed to the many transient “stars” who would tour for as long as they could pick up the miners’ gold. “In making the above announcement” the advertisement  for their performance read, ”the committee trust that the importance of the object will be duly considered by all classes of the community, but more especially by the mining portion of the population, to whom the establishment of such an institution must be of the greatest consequence, and in calling for support, on this occasion, (being the first of a series of performances) the society in return pledge themselves, to spare neither the requisite expense, time, or trouble, to render the entertainments superior to anything that has previously been attempted in Ballarat.” (19)

Following the disastrous fire in December, the Society announced a grand amateur entertainment to raise funds for the relief of the citizens affected. By May of 1856 they were performing in aid of fund-raising for a proposed Mechanics’ Institute, which would itself became a major force in theatrical life. They continued to perform on behalf of charitable causes, and in August they opened at the Montezuma with an amateur production of Brown’s adapted drama, The Will and the Way, to a crowded house noted as “the most respectable that ever assembled within the walls of the Montezuma Theatre … a melodrama of a high order, and … reflects the highest credit upon Mr. Brown and the members of the Literary and Dramatic Society of Ballarat who took the various characters.” (20) As a quality performance, the Star newspaper implied that only the novelty of the occasion made it worthy of notice, but “the various events, characters and tableaux, were brought out and sustained with more minuteness, success, and point, than we were prepared to see at the Montezuma for many days to come.”

Brown was meantime settling into business as a Stationer, but was involved with an important push for a new theatre in Ballarat, as will be seen. In December  1856 (21) he was advertising perhaps the most important publication under the “Thomas Brown” name (with Sands and Kenny, Melbourne and Sydney) – “Victoria Illustrated” containing fifty steel-engraved views of Ballarat, Melbourne, Geelong and other Victorian regions, from drawings by the prolific colonial artist, Samuel Thomas Gill. A second series was issued in 1862 by Sands and Kenny, and the combined editions were published by the State Library of Victoria in 1971 and Lansdowne Press in 1983; which is fortunate since the original edition now sells for thousands of dollars.

Brown also acted as a ticket agent for the town’s theatres and was also becoming involved in town politics, speaking out against an altered  location for the new Market Place to Sturt Street, which was known to contain gold and would therefore “take the bread and butter out of the mouths of people who had speculated their money upon understanding that the Market-Place was to be in the portion originally decided upon (Mair Street).  A “Mr Brown” who might be our subject, was also vigorously involved in campaigning for the area of East Ballarat to be surveyed with the aim of encouraging storekeepers to build more permanent structures along Main Road.

Will and the Way (or, The Vision of Death) opened on May 23, 1857 under Brown’s directorship and “supported by the best company in the Colonies” at the Charlie Napier Theatre. It  ran successfully for at least five nights. The “Charlie” was another example of an early theatre, connected to the Charlie Napier Hotel (1854), which began life as a popular concert hall in 1855, with nothing more than a raised platform and rudimentary side wings. By 1856 the proprietor built a new theatre at the back, a far more robust building with raised boxes, a ‘handsome stage’ and the first gas lighting in Ballarat. Firmly established as a popular theatre, by November 1856 it was featuring Shakespearian plays starring Mr Henry Sedley.
That new theatre lasted until 1861, when it suffered a common theatrical fate; it burned to the ground, but was then rebuilt in brick, and survived as a firm favourite until demolition in 1880. Today a reconstruction of the hotel  and upstairs Lodge/Concert room of the Napier can be visited at Sovereign Hill, Ballarat’s historical re-creation of the early township. At the same place, an excellent reconstruction of the Victoria Theatre hosts performances of period works. (23)

Many years later, an anonymous “Australian Actor” wrote,  in a recollection of Brown, “His most successful effort was ‘The Will and the Way’ which was produced at the Victoria Theatre [the 1859 production, presumably] … it proved to be a piece of sterling work, and met with marked success. Brown was a slow, dilatory, careless man; and I think he told me he had never had it printed or protected, and so I presume if a copy were sold to a manager, the laborious method of hand-copying would have to be resorted to (typewriters were not dreamt of then). Managers would not give much for a colonial made article, and so the author got little else but kudos for his labour. I don’t suppose there are more than three manuscripts of Brown’s play in existence; and one of them, I think, is in possession of Mr. Edmund Holloway , for I remember him staging it some years ago.”

The writer may be correct that the numerous productions of Brown’s play did not bring him much money. Appropriation or outright theft was commonplace in relation to theatrical productions, and authors had little protection; but then, Brown had not created the original story either. It seems curious, also, that someone who worked as a printer would not have taken the time to set and print his own work. The characterisation of Brown as slow, dilatory and careless does not seem to fit his vigorous theatrical activities across the years. (The same article refers to Mr. Brown’s talents as an actor, which we will look at later).

It is clear that, with these plays to his credit, William reserved to himself some dignity as a professional; which would account for his refusal to perform in the announced farce, “The Windmill” in August 1857, as his name had not been sufficiently displayed in large type in the house bills. He did, however, perform in a farce in a benefit for the local Servant’s Home, and was supportive of the amateur Literary and Dramatic Society, taking on a role as Mr Coddle in Buckstone’s comedy,  Legion of Honour at the Montezuma theatre.
His appearance was complimented in the press:- “Mr W.M. Brown appeared to great advantage; he played the part of Mr. Coddle admirably and was well supported by the ladies of the company”… “Mr.Brown’s talent as an actor was quite sufficient to draw a good house, independent of the cause”…  “Mr. Brown, as Coddle, was the ruling genius of the piece, and he certainly kept the interest well alive from beginning to end.” (25)

This performance was intended to raise funds for delegates to the Land Convention, an important and activist campaign for land reform in opposition to the “squatters”, under the slogan “A Vote, a Rifle and a Farm”. Although well attended, the other expenses of presenting the show meant that little profit was seen; and a local digger took exception to William Brown’s involvement (26):

THE AMATEUR BENEFIT FOR THE CONVENTION (?).
(To the Editor of the Star.)
Sir, It is with great regret that I have heard that the efforts of that talented society, the " Literary and Dramatic," have not been crowned with the success they merit. All who were the delighted spectators of these amateurs' excellent acting at the Montezuma on Tuesday night, must have been struck with the repletion of the house, and must have anticipated that a good round sum would be added to the funds of the Convention Delegates. I now hear that the net balance to be paid over is less than thirty shillings. As a digger, and having taken some trouble to patronize the performance (self and family), I have some right to know on whom the blame should fall, and so hope the society will publish an account.
It has been whispered abroad that one of the society, an actor distinguished both as a professional and as an amateur, charged £10 for his, in all senses, valuable services on the occasion. I trust that this may prove a falsehood.
Your obedient servant, LOSSIFIT. Ballarat, August 21.

Brown’s response on August 26:

(To the Editor of the Star.)
SIR, - I saw an article in your Saturday's issue, supposed to have been written by a digger with a large family (as it states). I think the letter was uncalled for, and a vain attempt to put a slur upon my character, by some piqued or jealous individual; perhaps, therefore, you will oblige me by inserting the following plain statement.

I am not an amateur - if fifteen years’ experience is sufficient proof - nor did I ever appear as one in Ballarat. I was the stage Manager of the Literary and Dramatic Society, and as such I was always announced to the public. I gave my services to the society gratuitously, because the object of it was to play for charitable and public purposes ; but I soon found that the various committees under whose auspices we played, were apathetic, and did little or nothing, as in the late instance of the Land Convention. Consequently as nothing can come of nothing, some of the performances were a loss to the amateurs and myself, and unprofitable to the object for which they played.

On the occasion of the late performance, the amateurs offered me ten pounds for my services, in directing their pieces and playing and studying two long parts in "Married Life" and the "British Legion." The committee of the Convention never requested my services to play, or I could have given them, but certainly not have given them the time it occupied in directing and producing the pieces selected. I do not think any portion of the public could reasonably expect me to waste my time (which is to me, like everybody else's, money) without proper remuneration. The letter states he believed I charged ten pounds for my services, and hopes this may prove false. I cannot understand why he should hope my services were not worth ten pounds, when, in a late engagement at the "Charlie Napier," I received £236 for three weeks. [Presumably referring to his plays produced in May/June].

Now for the point at issue. I did not receive ten pounds: because, when I found the expenses were heavy (although, I believe, under the expenses of any other amateur performance in Ballarat) I made them a present of five pounds: the other five pounds I have not as yet received - nor will I now accept it. Still, ten pounds is honestly due to me; and is for the Convention and amateurs to decide who owes it to me, or whether the ten pounds were charged by me or offered to me. The following is a correct statement of the Receipts and Expenses, which no one has thought proper to publish, and with which I certainly have nothing to do; my duty being only to direct the performance, But to satisfy public curiosity I insert, (with the Editors permission):- [a full list of receipts and expenses was printed]
I must apologise for wasting your valuable space, but as self preservation is the first law of nature, I could not allow the letter to pass unanswered. For the future I shall dissolve all connection with amateur performances, since my services command such undeserved censure ; and when I again spare time from my business to appear before the public, it shall be in a professional capacity, when I hope to receive more satisfactory emolument. With many thanks for this insertion.
I am, Sir, Your obedient servant,
WILLIAM M. BROWN. Lydiard-street, Ballarat, August 25th. 1857.

From this time, the Literary and Dramatic Society subsided into inactivity, save for a half-hearted attempt to revive it. The only other theatrical team in Ballarat was made up of members of the Garrick Club, who presented a number of plays in the late 1850s. It might be reasonable to think that Mr. Brown’s leadership had been the driving force.

His close involvement with the Montezuma and Charlie Napier theatres continued into September, with his engagement to perform at the Montezuma in The Bohemians of Paris, initially announced for twelve nights from September 7, though the season did not last that long. As well, Brown performed on the 10^th in the drama The Last Man; or, the Miser of Eltham Green, with Brown as the miser.

On September  13, also at the Montezuma, the press announced “Mr W.M. Brown’s new piece”. It is unclear which of the plays was written by Brown: Simon Lee, or, the Murder at the Five Field Copse, or the drama Luke the Laborer, in which Brown performed in the title role.  Without throwing much more light on whether William Brown was the author or performer of “Simon Lee”, the Star subjected the storyline of that drama to a lengthy and scathingly satirical half-page of text on September 14, in the guise of a mock court-room trial of “W.M. Brown, before Melbourne Punch Esq. S.M and Good Taste Esq. J.P.” …. A gentleman from whose intelligent appearance better things might have been expected, was charged with uttering and selling sundry illegitimate wares at the Montezuma during the week last past; there was a second count against him for utterly selling the public … the Protector of Common Sense had seen ‘Simon Lee.’ He considered that the progress of that melodrama was a wantonly hostile march into the bowels of his domain, and the sooner some effectual impediment was thrown in its way, the better … the Inspector of Theatrical Nuisances …. considered it a violent nuisance committed in the very nostrils of the public.”   In other words, ‘Simon Lee’ was a stinker!

The Star, of November 11, 1856, made its first announcement concerning plans for a new theatre:
“Advance Ballarat” – We understand that the enterprising proprietors of the Montezuma have just made arrangements for the erection of a theatre upon a scale of magnificence, alike in extent and decoration, hitherto unknown on the gold-fields. We hear that contracts are about to be taken, if not already accepted for building a theatre capable of accommodating as large an audience as that which sometimes has been gathered together in the Theatre Royal Melbourne. The plan of the new building will, we believe, be also after that of the Bourke Street house; the present Montezuma being altered so as to form a kind of vestibule to the new theatre about to be erected behind. A gentleman of considerable experience in theatrical management, and well known amongst the play-going folk everywhere in Australia will be concerned in the new arrangements now in the tapis; and we can assure our readers that in the matter of dramatic entertainments we are likely to attain as proud a position as we have so long held in connection with the mining interests of the colony.”

As with many early plans, intentions to build the new theatre behind the Montezuma were changed the following year. (The Montezuma was located on Main Road and Eureka Street, and ultimately burned down in 1861.) Whether the mooted “gentleman of considerable experience in theatrical management” was George Coppin, or possibly G.V.Brooke, or William Hoskins is not clear at this stage, but both Brooke and Hoskins would enter the scene later on.

The new theatre was to be named the Theatre Royal, and it became the first permanent theatre built in inland Australia. Its chequered history and ultimate demise in 1878 have been extensively documented by Ailsa Brackley du Bois, ‘Repairing the Disjointed Narrative of Ballarat’s Theatre Royal’ – see note (28), but our focus is on the earliest days leading up to its opening , and its first financial hurdles, because a major player in these early days was William Maxwell Brown.

Oddly, there had been a “Theatre Royal” on the Ballarat Flat back in early 1854, capable of holding 600 people, a 20x15 foot stage, with boxes, a bar and green baize drop curtain. “Newly erected regardless of expense” it seems to have no sooner gone up than it was advertised for sale (29) and was heard of no more.

The Ballarat Theatre Royal Committee was formed, under the Chair Mr. J. Knight, and by September of 1857 the decision had been made to site the new theatre on a block of land in the more suitable Western section of town, next to the Clare Hotel in Sturt Street (next to modern-day Myer). The land had been purchased and shares were already being taken up; Mr. Brown was one of those authorised to sell shares. By October, (30), plans were on display at architect Backhouse & Reynolds, and building tenders were being let.

On January 20, 1858, the foundation stone was laid. The celebrity guest was Gustavus Vaughan Brooke (1818-1866), the Irish tragedian, and a partner with George Coppin;  he is regarded as having done some of his best work during the six years he performed in Australia but, while heading back to Australia from England in 1866, he would perish in a storm which sank his ship.

Although Brown was mentioned in the press as ‘Vice-Chair’ of the committee, he was prominent in proceedings and most likely was the Chairman; certainly in later months he was noted as the Chair.

Mr W. M. Brown proceeded to address the assembly :-" Ladies and gentlemen, as one of a small board of directors connected with the erection of the Theatre Royal, Ballarat, I have much pleasure in requesting that most eminent, popular, and highly gifted gentleman, Mr Brooke, to lay the foundation stone. The scroll which is to be placed in the bottle is to the following effect, and I will now read it:
COLONY OF VICTORIA.

This is to certify that the foundation stone was duly placed herein on the above date, by GUSTAVUS VASA BROOKE, ESQ.

Directors—

W. M. Brown, Esq.

James Bouchier

Gilbert Duncan

Joseph Backhouse

Robt. McNiece

Thomas Wymond

James Nichol

Robert Underwood.

James Wright

Backhouse and Reynolds, Architects.

Mr Brown addressed Mr Brooke: "The next duty which devolves upon me is to present you with the humble instrument for laying the foundation stone. I feel convinced that not only the Board of Directors and the members of the theatrical profession, but the commercial community and the public in general, join in expressing the pleasure of presenting you this testimony.''

Mr Browne then presented Mr Brooke with the trowel, who, in reply, said, "I have great pleasure in accepting this trowel. I feel honoured by the office you have allotted to me, and will endeavour to do my duty as well as I possibly can."

The bottle containing the scroll, coins and newspapers were then placed in the hollow of tile stone, Mr Brown observing that it contained a lasting memento of the greatness of Ballarat in erecting such a theatre, and when that theatre had ceased to exist a greater one would no doubt arise in its place.

The stone was then lowered. Mr Brooke having applied the plummet and the level, then struck it three times with a mallet and said "I now declare this stone to be well and truly laid."

Mr Brooke’s speech:

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,—Among the many proud and happy moments I have known since first I landed on these shores, I beg you to believe that I shall evermore rank the present as one of the proudest and happiest. This is the second time that I have had the gratification of laying the foundation stone of a temple dedicated to the drama in Victoria, and I hope that the progress that will be made with this edifice, and the success it will achieve, will be as striking as that which signalised the erection of Coppin's Olympic, at Melbourne, only six weeks having elapsed between the day on which I deposited the first stone and the period at which it was opened for the reception of the public. Ladies and gentlemen—one of the most distinguished critics of the present century— I allude to William Hazlitt—has shrewdly remarked that—' The stage is an epitome, a bettered like-ness of the world with the dull part left out. Wherever there is a playhouse (he proceeded to say) the world will not go on amiss. The stage not only refines the manners, but it is the best teacher of morals, for it is the truest and most intelligible picture of life. It stamps the image of virtue on the mind by first softening the rude materials of which it is composed, by a sense of pleasure ; it regulates the passions by giving a loose to the imagination; it points out the selfish and degraded, for our detestation, the amiable and generous to our admiration; it is a source of the greatest enjoyment at the time, and a never failing fund of agreeable reflection afterwards.'

“For these reasons, ladies and gentlemen, I rejoice to take part in the proceedings of this day, and I look forward with pride and pleasure to the verdict which posterity will pronounce on the consummation of the work we are initiating. ' There' they will say, ' even in the primitive days of the colony, lived a people of marvellous energy and indomitable enterprise—men who shrunk from no toil, and were disheartened by no difficulty. Yet, while they were strenuously laboring to lay broad and deep the foundations of a great empire, they did not forget the cultivation of those arts which shed a charm o'er life, impart a grace to society, communicate an impulse to civilisation, and strengthen the bonds of human brotherhood. To these ends, then, we found and dedicate this edifice, and for long years to come may it be thronged nightly with happy Ballaratians, and may those who tread its boards be worthy of their high vocation, and minister successfully to the entertainment and instruction of those who admire and uphold the drama. With these few remarks I shall conclude. I have much pleasure in having laid the foundation stone of the first theatre ever erected on the township of Ballarat, and from this foundation may there be raised a superstructure perfect in all its parts, and honorable to the builder. (Loud cheers.)"

Mr Brown said, although not possessed of the talent of the gifted gentleman who had last addressed them, nevertheless he felt particular pleasure in giving the meeting an account of the arduous task the Board of directors had undertaken, and of the proceedings of the Committee of the Theatre from its formation up to the present time. Generally speaking, there was a prejudice against theatrical speculations, as being bad and not paying. It, however, turned out in most cases, that shareholders in a theatre paid their rent and had something left in the till. The theatre, it was expected, would cost about £8,000, and the shareholders need not be frightened, as they would be subjected to no liability beyond the amount of their shares. The shareholders amply protected by the deed, which had been most carefully drawn, and which any of them could see at Mr Randall's office.
It had been determined to raise the amount of capital to £10,000, although the architect still adhered to their former opinion that the building would only cost £8,000. This sum could be raised by 500 shares of £20 each. Underneath the theatre there were two shops, which could be let for £8 a week, then there were four bars which could be let for £5 a week each, thus making £28 a week.

Again, there were to be 24 bedrooms, kitchen, and elegant dining rooms, and a rental of £6 a week at least might be derived from these, thus making an income of £33 a week. Then again there the theatre itself, which perhaps—although some parties might not think that it was worth much for the purpose of rent, but he differed from them—was worth £20 a week although perhaps, that sum would not be got for it. Again, there was a large, assembly-room or saloon to be attached to the theatre, which could be let for £50 -a rough pound a week. Mr Brown here observed that a return of £2500 a year could be depended upon from the theatre, and the shareholders would realise at least 12½ per cent, if not 25 per cent, for their money. He was not going to say which is Ballarat and which is not, but as the people of the township had patronised the theatres on the Flat, those below might support the theatre on the Township. The prices proposed to be charged were from 1s to 7s 6d, so that every class of the community might be satisfied. It was proposed to have six egresses to the front in order to guard against fire. The plans of the building had been approved of by the best architects in the colony; the scenery, decorations, and in fact all the appointments connected with the theatre, would be of the best description.

Mr Brown then proceeded to state that it required fifty more shareholders to put the roof on the theatre, and fifty more to have the theatre opened in six months. He concluded his speech by calling for three cheers for Mr Brooke, three cheers for Miss Provost, and three cheers for the members of the theatrical profession. This concluded the ceremony.”

While no doubt very busy with planning for the new theatre, Brown found time to appear in a  performance of The Will and the Way as the character Old Martin, with Edmund Holloway also in the cast. He also moved into his new premises in Temple Chambers, Lydiard Street, from which he provided printing and bookbinding services, a newspaper reading room, a library of over 4,000 volumes, and a letter writing room.  In June, by mutual agreement, the partnership of T. and W. Brown was dissolved, and William was now operating as an independent firm.

Fundraising for the theatre continued, with the aim of raising £10,000 capital to “erect a Theatre in Sturt Street, of such superior character as will afford accommodation to persons of every class. Entertainments of the highest order will be presented, and it is intended to make the building worthy of the best dramatic and operatic talent …. a lasting monument of liberality and enterprise.” (31) The shares may have been selling, but it proved necessary on October 14 to advertise a reminder that the final call for payment on shares was overdue.

Brown was the chairman, with a directorship made up of local shopowners, hotelkeepers and architects. If William did not have enough on his plate, he also put out tenders to erect a small brick cottage in Errard Street for himself.
And then, in September (32) he was involved in a court case. A certain Thomas Jackson, who described himself as a machinist in the employ of the Wizard of the North (John Henry Anderson) at the Charlie Napier Theatre, in what was probably a somewhat drunken state, decided to interrupt Mr. Brown and make a series of derogatory comments about his past.  Apparently he had some familiarity with Brown in his early days in England, and he made some taunting remarks about how another actor (33) had beaten him up on stage; and more rudely, that Brown was not the author of The Will and the Way. After some minutes of back and forth, William Brown struck Jackson several times and (he said) “I am sorry I did not hurt him, but my poncho was in my way.”  Ultimately the presiding magistrate had enough of the back and forth in court, and expressed regret that Mr. Brown had responded to a clear provocation, and that Brown was not sorry for his actions. One shilling damages and 2s6d court costs against Brown. Reports of the case in the British paper “The Albion” (Nov.15) state that Brown was “formerly well-known in Liverpool as a theatrical amateur and stationer”.

The construction of the Theatre Royal must have been achieved very rapidly. In October the building was advertised for lease, “containing an extensive tier of boxes, large gallery, pit, stalls, &c. and capable of accommodating 1,500 persons …. The hotel will contain a large bar, bar parlor, public parlor, and refectory; billiard, supper and bed rooms; large kitchen and cellar; and an elegant suite of private apartments.”  Yet in November tenders were still being requested for the supply of about 350,000 bricks to be used in the construction.

William Brown wrote to the press in November to deny that a version of The Will and the Way , being played in Melbourne, was his adaptation; probably necessary since “Bell’s Life” newspaper described the plays as an “incomprehensible and sanguinary hotch-potch … this abomination.” (34)

The theatre’s opening was announced for Monday, December 27, 1858, and a manager had been found, along with a company of players.
He was Mr. William Hoskins (1816-1886), “late stage manager at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Olympic &c.”, a native of Derbyshire who had a successful light comedy career in England and was the elocution teacher of a young Henry Irving He had been in Australia since 1856 and would go on to produce a range of Shakespeare, burlesques and dramas at the Royal, before becoming manager of Melbourne’s Theatre Royal and the Haymarket Theatre. He was also a forebear of well-known Australian performer, Barry Creyton. (35)

Following the first performance, appropriately titled “Time Works Wonders”, Mr. Hoskins came before the curtains to express his ambitions to provide the best entertainment in his power, and to further the social growth of Ballarat via the “healthful moral culture” of the theatre. “Few of you are aware of the difficulties that have beset the directors, even from the outset of their labors”, said Hoskins, “and I feel I should not be doing them justice did I not call your attention to the fact that, to the untiring energy of the architect, and the professional acumen of my old fellow laborer, Mr. W.M. Brown, in the vineyard of the muses, with the hearty co-operation of a few others of the Board, you are indebted for this magnificent theatre, which I trust may long stand an ornament to their indomitable energy … let me hope that the prosperity of our little temple may go hand-in-hand with the increasing prosperity of Ballarat … we have here a temple worthy of its service.”

The Theatre Royal was built in a robust surge of optimism for the social and cultural future of Ballarat, and it was the first in a series of permanent structures housing the arts. Successful in its first couple of years, it would soon engage in a competitive struggle with the Mechanics’  Institute (28) , and battle through a series of ups and downs before being overtaken by other theatres. William Brown would have more involvement with the operation of the Theatre Royal, and it would be his first downfall.

The year 1859 was to become a challenging one for Brown, although to some extent we must read between the lines to understand what was happening. January started badly, with a small fire breaking out in a room near the stage, where combustible supplies for the theatre’s pyrotechnic effects were kept; fortunately it was quickly extinguished and damage was slight, but the fire again broke out in the afternoon, and the press spoke out against the practice of storing inflammable materials. Never a more prophetic word was printed; fire put an end to any number of Australian theatres, and in January 1861 a massive fire broke out in Ballarat, attributed to this same habit of storing incendiary devices at a theatre.

“In consideration of that gentleman’s active and valuable exertions during the erection of the above magnificent building, and his zeal for the advancement of first-class representations on Ballarat”, Mr. Brown was given a complimentary Benefit night on January 20, at which he played roles alongside Mr. Hoskins in both the Vicar of Wakefield and a farce, Brother Ben.  The practice of Benefits, whereby the recipient would take the profits of the night, was common not only at the end of a successful run, but also in the event of an actor needing some financial support from the community; and Brown was a beneficiary many times over coming years. In this instance, the Star said, “it is to be inferred, and we believe just so, that the public in great measure owes to him the erection and establishment of so handsome a place of amusement as the Theatre Royal. Apart from his position as a citizen amongst us, Mr. Brown has for some years exhibited a lively interest in theatrical matters on Ballarat, and in the prosperous conclusion to which he has brought the enterprise in question, we see him identified with a portion of the history of the locality.”

Aside from some references during the previous year to the difficulties experienced by the directors in getting the theatre built, there are clues that all was not well at the Ballarat Theatre Royal Company. The Secretary, Edward Moore, resigned and was replaced at the end of January. All seemed well on stage, however, and a variety of plays and dramas was successfully presented to the public, which responded with good attendance in the main, and complimentary reviews in the local newspapers. Shakespeare, it seemed, was not as well received as it might have been, but there was opera, drama, farce and burlesque, organised by Mr. Hoskins who was clearly trying to find the ideal balance of attractions for his clientele. Mr. Brown appeared again in February, in the farce of Poor Pillicoddy, and in March in the role of Joe Bean in The Will and the Way.

February also saw the sale of Temple Chambers, the building in which Brown housed his stationery business. Aside from having a clearance sale of stock, there is no indication that his business was affected, and he was working on the dramatisation of another J.F. Smith story, “Woman and Her Master” which arrived on the Royal stage in early April.

It should be mentioned that during 1859 another ‘Theatre Royal’ was in operation, this being a portable construction at Back Creek. It was a mixed success, the management at one stage eloping with the takings, and constantly under the need to re-locate (buildings were frequently dismantled and literally hauled through the streets to a new site).

Starting on March 23, the Royal Victoria Theatre in Sydney, under the direction of Mr. Samuel Colville, presented The Will and the Way, which the advertising stated was “at present being produced in both Theatres at Ballarat, with the greatest success that has ever attended any production.”
The play had been on stage at the Haymarket in Bendigo in February, featuring the actor Joe Gardiner. In Ballarat it was produced at both the Charlie Napier and Theatre Royal in early March – the Napier production under the management of Mr and Mrs Clarance Holt, who claimed that the play was “W.M. Brown’s wonderful drama of The Will and the Way, the property of Mr Clarance Holt, by virtue of purchase made in England”. Mr Brown would later advertise that he had received, from England, full documentary proof of his authorship of the stage drama, and hitting out at those who either denied him as the author, or presented pirated versions.

By June, business affairs at the Theatre Royal were starting to shift. William Hoskins moved into a role as stage manager (effectively controlling the artistic operations) which Brown took over as sole lessee and manager, implying that he would be in charge in the financial dealings. Prices of admission were lowered, and the opening time brought back to the earlier time of 7:30pm – on June 27 it was advised that Messrs Brown and Hoskins would deliver two addresses, ‘to which the attention of the public is respectfully solicited.’

For a new theatre, a few adjustments to operation would not be unusual, but the fact that Brown was the sole lessee might indicate that some difficulties were being experienced in attracting new hirers of the building. A court case was brought on September 5 for payment of £14 in rates due on the Theatre, and on September 19, the Star made some telling commentary that a recent fund-raising performance by the Philharmonic Society had attracted £119 in sales, but resulted in a mere £15 net profit; and the Philharmonic announced that it would present Handel’s Messiah in December, “provided a suitable building can be obtained for the purpose.”  In other words, despite the early projection of income,  the overheads of  operating the theatre were proving more than expected, and profitability was in question.

Mr Hoskins continued to make changes to the style of performance, trying to find the sweet spot between respectable and intellectual drama, and entertainment for “the lovers of fun and frolic”. (36), and later in the year, the local council installed a public urinal in the street near the theatre, after complaints that “the effluvia arising from the nuisances committed by the playgoing portion of the community is at present almost unbearable.” (37)

Brown performed several times at the theatre in Will, Ivanhoe and Othello, where his role as Iago was remarked (38) to be of an overly melodramatic and unsubtle performance; he “carried the gods with him … there were such indubitable symptoms of pure facial and pantomimic travesty as left little room for wonder at the occasionally ferocious delight of the gallery.” His talents as an actor were not in question, but it seems that William Brown was more suited to vigorous drama than nuanced characterisation. The overall production of Othello was felt by the press to be not well-advised, with the talent currently available to Mr Hoskins.

For whatever reason, the Theatre Royal Company was in disarray, despite the apparent success of the shows being presented. On September 22, the theatre and its hotel were advertised for sale the following month, complete with land. It was heavily promoted to Capitalists, Speculators and other as a splendid investment, with emphasis on the theatre which was “for size and beauty, second only to the Theatre Royal, Melbourne …  one of the most certain paying speculations in the colony…. extensive and beautiful building which has never failed to elicit from strangers the most unbounded surprise and delight.”

The cause of this sudden and potentially disastrous sale seems to have been the collapse of the Theatre Royal Company, whether due to internal disharmony among the shareholders, or a simple disinclination of the company to be actively involved in the operation of a theatrical business. In early November, meetings were held to wind up the Company, but an adjournment was required, with an advertisement that “shareholders who wish to avoid legal proceedings are requested to attend."

Preparation for the dissolution of the company must have been in the wind for some time prior as, back on October 18, the Theatre Royal was sold at public auction to William Maxwell Brown, who now became the Sole Proprietor at the bargain price of £6,100, an astonishing reduction on a building which had cost some £11,000 only the year before. No suspicion was raised in the press of any untoward dealings, and the inference seems to be that Brown, seeing no potential buyers for the Theatre, had stepped up in a valiant attempt to rescue the infant theatre from collapse.

Bargain or not, £6,100 was no small sum for a single businessman to find. The mortgage for the theatre was now held by a Henry Miller who appears to be the same businessman referred to by the press as “our colonial Shylock” (40). Brown was leaping, boots and all, into the theatrical business, and by the end of November he had sold off his stationery and bookselling business to Evans Brothers, formerly of the Main Road at Ballarat. As an indication that he was not motivated by mercenary considerations, he donated £72 raised at the theatre in a December benefit for the sufferers of a recent fire. (A similar benefit was held at the Charlie Napier the same evening, and in a disgraceful display, firefighters were pelted with objects by some citizens simply because they made a choice to attend the Royal’s concert instead of the Napier).

1860 saw a rapid and calamitous end to William Brown’s apparently hasty decision. He was still in control of the theatre in early January, when it was noted that his rarely-mentioned brother, Joseph, had been fined for blocking Sturt Street with a bullock-team hauling a massive gas holder destined for installation at William’s theatre. On the sixteenth, it was announced that William would take a farewell benefit at the Royal, previous to retiring from theatrical management, and make his last appearance on the stage for a lengthened period, “after which Mr. Brown will deliver an explanatory address." That address, unfortunately, was not detailed in the newspapers.
Messrs. Hoskins and Bellair took over the operation of the Theatre Royal Hotel in February, Hoskins also becoming the sole lessee and manager of the theatre; and on the tenth, Mr. Brown (mentioned as a licensed victualler) assigned the entirety of his real and personal estate (39) to a trustee group made up of William Hoskins, and local businessmen George Munro and Thomas Wymond.

For a short time in April, Brown went to Sydney, possibly to sound out his prospects, and he played roles at the Prince of Wales Theatre, where the Sydney Morning Herald (41) declared him to be “an actor of decided talent, taste and discrimination.” He also acted as Stage Manager for the Royal Victoria Theatre’s production of the Flying Dutchman. By May, insolvency proceedings were underway, debtors being requested to settle their accounts promptly, and on May 10 Brown’s brick nine-room home in Errard Street was sold at auction.

William Brown’s first dalliance with conjuring was at this time when, on May 11, he was given a Benefit night at the Theatre Royal by Hoskins and Bellair.
He firstly appeared in a comedy titled The Heir-At-Law playing ‘Zekiel Homespun’, and then the audience was treated to a ‘Magical Squib by the Great Wizard of the N.N.E by S.S.W and all points of the compass’. The joke was on the multitude of conjurers,  starting with John Henry Anderson the Wizard of the North, who had billed themselves under every direction of the compass until only NNE by SSW remained. Brown’s feat was the Great Gun Trick, which was uproariously received. This may have been either the ‘bullet catching’ feat or, more likely, the trick of loading a spectator’s watch into a funnel on the end of a gun, and shooting it magically across the stage.  This was not a new item in the colonies, and perhaps “too soon” considering the death of C.H. Rignold only a year previously while performing the same feat. Brown thanked his audience for their kind attendance and hinted that he would be returning to Sydney, having had success there.

The Great Wizard made a further appearance at the Montezuma Theatre on May 21 which, for some reason, had briefly been renamed as “Punch’s Playhouse”. As a farce it was successful, but Bell’s Life of May 26 said “something of a far superior class must be presented, if the management would complete successfully with the attractions at the other house.”

At something of a loose end, Mr. Brown took on the job of Stage Director for the Charlie Napier Theatre’s production of Café De Paris and was announced as the lead player in their new drama, The Shepherd of Derwent Vale, or, the Murder at the Torrent. The manager of the Charlie, Mr Symons, was becoming disheartened at the theatre’s poor profits, and following another presentation of Will and the Way featuring Brown, he gave up the business altogether.  Brown joined him in supposedly “retiring entirely from the Dramatic Profession”, having declared that this was the final production of “Will” on Ballarat. (42)

Insolvency, in the 1800s, was generally not a barrier to continued business activity, and Brown next set himself up in business as a publican, at the Sir Henry Barkly Hotel in Humffray Street, close to the intersection with Main Street. He also opened a Masonic Lodge (No. 1 Mother Lodge of Ballarat) under the ‘Brethren of the Loyal Order of Antediluvian Buffaloes’, an order which continued until at least 1950. Ironically, the new lodge’s By-laws were printed by Brown’s successors in the printing business, the Evans Brothers. Save for a taking on the job of Acting Manager and Stage Director at the Charlie Napier (which was at this time under the management of William Hoskins), Brown is not seen for the remainder of the year.

One thing can be said of William Maxwell Brown – he was not cut out to be a hotel owner. His various ventures as a publican all seem to have been failures, and probably for a common cause;  he did not pay enough attention to his business.  The Sir Henry Barkly Hotel was no sooner under his control than it was advertised (January 25, 1861) for lease, “Present proprietor having no time to attend to it, in consequence of other occupations .. Apply W.M.Brown”. The other occupation was his continued role in stage management at the Charlie Napier, which would shortly come to a fiery end.

Ironically, “Bell’s Life” of January 5 had complimented the management of Hoskins and Bellair, who were in management at both the Royal and the Charlie Napier which they said “appears to have taken out a new lease of life … [they] in all probability will be well repaid for their enterprise.” Nothing could have been further from the truth, for the following week Mr. Hoskins threw in the towel and retired from the Theatre Royal. He had, noted the Star, “persistently sought to provide a constant succession of legitimate novelties for the patrons of the house.”

At a benefit night on January 11, “Mr Hoskins was then called for, and was received with loud applause. He said he felt himself a perfect contradiction of the aphorism that out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh, for his heart was so full he hardly knew what to say, or how to arrange the ideas crowding upon him. He then reverted to his two years' managerial connection with the theatre [Royal], and said it had now ceased, for he had no more "sinews of war" to bring to the conflict. He had loved his art and striven to uphold it in its dignity, but he had miscalculated the power of the district to support the drama thus presented. If, however, his aim to educate as well as amuse had succeeded in but one instance, he was rewarded, though he had to begin the world afresh. To the many sympathising friends before him he felt grateful.”

The Theatre Royal would pass into the hands of actor-manager Clarance Holt for a year, but Hoskins would return to the Theatre Royal in 1862 and take up the ‘conflict’ once again.

The very same night, a fire broke out on the Eastern side of Ballarat, and the origin of the blaze was thought to be in the property room of the Montezuma Theatre; probably one of the same theatrical incendiary devices that had caused a fire in the Royal a year previously. This fire, however, was calamitous – it wiped out the Montezuma Theatre, the Charlie Napier, some sixty other buildings lost and forty more damaged, with an estimated £50,000 property loss. The fire brigades, commended for their bravery but acknowledged to be lacking in cohesive discipline, were powerless to do any more than pour water on the embers to prevent a further outbreak.  The owners of the Montezuma were not insured.

Not only Hoskins, then, but William Brown also, had no ‘Charlie Napier’ to keep them afloat. While plans were rapidly drawn up for the re-building of the Napier in brick (the lost building had been insured), Brown went under again – in June he declared himself insolvent for a second time, with debts of £409 caused by ‘depression in trade’, and his hotel’s furniture was sold off on June 18. Undeterred, Brown was still buoyant enough to perform in a concert at the Commercial Hotel in July. By October he was advertising as a Stationer once more, now located near the George Hotel (which still exists at 27 Lydiard Street). His name appears as the Ballarat publisher, or agent, of “Follow the Track – an Australian serialised novel written by ‘Twig’ and illustrated by ‘Stump’, which The Star complimented as being well got up, at a moderate price, and with illustrations of rare excellence for a colonial production.

Down, but not out, William Brown spent the next few years mostly away from the theatre, focusing on his stationer’s business. The Theatre Royal in Hobart, Tasmania, produced his version of The Will and the Way in June 1862, which was described as “a succession of highly-wrought scenes and ingeniously contrived tableaux, well calculated to produce effect upon the stage”. In November he sang some comic songs at a Soiree, one of which was rather too ‘free’ and lacking  in propriety, resulting in a mild reprimand from a Rev. Frazer who was in attendance.

Things were improving by 1863 when, aside from the birth of a daughter in April, Mr. Brown made arrangements in March to purchase back his business,  to merge his printing plant with the Evans Brothers’ “Victoria Stationery Warehouse and Printing Office” as they retired, and to move back into his old rooms next to the Craig’s Hotel in Lydiard Street. He advertised, taking ‘the opportunity of expressing his obligations to his friends and supporters who have enabled him by their assistance during the last eighteen months.’

Brown’s dedication to business continued, only broken in June 1864 when he performed at the Theatre Royal in a benefit night for his old friend William Hoskins. By 1864, Mr. Daniel Symons was  in charge of the Theatre’s programming, and it seemed that his dedication was paying off; at least until the middle of the year. A varied, though populist, series of plays, concerts, pantomimes and what could be viewed as lighter entertainments, gradually stopped attracting audiences. The Royal was also starting to compete with the Mechanics’ Institute, which positioned itself as the presenter of more uplifting or socially acceptable entertainments.  As the paying audiences dwindled, and Mr Symons continued to lose money, the theatre was sometimes closed several nights during the week; something unheard of in the earlier days of the well-heeled golden era. By September it was clear that the theatre was not going to survive in its present form, and the local Temperance League hatched a plan to purchase the Royal and convert it into a Temperance Hall. This, in fact, happened, but the League discovered that a contract with the owner of the hotel next door obliged them to keep it open as a theatre, and they promptly withdrew.

At this point in its history, Mr. Brown, the founding member and once owner of the building, performed in a rather sad final evening on October 18; the theatre was flooded under the stage, so that the gas meter could not be operated. The Star reported, “… the afterpiece, in the shape of ‘Poor Pillicoddy’ …. Mr W.M. Brown sustained the principal characters, and kept a small but genial audience well amused. In the bare and all-but-deserted hotel bar, a few bottles were ranged upon the counter, and a few persons were engaged in conversation upon the change which had come over the fortunes of the theatre, while suspended from between two of the wooden pillars supporting the floor of the old café was a painted pasteboard figure, inscribed “Vale”.   “

Of the Royal’s continuing shaky history until its demise in 1878, the reader is referred to Ailsa Brackley du Bois’ treatise, “Repairing the Disjointed Narrative of Ballarat’s Theatre Royal”.  Today, all that remains of the Theatre Royal is a circular staircase hidden behind the modern shops on Sturt Street. It seems ironic that the beautiful heritage theatre that still exists in Ballarat, “Her Majesty’s” (1875), should sit almost directly opposite the site of Mr. Brown’s stationery store in Lydiard Street.

The year 1865 was a turning point in Brown’s life and career. January began with a local fair, in the theatre of which he had prepared a new sensation drama titled The Skeleton Witness and the Bleeding Nun of the Dark Valley of the Foil Dhuiv, or the Tar, the Lost Son, the Bandit Host, and the Idiot of the Ravine of Blood; it probably took longer to read the title than to watch the play.

Things, however, had taken a turn for the worse. On March 14, Brown advertised a great sale at the Victoria Stationery Warehouse, previous to departure for England, announcing that ‘in consequence of bad health he is compelled to resign active trade exertions for a time’ …  and by March 27 ‘he is compelled to leave the colonies for a time, has entirely disposed of the business.’ The new owner was Mr. William L. Mullen, an experienced operator who promised to continue the business in a manner befitting his predecessor.

The nature of Mr. Brown’s illness is not known. Given that he intended returning to England only ‘for a time’ and appears not to have taken his family with him, the indications are that he was not expecting to face a life-threatening sickness; and although at the end of his life he contracted consumption, the time-span of twenty years makes it unlikely that this was his current ailment. A theory which might fit, is that Brown required a surgical procedure which was not available in the colonies at that time.
Mrs. Brown remained in Ballarat, and opened a Registry (employment) office for female servants, in Armstrong Street opposite the Port Phillip Hotel (close to the Theatre Royal). (44)

Its secret can easily discovered today by those who wish to look for it, but at the time, the Sphinx was a both a breakthrough in the mechanical principles of magic, and the forerunner of many other magicians’ illusions.

It cannot be said, though, that the principle of The Sphinx was being used for the first time, only that it had been put into use in an entirely novel way. Its slightly earlier use, in 1865, was in a large cabinet (“Proteus”, or the Protean Cabinet”), also a creation of Thomas Tobin and John Henry Pepper, which permitted a person to be apparently made to vanish, or to appear within an empty cabinet.

From “Modern Magic”, the landmark book by Angelo Lewis (Professor Hoffmann):
“For the benefit of those who have never seen this illusion presented upon the stage, we will describe its effect a little more minutely. The Sphinx is always made a separate portion of the entertainment, as it is necessary to lower the curtain for a few moments before and after its appearance, in order to arrange and remove the necessary preparations. The curtain rises, and reveals a round or oval table, supported upon three slender legs, and utterly devoid of drapery. This stands in a curtained recess of ten or twelve feet square, open on the side towards the audience. The performer comes forward bearing a cloth-covered box, fifteen to twenty inches square, and places it upon the table already mentioned. He then unlocks the box, the front of which drops down, so as to give a perfect view of the interior, in which is seen a head of Egyptian fashion, and coloured in perfect imitation of life.
The performer now retires to a position in the very midst of the audience, and raising his wand, says in a tone of command, “Sphinx, awake!” The Sphinx slowly opens its eyes, looking first to the front with a strong gaze; then, as if gradually gaining consciousness, to the one side and the other, the head moving slightly with the eyes. Questions are put by the performer to the head, and are answered by it, the play of the mouth and features being in perfect harmony with the sounds uttered. Finally, in answer to a query of the operator, the Sphinx declaims a neatly turned oracle in verse. This concludes the exhibition, and the performer closes the box.”

The presenter of this remarkable illusion, and several others, was known to the public as Colonel Stodare, and though he was not the inventor, he was the co-patent holder with the creator, Thomas William Tobin.

The confused history of the magician “Stodare” is so convoluted that an entire book has been devoted to unravelling the mess (“Stodare: The Enigma Variations” by Prof. Edwin A.Dawes) and although he is regularly identified as “Alfred Inglis”, this was not the original presenter of The Sphinx.

Joseph Stoddart (1831-1866) was the original Stodare, and he billed himself under the invented title “Colonel Stodare”, first appearing under this name in April 1865 at the famous Egyptian Hall. His brother, Alfred Stoddart (1840-1893), who also performed as a conjurer, billed himself as Alfred Inglis (possibly a maiden name of his mother). Alfred came to work for his brother in 1865 as a stage manager, but by 1866 he had branched out on his own, using Joseph’s illusions, and calling himself Alfred Stodare. This caused an irreparable rift between the brothers, but at the height of his success, Joseph contracted turberculosis and he died on October 22, 1866. “Alfred Stodare” continued to perform under that name.

There is little doubt, then, that the performance witnessed by William Brown was by the original ‘Colonel Stodare’, Joseph Stoddart; since by April 1866 Brown was back in Australia. Stodare had a wide repertoire, but his featured tricks at the Egyptian Hall included two others besides the Sphinx which caught Brown’s eye; the “Great Indian Basket Feat” and the “Instantaneous Growth of Flower Trees”, which will be detailed later. These were being seen for the first time in London, though magician Hartz claimed to have been performing them in the provinces for eighteen months prior.

There is no evidence to show whether Mr. Brown made any arrangement with Stodare to show these three feats in Australia. Although they were new, and clearly profitable for Stodare, he probably would not have objected to selling the rights for a performance on the other side of the world. Brown’s first advertising back in Ballarat said “the secret of this wondrous illusion has been entrusted to and secured for the colonies by Mr. W.M. Brown.” The Sphinx had a patent, but that has never stopped magical illusions being copied. Brown certainly claimed in later advertising that he was the only other authorised presenter other than the Stodares, but then he also claimed to be its joint inventor, which is simply untrue. We cannot be sure that Brown may have seen an opportunity, learned the secrets, duplicated the equipment, and brought the illusions back home. Either way, he was the first with the very latest in magic.

On February 18, 1866, William departed England aboard the “Great Britain”, arriving in Melbourne on April 17. Nothing more is heard of his ill health, and in less than a fortnight after his return to Ballarat, the Theatre Royal was advertising the first appearance of The Sphinx, “The Latest Wonder of the World, the Great London Sensation” on April 28 and 30, along with Mr. Brown in Poor Pillicoddy.  

At this stage, Brown was only presenting The Sphinx, and not the other two illusions which he had brought back. All three feats required less in the way of manipulative skill, and more in the way of dramatic presentation; for which Brown was ideally suited. Each of the tricks was literally along the theme of a “Life and Death Show”, and the Basket Trick in particular was a melodrama in itself.

The Sphinx, however, required rehearsal in the by-play between the performer and the disembodied head. It also required some experimentation in the positioning, distance, and lighting of the table and box. In the haste to get the new illusion to the stage, Brown appears to have overlooked proper scripting, and his first evening was poorly received:

[Ballarat Star, April 30, 1866] -  “The concluding piece was Poor Pillicoddy, in which Mr W. M. Brown was the Pillicoddy. But between the plays was exhibited "The Sphinx”, which Mr W. M. Brown, lately returned from England, has brought to this colony with him. We understand that the contrivance is attracting some attention in London, where the presentation is so admirably managed that the illusion is pronounced complete. The production of the Sphinx on Saturday evening was under the management of Mr W.M. Brown, and though a good deal of pains appeared to have been taken in getting ready and fixed the necessary apparatus, some better system of putting the questions to the Sphinx and investing them with meaning and appropriateness, will have to be introduced before the Ballarat presentation of the Sphinx can possess very great interest to an audience. A good many people went to the theatre on Saturday night specially to see and hear the Sphinx and, we think, went away with a feeling of disappointment. Mr Brown did not appear to be at his ease, and after two or three ill-considered questions had been put by him to the head, the exhibition was abruptly brought to a close. No doubt subsequent presentations will possess more interest, and it is but right to say that the isolation of the head and the non-visibility of any external agency, were at least sufficiently complete to invest the matter with interest and mystery, had the vocal part of the business been made more attractive.”

Fortunately, after a shaky start, the attraction was speedily fixed up, and the Star reported on May 1:

“The ‘Sphinx’ gave out its oracles again at the Theatre Royal last night, and the mysterious being was better manipulated, and was both wise and docile. Mr W. M. Brown, who "farms" the divinity, informed the audience that it would appear under new guises continually, and would defy penetration of its mystery. We must give him the credit of saying that last night the illusion was perfect. It is, of course, as Mr. Brown said, nothing but an illusion, and so far the exhibition was a success. There is a man's head sphinx-wise speaking to us from out a dark-framed box, on the top of a table, but the head is bodyless. We see the little table, perfectly isolated, as it would seem, the space beneath and around being well lighted, and to the eye absolutely vacant.

Where then is the body belonging to the wise oracular head which tells us he is older than the deluge, and that Ballarat will grow and prosper till Lake Wendouree is converted into streets, built on, and inhabited? This then is the mystery, and we cannot explain it, though we may have, like all who see and hear it, a theory about what we know to be only an illusion. But the same may be said of the notable protean cabinet of Mr and Mrs Case which delighted and puzzled everybody.”

The reference to Mrs [George] Case relates to the actress Grace Egerton, who had already been performing a part of her programme in the guise “The Wizard of the East” and, on March 9, 1866, had added the Protean Cabinet illusion to her performance at the Polytechnic, Melbourne.  In this respect, Egerton was the earliest to introduce Tobin’s invention to the country, but the two tricks were very different in their appearance to an audience, the Sphinx being the more sensational mystery.

The Sphinx principle was a landmark in the evolution of magic performance. It soon developed in  many different directions; when Robert Heller  made his triumphant tours here from 1870, he pressed it into several different tricks such as the “Floating Head” and “Inquisition” scenes. Today the versatile trick has morphed into a version of the sawing-a-woman illusion, tricks involving the production of livestock, and sideshow illusions such as the Headless Lady; not to mention that the Protean Cabinet has become a stereotyped cliché, used by television producers who lack the imagination to portray magicians in any way other than “using a magic cabinet”.

  

Brown, who was also performing a comic role in the burlesque La Sonnambula, felt comfortable enough to now introduce another of Stodare’s illusions to the public. The Great Indian Basket Feat, and the Growth of Flowers trick which was yet to come, were both anglicised versions of tales coming out of India, both real and legendary. (47) Performers of traditional street magic were famous for their ability to take a small leaf cutting of a Mango plant, cover it with a cloth, and have the branch grow in multiple stages until it was revealed as a fully-grown plant.

The Basket Trick involved a boy climbing into an elongated woven basket, the lid forced down, and a sword plunged through the basket until the boy must surely have perished; the basket is shown to be empty, but the boy then reappears, either from within the basket, or from a distant location. In its European version, the role of the small boy would be altered to use a well-dressed lady. For alternate presentations, the lady might disappear and make her re-appearance from the back of the room, the method being either a switch of a duplicate assistant, or an escape via trap in the stage.

Stodare had not been to India, nor had most of the European performers who adapted these genuine (though sometimes exaggerated) magic feats to their own use on stage, using mechanical devices which could never be used in the streets of India. Stodare’s  Basket Feat used a longer rectangular wicker basket and a technique known to magicians today as the “tip over trunk”, requiring the angles only available on a stage. This feat would have been ideally suited to Brown as a dramatic actor, with its conflict and melodramatic staging.

Gradually, Brown started to branch out with his feature illusions. On July 25-27 he moved into the Mechanics’ Institute in Geelong, adopting the name “Maxwell Brown”. His advertising (48) does not mention the Growth of Flowers, just ‘several astounding novelties’, but he made the bold, and quite untrue, claim that he was the joint inventor of the Sphinx with “Colonel Stoddare (sic) – these illusions cannot be, and are not performed by any other person than Mr. Brown, except Colonel Stoddare himself and his brother Alfred.”

Unfortunately, Mr. Brown clearly still had a great deal to learn as a presenter of magic, and the Geelong Advertiser of July 26 was scathing:

“The Sphynx, a Mystery! It is mystery. Oedipus propounded last night the conundrum to the Sphynx — "When is a door no door ?' Sphynx was puzzled, and the Oedipus of the occasion supplied the answer, "When it's a-jar," and turning round to the audience said — " I thank you, ladies and gentlemen," and the audience, which was a scant one, went out from the doors a-jar roaring at the humbug perpetrated on public credulity.
The Sphynx was a very original entertainment. It comprised the lowest legerdemain tricks, combined with admirable impudence on the part of the perpetrator.- A style of song fit for a "free and easy, accompanied by abominable music, constituted the interludes of the imposture. The celebrated "Basket Trick" was exemplified by putting a woman in a pink dress into a crate, which he took the first opportunity to upset, by which he projected the lady in a state of confusion to the observance of the audience. When the operator crammed her again into the basket the trick looked like a clumsy imitation of Jacob's Sprightly emerging from the extinguisher and the slit table. Said the operator, " Now for the sphinx, ladies and gentlemen!" The few present jumped on the seats to command a view of the "indescribable." A box was brought out with a great deal of mystery.

The pianoforte was played in a style that reminded one of stone-breaking under difficulties; and as nobody could see, and therefore could not know what the sphinx was, the originator of the entertainment, after intimating that those who had not paid for front seats ought not to crowd in upon those who had, declared that the entertainment at the Mechanics' Hall, for that evening, had closed. The sphinx is deservedly a mystery.”

While he worked towards finding an effective presentation for his magic, Brown made another rash decision. He applied for a publican’s license at an establishment in Armstrong Street with a bar, various public rooms, four bed rooms, kitchen, stable etc. (his own property), which was to be known as the Sphinx Hotel. In the same way as his former inn-keeping activities, this would eventually end in financial collapse.

A month after his poor showing in Geelong, Brown was ready to perform a full seven nights of preview shows at the Ballarat Mechanics’ Institute, each night for the benefit of a local organisation, in preparation for a departure to Sydney. In the ‘Star’ of September 17, he advertised his “Instantaneous Growth of Flowers” trick for the first time, along with the announcement of several illusions not previously advertised.

The other illusions advertised were, again, creations of Thomas Tobin, and they used some principles similar to that of the ‘Sphinx’ or John Henry Pepper’s ‘Ghost’ illusion; just adapted to suit the presentation. The ‘Delphic Oracle’ involved a small enclosed stage, within which a disembodied head was seen floating above the ground. The ‘Head of Socrates’ sounds almost like the same deception and although it was listed in early advertising, only the Oracle seems to have been presented.  Similarly, the ‘Cherubs floating in the Air’ had much the same appearance, except that five cherubic heads were seen. These effects were quite static, requiring the talents of the presenter to make them interesting; and their presentation would have to be compartmentalised into a slow series of exhibitions rather than a free-flowing show.   They would also have been cumbersome to transport and to stage, since sight-lines were critical -  in later years, illusions of the kind were more likely to be seen in a “Ten in One” sideshow, but as new creations they were used in the repertoire of Stodare and others (for instance, Robert Heller.) Brown discovered the difficulties of working with the heavy props, as his first evening was deferred until Tuesday because of his inability to set up in time.

“Mr W. M. Brown gave his first soiree fantastique last night, at the Mechanics' Institute, and we are glad to be able to congratulate that enterprising gentleman upon the large measure of success which attended his entertainment. As the first adapter here of Colonel Stodare's illusions and Pepper's variations thereof, Mr Brown - or Professor Brown as he would dub himself if a little more metalliferous in his composition - deserves no little credit, for alike as to the producer of those illusions and as a prestigiteur, he is unquestionably clever. The performances last night began with some conjuring, in which Mr Brown did just as he pleased with the notable cone of wood, the glass of wine, and a borrowed and marked half-crown, making them go through a hat, change place repeatedly, and as to the half-crown making it vanish from a gentleman's hand and kerchief, and re-appear in the centre of an orange. These tricks were done just aa cleverly as Jacobs does them and without the elaborate surrounding apparatus or suggestion of confederacy which marks the conjuring of the more renowned "professors”. The Indian Basket feat and the Sphinx were perfect illusions also. It is nothing to say that it is all deception, for that is the real success, and that was, as we have said, perfect. But Mr Brown really must not unsex the Sphinx, unless indeed that be a part of the mystery, and the modern Sphinx in the hands of the riddling, and not un-riddling, Oedipus, be of the masculine gender; and so entitled to be called " Mr" Sphinx, and to shout in very stentorian and unclassical phrase, "brandy-ho."

The second part of the entertainment comprised " The Head of Socrates," a bodyless philosopher, who, in response to the exhibitor, foretold solemn things to come when optimism shall have achieved its millennium. This was not so perfect an illusion as the Sphinx, as the head was not sufficiently projected from the background to deprive the spectator of the impression that the body might be very close to the philosophic head, although not plainly revealed. The last scene was Pepper's illusion of "The cherubs floating in the air." This was a capital illusion. Some half-dozen not particularly cherubic heads certainly were to all appearance floating in mid-air, bodiless, but with gauzy wings relieved against the ethereal sky around. There was only wanted a motion in the pinions of the cherubs to render the illusion perfect in its aerial effect.
As Mr Brown, in spite of the many difficulties of a first performance, and under all sorts of drawbacks known only to the initiated, has succeeded so well, we augur for his future exhibitions very great additional attractions. One of these will, we trust, be a smarter disposal of the several portions of the entertainment, as the public is an exacting patron, and requires a steady unbroken flow of amusement. Mr Brown must conquer this difficulty if he means to command the pecuniary success his efforts deserve. The entertainment is enlivened by a series of vocal and instrumental performances, Mrs Silverlock and Miss Melville having contributed the former, and Messrs Miller and Williams on the piano, the latter on this occasion. Last night the performances were for the benefit of the District Orphan Asylum, and this evening they will be under the patronage of the A.O.F., for the benefit of Mr Brown himself. Mr Brown announced last night that he would vary his feats of prestigitation every evening, and some exceedingly good things in that way are promised for this evening, when we hope to see a full hall.”

The following evening, Brown added to his repertoire by presenting, “with as perfect success as those of the world-renowned professors of the art”  the Inexhaustible Bottle, the burning and restoration of some pocket handkerchiefs (from the interior of a hen, so the review said), the Aerial Coins, and an announced performance of the “Indian Shawl” which was omitted.

Friday night, Brown’s fourth performance, was marked by his best audiences, and a friendly competition billed as “Rival Wizards!” He performed tricks alternately with Mr. H.B.Wilton in a successful evening in which the ‘Star’ said “…with increased practice, Mr. Brown evidently gets through the business with greater finish and satisfaction … each was the others “Sprightly” in the work, and more life and movement were thus thrown into the exhibition.”
Mr H.B. Wilton was no more a professional magician than Maxwell Brown. His real name was (John) Boyle Robertson Patey, and he had come to Australia as a convict in 1850, leading a confrontational existence in Tasmania until he ran away to Victoria to escape the angry citizens. Using the name of H.B. Wilton to avoid detection, he would go on to have a full and exciting career in Victorian theatre, and his tale is told on another page.

The bonus arising from this single performance was that Mr Wilton’s wife, who had accompanied the magicians in their show, was Emma Wilton a.k.a. actress and singer Emma Weippert. She would become, in Sydney, Mr. Brown’s “young lady who is cut to pieces every night in the basket.”

So William Brown departed for Sydney with his sphinx and cherubs, the ‘Star’ wishing him good fortune but cautioning that Brown required support and capital to continue his new career, “and that he should have ventured so much already demonstrates the pluck which accompanies his unquestionable ability as a wizard and as a general exhibitor.”

The press puffs heralding “Maxwell Brown” and his arrival in Sydney described him as having “attained considerable reputation as a wizard and professor of legerdemain” and “after winning considerable reputation as a wizard in England, has come out here to astonish the natives” – neither of which was accurate, but both good for publicity.
The “Levees Fantastique” opened at the School of Arts in Pitt Street on October 15; a popular venue for magicians, being a lecture hall doubling as an entertainment room. His season picked up rapidly in attendance, and his early notices were good: - [Newcastle Chronicle Oct.20] “Mr. Brown, who committed a mistake in not calling himself M. de Brown or Herr Braun, is a clever prestidigitator and … the ‘sells’ went off well … a very pleasant evening may be spent …”  and [Sydney Punch, Oct.20] “The Indian Basket Trick and the Sphinx are the most novel and startling of the illusions, but the tricks generally are clever and dexterously executed… Mr. Punch can assure his friends that two hours may be very agreeably spent in Mr. Brown’s society.”

An excellent first-night review came from the Sydney Morning Herald of October 16:-
"On Monday night, Mr. Maxwell Brown, the Premier Prestidigitateur, gave his first Levee Fantastique in Sydney, at the School of Arts, Pitt Street. The entertainment chiefly consists of a display of legerdemain; but the illusions are for the most part new to Sydney audiences; and they have the special merit of being performed without the aid of elaborate paraphernalia. So far as may be seen, Mr. Brown is not assisted by any confederacy with others, but relies solely on his own dexterous manipulation. It would be tedious to recount in detail all the extraordinary feats of sleight of hand with which Mr. Brown ballies and amuses his audience; his marvellous transformations ought to be seen to be adequately appreciated. Many of the combinations are peculiar to Mr. Brown; and, in so far as the manoeuvres depend on facile execution, the adroitness of the operator leaves no room for detection. The first part of the programme closes with an illusion styled the Indian basket wonder, which is as sensational as it is novel. A large wicker basket is placed on tressels (sic) in the middle of the platform; and thereafter a portly damsel, who has witnessed the preparations for her martyrdom with tolerable resignation, is assisted into the receptacle. The basket is so placed that the audience can see both below and around it. It is none too large for its fair occupant; but, on the contrary, is obviously rather a tight fit. No sooner is the lid of the basket closed, then the operator grasps a long sword, which he has previously submitted to the inspection of the audience, and with this he pierces the basket through and through. A shriek is heard, but all is not over; for he plunges the weapon with unabated vigour until the most sceptical observer, as well as himself, may be satisfied that the hapless unfortunate within has been thoroughly slaughtered. The operator does, however, desist from the inhuman attack, and while the curiosity of the spectators is fully roused, all concern for the fate of the victim is suddenly dispelled by her re-entrance from the body of the hall. She is obviously none the worse for having passed through the terrible ordeal, as with unruffled toilet and placid mien she again confronts the audience. The whole affair - massacre and escape - only takes a minute or two in execution.

The Sphinx is another inexplicable performance new to colonial sight-seers. There is less of the horrible and awful in this illusion, but it is a most ingenious contrivance, and is, if possible, still more marvellous. Mr. Brown's Sphinx is placed in a small box upon it table, and, so far as can be seen, is altogether disconnected with mechanical appliances. On the front side of the box being opened, a human countenance is disclosed, and in obedience to the behests of the operator, who stands a considerable distance off, the eyes are moved and the face brightens up when told to smile. The Sphinx, unlike its Theban prototype, answers enigmas instead of propounds them, and in doing so its facial muscles are brought into play precisely as in human features. The voiced utterances of the Sphinx are perfectly distinct, and it is obvious that they are not the result of ventriloquial skill on the part of Mr. Brown. The box on the table is not much larger than the size of a human head; and the table on which it stands is not hung with drapery.

The audience was immeasurably astonished at this article, but no Oedipus came forward to enlighten their perplexity. This particular edition of the Sphinx is harmless enough; and so long as the exhibition of the monster is managed with as much success as last night, there is not much likelihood of its interest being destroyed by the solution of its enigma. Mr. Brown stated his intention of suspending the Sphinx in subsequent entertainments. There were two or three slight hitches in the entertainment last night, which were satisfactorily explained by Mr. Brown, who stated that he had not had sufficient time to mature his arrangements, but these delays are not likely to again occur."

The Sydney season played through until October 27 and despite his favourable press, it seems that Sydney theatrics were in the doldrums, to the extent that the Newcastle Chronicle remarked on his closing night, “Amusements are dull in Sydney at present. Only one theatre open, and very poor audiences thereat. Maxwell Brown has not done so well as he deserved.” And the ‘Empire’ wrote, “Mr. Maxwell Brown, whose excellent and startling feats of legerdemain and ocular delusion have been continued during the week to very spare audiences, will give a morning performance … that extraordinary delusion, the Sphinx, whose cry for “Brandy, oh!” invariably excites the loudest laughter and undisguised surprise…” .
Indeed, times must have been hard in Sydney, when the only other theatre advertising was the New Royal Victoria Theatre, with a lightweight romantic drama and a burlesque titled Turko the Terrible. In 1866 there was an international financial downturn caused by bank failures and a credit crisis. But there was a new theatrical opening on the way.

It was ready to go into production, at the Royal Victoria Theatre (one of Sydney’s earliest theatres, built by Joseph Wyatt in 1838) located in Pitt Street just a short walk from the School of Arts. It opened on November 14, and Brown quickly stepped into the title role as “Connor of the Bill Hook” when Irish comedic actor, William O’Neil, became seriously ill and withdrew.

One has to wonder whether the drama was the more important reason that he had come to Sydney, as it was said to feature new scenery, a real waterfall, and new music and costumes, all of which must have been in preparation for some time.  The Sydney Morning Herald advertisement of November 14 referred to Brown as one of the most successful dramatic authors of the day, being the Author and Adapter of the following Dramas:- The Will and the Way, Tower of London, Minnigrey, Like Father Like Son, Woman and her Master, Slave of Life &c.”

The play was very well reviewed and complimentary to William Brown (49):

Mr. W. O’Neil made a brief reappearance in the lead role before November 17, but soon had to leave the show and retire altogether due to his illness. The show, which Sydney Punch [Nov.17] said was “an unequivocal success in every respect, and will doubtless have a long run”, continued until around the 24^th, with Mr. Brown “very effectively sustaining the character of the Shingaun”. Here things become a little confused. November 24 was announced to be a new staging of Brown’s “The Will and the Way” (50) and the following Tuesday would be his benefit night and last appearance in his dual roles. The Royal also advertised “Will” with Maxwell Brown named as the author, on the 24^th.

Whether the season was coming to its natural end is not known, but Bell’s Life (50) said, “there has been a manifest desire on the part of Mr [Raphael] Tolano [lessee of the Victoria] to put pieces on stage with due regard to scenic effect … especially noticeable in The Orange Girl and Crohoore Na Bilhoge, in both of which the scenery and appointments were perfectly new … we were sorry to see a want of corresponding appreciation on the part of the public, for neither of these dramas, though intrinsically meritorious … This may doubtless partly be attributed to the ‘badness of the times’ but … does not tend to encourage the management to risk any large outlay … without any reasonable hope of even getting the money back again … the company is unquestionably one of the  most powerful stock ones ever engaged in Sydney …management can hardly be blamed for some degree of reluctance to saddle itself with further expenses.”

So Crohoore finished, but on November 26, Maxwell Brown placed an advertisement in the Sydney Morning Herald – “Maxwell Brown respectfully intimates that he has seceded from the Victoria Theatre, in consequence of Mr. R. Tolano having violated his agreement with him, and that the original drama of The Will and the Way, of which he is the author, and sole possessor of the music attached to the same, will not and cannot be produced except by himself, any other copy at present in Sydney being pirated and imperfect.”

The reason for the falling out is unknown, but Brown scrambled to put together a rival company to appear at the Lyceum Theatre (York Street) for three nights starting November 30, with the drama called The Last Man, a ballet, an “explanatory address” by Brown, and a comic afterpiece. The Victoria Theatre countered by re-advertising “Will” to be performed on the 29^th; and deliberately omitting Brown’s name as the author. It seems there were several performances of “Will”, as Sydney Punch complimented the actors. By November 30 the Royal had brought back Turko the Terrible, while the press opined that Mr. Brown had little chance of success with his brief season at the Lyceum.

Mr. Brown returned to Ballarat for December, and was seen hosting a saloon at the Ballarat Fete on behalf of his “Sphinx Hotel”.

The year 1867 held promise for William Brown and, while his reputation was enhanced, he was dealt a number of blows which once again threatened to knock him out.

On  March 4, 1867, he opened at The Varieties theatre in Bourke Street, Melbourne. The theatre’s site would evolve in time to become the famous Melbourne Tivoli. Brown was presenting his magic again, with the three major attractions of the Sphinx, the Basket, and the Flowers, alongside a large variety troupe said to include vocalists, instrumentalists, dancers and comedians. Only the basket trick was shown on the first nights,  and interestingly, the ‘Age’ revealed that the Professor’s assistant in the Basket Feat was his own daughter, Frances Mary (51):- “This sword is a long cut-and-thrust cavalry weapon, very sharp both in the edge and point. Mr Brown’s daughter, a young lady of middle size and about 16 years of age, is next introduced, and gets into the basket. Scarcely has the lid closed when Mr. Brown plunges the sword into the basket repeatedly, and loud screams are heard from the interior. The young lady, however, almost immediately walks into the auditory portion of the building from a side door. The successful termination of the feat was greeted by the audience with loud applause.”

From this description, and a later newspaper comment that the Basket was worked along the same lines as the Sphinx, we can be sure that Brown was using the Sphinx principle to provide an escape route for his assistant, via a stage trap.

The Growth of Flowers was soon introduced to the repertoire, using a “plain four legged table”, and “there was not the slightest hitch …the astonishment of the spectators was unbounded.” On the tenth, the Sphinx was exhibited for the first time, and the house was crowded, but it did not seem to captivate audiences as much as the Basket Feat, “in consequence of its being conducted with so much caution that a very simple explanation might be given of it. By bringing his apparatus more to the front… Mr. Brown would surprise them more.” (52)

With a few weeks of magical performance concluding by March 23, Brown now repeated the approach he had used in Sydney. At George Coppin’s  Haymarket Theatre, managed until 1866 by William Hoskins, he opened another season of Crohoore Na Bilhoge with himself in the principal role. The astounding feature of this was that, at the Princess Theatre only a few blocks away, the very same story was being presented, in a separate dramatisation by Mr. Belfield (and originally intended to star W. O’Neil, though this did not happen.)

If it seemed that the rival plays were about to go head-to-head, reviews of the Belfield adaptation (which opened a couple of days earlier than Brown’s) make it clear that there was no competition:- [The Herald, April 1, 1867] “We cannot compliment Mr. Belfield upon his work. The dialogue is exceedingly weak and trashy, and it really seemed a pity that the management should have gone to so much trouble and expense in setting it in so complete a manner on the stage … it is a most difficult matter for the audience to decipher … anything in the shape of a close and connected plot.”

When Brown’s play opened on April 1, the Age said [April 2] “… arranged with the skill of a practised dramatist. Mr. Brown himself appeared in the principal part, and made an unequivocal success … the audience, though not numerous, was very demonstrative in expressing its appreciation of the forceful manner in which he performed … Mr Collier was so successful … as to be honoured with a special call at the end of the first act … some delicious music has been composed by Mr. E. King ... should command the support of the public.” The Herald was impressed, but critical of the length of the piece:- “The gentleman who claims to be the author of the present piece, which was played successfully some time ago at Sydney, is Mr. Maxwell Brown; and comparing it with the production which has possession of the boards  at the Princess, it is to be considered in a very favourable light …. The management will do well to have the play curtailed if they wish an audience to sit it out. Long courtship scenes with very little wit in them, and long-winded conversations which could be condensed into half their length, with introduction of Whiteboys where they are not wanted, and the absurd taking of needless oaths, might well be excised.”   And the Melbourne Punch [April 4] spent two paragraphs complaining that the Princess Theatre version had made them very ill. “Why is this ghastly resurrection of his exquisite story, like the reproduction in wax-work of great men, made a nameless horror? This play has all but washed me out.”

The Australasian [April 6] considered both productions to be poor adaptations, and recommended that the book be read instead. The Leader of the same date pointed out that no less than three adaptations of the story existed, the third by “that most successful of pirates”, Dion Boucicault himself. The Leader gave precedence to Brown’s version as “the story has been very closely adhered to by Mr. Brown, and he has worked up the several scenes in a very efficient way” [aside from his unusual decision to depart from the story’s ending, by killing off the principal.], and after suggesting that Mr. Brown should consider lightening the mood of the play, it finished by complimenting his performance as “marked by careful study … and highly intelligent.”

Crohoore was gone from the Princess on April 3. The Haymarket concluded its season with a benefit night for W.M. Brown on April 6. Much of the reason for the brief run was that the theatre’s manager, the great George Coppin, was departing for Sydney and taking his entire Haymarket company with him. In a final speech to his audiences (53) he revealed “This night terminates a six months' season and although I have received a liberal share of patronage, I regret to say that I have lost money by all my novelties, except one. Julia Mathews, Miss Aitkin, Mr.Gourlay, 'Arrah-na-Pogue’, the Pantomime, and 'Crohoore,' have all inflicted loss upon the treasury and I am entirely indebted to the great attraction of Madame Celeste for the balance in my ledger being considerably upon the right side at the present moment. This talented and accomplished artiste has filled the theatre for half my season and I believe she will do the same at the Theatre Royal, by the production of ‘The Flowers of the Forest' and other Adelphi dramas during the four weeks she will appear there.”

Brown returned to Ballarat, where in May the Theatre Royal was reopened for a benefit night in support of Mr John King, the coxswain of a boat in which survivors of the ship “London” escaped its wreck. The ‘Star’ made an insightful comment: “Mr W.M. Brown, who, like Paul Pry, has been so often inclined to vow he would never do another good-natured action in the benefit way, has undertaken the direction of the entertainment, and will bring out his daughter, Miss Frances Brown, as a dramatic debutante on this occasion.” [in the farce ‘A Pleasant Neighbour’]

For May 20-23, a former manager of the Princess Theatre’s production of Crohoore, John Bryan, took over at the Ballarat Theatre Royal, to present William Brown’s version.  Both Brown and his daughter were in the cast of this “drama sensational”, Frances playing a minor role, while father took on the lead, …”plays the part certainly with a great deal of skill … apt to overdo his part sometimes.”

Just as William and Frances took part in another Theatre Royal benefit, in the comedy Married Life, on May 30, an advertisement appeared in the Star – “Hotel for Sale, or to Let. The Sphinx Hotel, Armstrong Street.”

In early June, the Gourlay acting family was in Sydney, and “Little Johnny and his sister Minnie” introduced the Indian Basket Feat which, said the Freeman’s Journal, was done in much less time than Maxwell Brown had contrived to get through it. Although they are sometimes credited as being the first to present the Basket Feat in Australia, that is not the case.

Brown continued his performing at the Theatre Royal, All that Glitters is not Gold in early June, and in late July the role of Bill Sykes in Oliver Twist, probably a suitable role for his talent in dramatics. The newspapers reported that Mr. Brown was about to leave Ballarat ‘for a short time’ and he did take a benefit night at the Royal on that basis, but it did not eventuate.

In August (54) it was rumoured that he was about to re-open the Princess’s Theatre in Melbourne. What does seem to have been in the wind is that Brown had some theatrical plans afoot, which collapsed around him, and a court case was in the offing; and the defendant was his old friend, William Hoskins. The case came to court on August 21, and it proved to be a three-way case of ill-will, “he said / she said”, and old feuds to be settled.

Brown, in fact, had wanted to lease the Haymarket Theatre in Melbourne, which at that time was nominally under the lease of William Hoskins, though his rental was several weeks in arrears. The entrepreneur who had brought the Scottish actor James Anderson to Australia was George Coppin. Brown, sensing an opportunity to engage James Anderson at the Haymarket, approached Coppin, who told Brown that he could “have” Anderson provided he could also engage Mr and Mrs. Robert Heir, and allegedly told Brown that his potential rival, Hoskins, should not “get” Anderson on any account.

Brown immediately went to visit William Hoskins and advised him that he had secured Anderson, and on that basis an agreement was made that Brown could take on the theatre. However, nothing was so easy. Brown did not “have” Mr and Mrs Heir, and as a result did not have Anderson either. In fact the Heirs pointedly refused to play under Mr. Brown, and it was all due to a falling out they had, when the Heirs were in the Sydney cast of Crohoore.

In a twist of soap-opera proportions, the Heirs went to Mr. Coppin, helped to settle a disagreement between himself and Hoskins, paid the back-rent of the theatre, and promptly signed with Hoskins and Anderson to perform at the Haymarket Theatre. William Brown was left lamenting, and in attempting to sue Hoskins for £250 for non-fulfilment of an agreement, he brought himself undone. The case went against him, as there had been no formal lease signed.  

Brown was now in a double bind. His Sphinx Hotel had been doing badly; unsurprising since Brown had been away doing magic and acting instead of taking care of business, and the court case imposed costs against him. For the third time, in September, he was forced to declare insolvency, this time with a financial deficit of £522 due to losses sustained in theatrical speculations, pressure of judgement, falling off in the hotel business and (of note), “sickness” unspecified. The Sphinx Hotel was put up for sale, though the mortgage held by the Oddfellows was for more than its actual value, so no return would be made on the sale. The Royal kindly held a benefit night for Mr. Brown on November 26, though it was not well attended; and ironically Brown took his part playing in a melodrama titled Lucky and Unlucky Days. For the remainder of the year, he was only noted as giving elocution lessons for the Ballarat Commercial College, and a few nights with his magic at the Lyceum Theatre, Bendigo.

Any lesser person than William Maxwell Brown might have lain down, licked their wounds, and returned to some reliable business such as bookselling. Brown was made of sterner, or perhaps more Quixotic, stuff.   By January of 1868 he had made up his mind to leave Ballarat, with a new scheme in mind, and he was given a farewell benefit on the 23^rd, which was pleasingly well supported. Naturally the final performance was The Will and the Way.

And what was Mr. Brown’s plan? He was returning to the Haymarket theatre, to form a co-operative drama company made up of “the disengaged” actors of Melbourne, to perform romantic, domestic, melodramatic and burlesque productions. The Haymarket was now called the Duke of Edinburgh in honour of that royal’s visit. According to the Argus [February 17], Brown was “a gentleman well known in the colonies for some years as an actor with a speciality for old men, and who has also some repute as an adaptor of stage pieces. The company has been formed on a principle wholly in the interests of the dramatic profession, the members of which suffer only too often from the ‘star engagements’ of speculative managers, no matter how well the theatres may be filled.” Those founding principles are a clear dig at Hoskins and particularly at Coppin, whose modus operandi was the importation of star attractions. Interestingly, Brown’s concept of a co-operative or independent theatre is one which Melbourne eventually took to heart, prime examples being the ‘Pram Factory’ and ‘La Mama’ which have created some of Australia’s most innovative and developmental theatre in modern times.

The co-op’s first production, Rouge et Noir; or Thirty Years of a Gambler’s Life was not a success, and the Argus blamed the quality of the play rather than the actors or management. A series of dramas from Brown’s usual list of standbys was brought out, in an attempt to establish the company before it moved on to new creations – Simon Lee, The Will and the Way, Luke the Laborer,  and a ‘fairy extravaganza’ by Planche, Golden Branch. In early March, during the first-part melodrama Raffaelle the Reprobate, the comedian Mr. Hill fell from a wall on stage and injured himself so badly that, although Brown was able to immediately step into the role, Mr. Hill’s role in the second-part burlesque, William Brough’s Ernani could not be filled, and the company was forced to return tickets to the audience for another  night. Melbourne Punch took a satirical pot-shot at the reporter for the ‘Argus’ who, clearly not present at the theatre, had reported that both productions had been played.(55)

Both William and Frances Brown were in the cast of these shows and received complimentary reviews, Miss Brown particularly for her singing.  However, on March 6 the theatre was left closed due to lack of patronage, and  by March 18 it was noted that Mr. Brown had joined the company at the Princess’s theatre. The theatre had also not been helped by the fact that its namesake suffered an attempted assassination in Sydney on March 13, the Duke shot in the back.

The company’s sad ending was related by the ‘Australasian’ of March 28:- “The company at the Princess’s is shortly about to remove to the Duke of Edinburgh, which has been leased by Messr. Bellair, Young, and Co. The brief occupancy of this theatre by Mr. W. M. Brown proved one of the most miserable of the many theatrical failures in this city.” The paper was correct – this failure was but one of many in the world of theatre, and even Coppin the Great had multiple financial disasters over the years. The Haymarket/Duke theatre, opened only in 1862, was in a period of low reputation and support. Both the management teams of Spiller and Marsh (1867-1868) and Gilbert Roberts (1868-1869) went insolvent, and in the next few years it would be embroiled in further managerial disputes, before burning to the ground in September 1871.

Brown continued, with his daughter, to take on a few acting roles at the Princess’ and the Duke, and in mid-May (56) Mr. Brown was concocting a plan to build a large building for public amusements, on the system of the Alhambra, London, to be situated between Webb and Charles streets in Fitzroy. The local council refused to grant him any relief on rates payment, and it seems that the plan went no further, as by the 21^st they had relocated to Bendigo, where Brown became the Stage Manager at the Lyceum Theatre as well as playing on stage. Here, Brown seemed to settle back for a while,  and play to his strengths in a number of shows. As Manfredi, the villain in Born to Good Luck, he “acted with great discrimination and carefully avoided the melo-dramatic business some actors introduce into similar parts.”, and on taking a benefit night on June 17, the ‘Advertiser’ remarked that “Mr. Brown is one of the most painstaking actors on the stage, and since his appearance here he has shown himself, in a variety of the most opposite characters, to be possessed of a great amount of talent.”

Miss Frances Brown was also complimented with a benefit night the following month. The Advertiser wrote, “… a young actress who has favourably impressed the Sandhurst [Bendigo] public by her natural, unaffected style of acting…. A little more life might have been thrown into her acting as the capricious woman… her efforts, however, were well received by the audience. Mr W.M. Brown, as Duke Aranza, played as he almost invariably does, with real ability, and if he could only get rid of the emphasis on his “H’s” a decided improvement would be affected, but we are afraid he is too old a stager to easily get rid of the faults of the old school. [Note that Brown was 37 years old at the time] … the farce of “Nan, the Good for Nothing” was capitally played, and the part of Nan, by Miss Brown could scarcely have been bettered.”
Family history tells us that Frances would go on to have a career in theatre and as a singing tutor, under the name Myra Francis Carlton (Australian newspapers mention a Myra Carlton, “charming soprano” in theatre as late as 1907). She married George Wilkins of Ballarat on May 4, 1869, and had some six children in Australia before moving to San Francisco. She had returned to Australia by the time of her death in Brisbane, November 14, 1949.

After a year as an insolvent, Brown was released by the courts at the end of July 1868 and, after playing one more role at the Duke of Edinburgh, he returned to his roots at Ballarat.

Curiously, little mention seems to be made of this fact in standard histories of Ballarat, but the Charlie Napier Theatre (rebuilt after the first building burned down) was renamed for a time, apparently by Brown,  and became the “Bijou Theatre”.  The manager and lessee, from September, was W.M. Brown, and its first attractions were the famous Lancashire Bell-Ringers and acrobat Mr. Bartine who walked upon the ceiling. His intention was to present small comedies, farces “or whatever else may come under the theatrical catalogue of ‘afterpieces’ as it is generally understood in larger houses.” (57) The old Napier had partially been seconded as a brewery, but the house had been refurbished with a proscenium stage with statue niches on either side, royal arms displayed above, and bust of Shakespeare. Father and daughter Brown appeared on opening night before a full house of happy audience members, in Who Killed Cock Robin, and the ‘Star’ said, “it was delightful to see how rapturous was the delight of the audience at everything that was said and done. It was a sort of golden age of applause for the players.”

Business continued well and was complimented on its varied and attractive programme which included William Barlow with his troupe of educated dogs and monkeys. On September 25, however, the ‘Star’ made ominous mention that Brown had ‘recovered his late severe indisposition’, and although he performed in The Spitalfields Weaver in early October, by the 21^st he had announced his intention to retire from the stage.

Benefit nights were given to both of the Browns on October 23 and 24 at the Royal Alfred Hall, which sadly were not well attended. On October 29, Brown advertised the auction of “the whole of his extensive theatrical wardrobe and library.” Of course, Brown did not (and never would) fully retire from the stage. He had many roles to come – but it does appear that 1868 saw the turning point in his constant involvement with theatre and its management, and whatever his ailment was, it was probably poor health that caused his retirement.

The final years of William Maxwell Brown’s life are less vigorous, and more sparsely documented, although he certainly had plenty of interesting theatrical activities yet to come. As we are mostly following just the public record, little is heard of him after retiring in late 1868, until a mention in December 1869 that places him running a fancy bazaar at the annual Ballarat fete. He maintained some connections with the Theatre Royal and, in March 1870, was managing the Ballarat Assembly Rooms in Sturt Street, which were available to hire for a range of public meetings and social activities, while being unconnected with hotels or theatres. He was also experimenting with the use of a Camera Obscura, which he would later demonstrate at the annual Fair.

Nothing would keep Brown in retirement for long, and in July he moved across to Adelaide, where he acted in multiple plays at the Theatre Royal, including The Huguenot Captain, Field of the Cloth of Gold and Kiss in the Dark.

Back in Ballarat in 1871, Brown had a professionals’ spat when he refused, at the last moment, to play at the Royal on behalf of the Orphan Asylum benefit, and the replacement had to read from a book. Later in the year he joined in a Geelong season at the Mechanics’ Institute with Ben Bolt (in the lead role), Handy Andy and All that Glitters is not Gold. And in November he returned to the Castlemaine Theatre Royal with three “Levees Fantastique and Musical” evenings, reprising his role in legerdemain, to which he had added “Eugenie’s Second-sight, or Supernatural Vision”, doubtless inspired by the artistry of Robert and Haidee Heller in 1870. Something went astray, as with a small outstanding debt, he had a run-in with the police:  (58)

May 1872 saw Brown acting at the Ballarat Theatre Royal in The Irish Tiger with his daughter. Blow for Blow at the Theatre Royal Melbourne (236 Bourke St) in November featured him in a smaller role, and the Australasian said “Mr. W. M. Brown, who appears at fitful intervals upon the Melbourne stage, and who has a sort of ability that can be made useful in a certain direction, made more of Mr. Craddock than it is the rule to make of such accessory parts.” Back at Ballarat he finished the year in Quite Alone at the Royal.  In September his mother, Mary, died at Errard Street, Ballarat.

1873 passed with not much more than a mention of Brown in the December pantomime, except that in October, the front section of the Theatre Royal was in the process of being demolished, with the intention of putting up a commercial shopping frontage, while the interior was refurbished. As part of this process, the foundation stone laid in 1858 was pulled up, and the time capsule of documents, coins and newspapers from that time were unearthed. As part of the report into this event, the ‘Star’ noted, “Messrs. McNeice, Wymond and Brown have gone away from Ballarat….” – nothing is heard of him in 1874 aside from joining in a “Press vs. Stage” cricket team in November. It seems that he had moved to Melbourne, and in February 1875 he performed at the Princess’s Theatre, in Mazeppa, or the Wild Horse of Tartary.
Then, in August, he took on the role of Bertie O’Moore in a production of The Colleen Bawn at the Opera House.  It should be highlighted that William Brown was an actor of sufficient status to appear alongside James Cassius Williamson and Maggie Moore in this play, not to mention his relationship with the likes of George Coppin, Edmund Holloway, William Hoskins and G.V.Brooke, some of the truly great names of early Australian drama.

Only returning to Ballarat for his usual theatrical presentations at the Ballarat Carnival in December, Brown is seen mainly in Melbourne during 1876. His June appearance at the Theatre Royal was in the cast with another great of the theatre, Alfred Dampier, in “Richard III”. The Herald remarked “Of the small part of Sir Richard Brackenbury, Mr. W.M. Brown made the most. He deserves a word of praise for the clear and distinct manner in which he enunciated the text.” In July, Stawell audiences saw him as Biondello in “Katherine and Petruchio” and in September he lectured at the Apollo Hall, with a reminiscence of his life entitled “Fact and Fiction, or Shifting Scenes of an Actor’s Life”. On the day of his lecture, others playing in Melbourne were Silvester The Fakir of Oolu, and the Davenport Brothers and William Fay with their pseudo-spiritualistic feats.

He concluded the year as stage manager and comic soloist at the Apollo Hall, for Mr. Alfred Burton’s “Dramatic and Variety Combination”; then at Kyneton on December 30 with the tragedienne Mary Gladstone and other members of the Theatre Royal company from Melbourne.

Rather belatedly, perhaps, it might be thought that if Brown had left Ballarat and moved to Melbourne early in his life, he might have had a more profitable career in the theatre. He was playing regularly, admittedly in smaller roles, at some of Melbourne’s best theatres. February 1877 saw him as ‘Ivan’ in the Russian play Danicheff by Newski and Dumas (“Brown … finds a congenial part, and acts the little that is to be done very commendably. He has certainly studied the part to some purpose, and plays it with marked intelligence” – Leader March 3), then in Our American Cousin at the Opera House.

In 1878, still in Melbourne, William Brown played at the Princess’s Theatre in Uncle Tom’s Cabin as the slave owner St. Clare (September) then over to the Victoria in October for The Octoroon alongside another major figure of the theatre, Mr. Bland Holt.
Back in Ballarat, the Theatre Royal was approaching its final demise, soon to become a series of shops. The ‘Star’ (59) reflected, “Theatres, like  men, have to pass through many vicissitudes during the course of their existence, and the Theatre Royal here, after a chequered career, has at last been doomed, like many of the actors who have strutted and fretted their hour upon its stage, to say farewell to all its greatness in a dramatic point of view; but not before the belief expressed by Mr W.M. Brown at the time the foundation-stone was laid, twenty years ago, that before the new home of the drama about to be built ceased to play its part in the rising township, another and larger temple of Thespis would have been erected to take its place.” Brown’s prediction was correct, for Her Majesty’s Theatre was opened in 1875 and, barring the need for expensive refurbishment, continues to operate as one of the most attractive and active theatres in that city today.

Perhaps the words of the Star could also be applied to the many vicissitudes faced by William Brown during his own chequered career. Times had changed vastly in the period since he ran a little canvas theatre on the muddy goldfields of Victoria.

Mr. Brown finished off his year at the Victoria Theatre, in The Dumb Man of Manchester in the title role, and opposite Mr. Edmund Holloway, who had played the role of ‘Wilton’ hundreds of times previously. He continued to act there with both Holloway and Bland Holt in February 1879 (Black Eyed Susan),  a return of Our American Cousin in March, and Aurora Floyd in April. Finally, on December 12, though Brown was not in the cast, his drama The Will and the Way was produced for a benefit night at the People’s Theatre in Gorman Street, the role of Old Martin being taken by the actor G.S. Titheradge, whose career blossomed in coming years.

Into the final few years of his life, Mr. Brown seems to have spent some time in Sydney, where he is seen in 1880 at the School of Arts in a benefit concert, and there was a two-night production of “Will” given with his permission at the Opera House on July 20/21. During late 1881, however, he was back in Ballarat, playing Simon Legree at the Academy of Music. In December the Academy held a benefit night for Brown, and the press made a point of complimenting him as a “well known resident of Ballarat”:-

[Ballarat Star, Dec.13] – “The claims of Mr. Brown upon the notice of the Ballarat theatre-going public are generally recognised as manifold, and, as we hear the tickets are selling rapidly, doubtless a bumper house will assemble to greet the erstwhile favourite actor.”

And in a letter of December 17 to the Editor from Mr J.B. Humffray, a leading political reformist during the heady days of the Ballarat rush,  this fitting tribute:

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR.  Sir, —I desire to set in accordance with the sentiment expressed in the above quoted words, and say a kind word on behalf of an old Ballarat pioneer. I need scarcely remind the old Ballarat pioneers of a quarter of a century ago that Mr W. M. Brown was an active and useful man on Ballarat, and materially assisted in founding the city of Ballarat. He was amongst the few who took action in causing this embryo city to be proclaimed a municipality. It was through Mr Brown’s energy and enterprising spirit that caused the erection of that fine building, with its classical Corinthian columns, which greatly improved the appearance of Sturt street, and known as the Theatre Royal (now, alas, amongst the departed glories of Ballarat). Mr Brown dramatised the sensational story of the “ Will and the Way,” and in conjunction with Mr Coppin successfully introduced the piece to the stage on Ballarat, the first time it was performed in the colony, and to the honor of both these gentlemen, they gave a clear half of the profits for charitable purposes. I mention these few facts to show that Mr Brown is no stranger to Ballarat, but one who has done some good in the past and deserves a generous recognition from the people of Ballarat, and I trust that his old brother pioneers will not forget Brown’s invitation to the Academy of Music, Monday, the 19th instant, and take with them their sons, daughters, wives, uncles and aunts, and give him a bumper house in true Ballarat style.  - Yours, &c., J. B. HUMFFRAY, Wendouree.

The ‘Star’ noted that in his performance in “The Last Man” at the benefit, “Mr. Brown enacted his character … in a creditable style, the physical strain being somewhat severe”, suggesting that he was already suffering from the illness which would soon take his life; or because his benefit night had been deferred “in consequence of death and serious illness in the family” (4) for which we have no information. But he was well enough to appear variety on a bill at the Mechanics’ Institute on the 29^th, with an “Album of Oddities” and alongside the mind-reader Professor Rice.

Undaunted, Brown is still seen acting – in January 1882 he gave his Fact and Fiction lecture at the Mechanics’ Institute, and the famous Pepper’s Ghost illusion was presented by others on bill that night. On February 2 and 3 he was in Adelaide, in School for Scandal at the Academy of Music. On April 8, his wife Margaret died, at their son’s home in Chapel Street, Woolloomooloo (now Darlinghurst), at the age of 51.

As late as March 10 in 1884, he was named in the cast of In the Clouds, or Above and Around the World at the Sydney Academy of Music.

William Maxwell Brown, of Adelaide, comedian, said—“ I have belonged to the theatrical profession for 43 years. Have played everything connected with the stage from leading man to prompter.
His Honor — “And not crushed yet?”
Witness— “No, not crushed yet, your Honor.” (Laughter.)
“… Have managed many theatres, the last in 1860.”
Mr. Stock—“What are you doing now'”
Witness—“I am simply waiting for judgment in this case. I have nothing else to do.” (Laughter.)
Mr. Stock—“You say you discarded management in 1860”.
Witness—“No; management discarded me.” (Laughter.)

Brown died, on Monday June 7, 1886, at his son’s home in Sydney at No.2 St. Peters Street, Darlinghurst.  After a lifetime in theatre, he was just 54 years old. Tributes were regretful but few, and on June 10 the funeral moved to the Necropolis (Rookwood cemetery), where the unstoppable dramatist, actor and civic pioneer was laid to rest.

It seems remarkable that a man whose contributions to the theatrical life of Ballarat, during the most turbulent and vigorous periods of Australian history, should be so little noticed and recorded today. Perhaps this incomplete summary of his life will help to fill the gap. As William Maxwell Brown might have said of his own life, where there is a will, there is a way.

- Raw Gold and Sovereigns by Alfred Clarke, 1855
- The Geelong Almanac for 1856, which interestingly shows a Geelong address, Lydiard Street Ballarat, and Main Road Magpie Gully.
- The Emigrant, and other poems by F.M. Hughan. Geelong : Thomas Brown ; and Melbourne : G. Robertson, 1856.

Under the combined title of T. and W. Brown, or jointly listed names:
- The Voyage Out – A Poem by George Edward Gaskell

William Brown self-published some standard booklets, including:
- Report of the Minutes of the proceedings of the conference for the establishment of a High Court of the Ancient Order of Foresters in the Colony of Victoria (1864).
- The Ballarat District Almanac, Business Directory, Gardeners’ Annual for 1864.

(2) Victorianfictionresearchguides.org – Essays in the London Journal footnote 111

(3) http://john-adcock.blogspot.com/2011/07/j-f-smith-1804-1890.html
View a copy of Smith’s work at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433075751259&view=1up&seq=9
Another dramatisation, by W.R. Waldron, can be found at http://victorian.nuigalway.ie/modx/assets/docs/pdf/Vol66xiWill.pdf

(4) John Charles Brown was born on June 23, 1857, at Ballarat East.
Other family events announced in the papers (Ballarat Star):
1859 - February 15 – A son born on the 13^th.
1861 – March 7 – son born on the 5^th. On May 18 the funeral of Mr. Brown’s “Late son, Thomas” was announced, suggesting that the same boy had died young.
1863 – March 28  - birth of a daughter on the 26^th.
1872 – September 9 – death of Brown’s mother, Mary, at Errard St Ballarat.
1881 – December 2 – Mr Brown’s benefit night postponed ‘in consequence of death and serious illness in the family.’
1882 – April 10 – Death of Brown’s wife, Margaret, on April 8 at her son’s home in Chapel Street  Woolloomooloo (now Darlinghurst). Aged given as 51.
1883 – July 3 Sydney Morning Herald – Marriage of W. Brown, second-eldest son of W.M. Brown to M.L. Perrin on June 27.
1888 – August 30 Sydney Morning Herald – Marriage of W.M. Brown’s third daughter, Margaret Annie (Maggie) to Alfred Miles at St. Mathias’,  Paddington.

(5) The Star (Ballarat) notice of September 9, 1872, says Mary died the previous Tuesday, c. Sept 3

(6) The Star (Ballarat) September 4, 1869, “Mining Under the Basalt”

(7) The Herald (Melbourne), February 5, 6 and 7,  1873 p.4 – This wonderful series of recollections of Ballarat theatre c.1855 includes a lengthy detailing of the Wizard Jacobs and his disastrous encounter with fire.

(7a)  The Star (Ballarat) November 29 1856, “Our Past and Present”, and August 20 1855 p.6

(8) The Star (Ballarat) November 1, 1856.

(9) http://sydneymagic.net/gardiner.html  

‘25 Years on the Stage’ by Joseph Gardiner can be read at: http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/21795499?selectedversion=NBD3017836

(10) Sherecroff – sic. Refers to British-born Edwin W. Shearcroft, 1830-1858; died at Pleasant Creek, Victoria. He was certainly playing in locations around the Ballarat area at this time. In 1854 he also had management of the Theatre Royal, a concert hall in the Exchange Hotel at Bendigo.
George Truscott was the landlord of the “Lord Raglan” hotel at Magpie Gully, but he became insolvent in April 1856, due to “failure of the diggings at Magpie Gully” and “want of business”; though he continued in other businesses in Ballarat in later years, including the Canterbury Music Hall - http://www.sydneymagic.net/goodhear.html

(11) Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer, August 16, 1852

(12) The Star (Ballarat) September 6, 1856 p.3

(13) It should also be noted that there was a W.M. Brown, Solicitor, in nearby Bendigo, and a William Morgan Brown, prominent in the gold mining business. Any reference to W.M. Brown related to gold, is probably W. Morgan Brown.

(14)  Bonwick’s book has also been republished in 1970. View the original at: https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2331365?lookfor=%22James%20Bonwick%22%20%22Western%20Victoria%22&offset=1&max=3

(15) View Coxon’s Comic Songster at  https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE1634437&mode=browse

(16) For the most comprehensive review of the earliest goldfields theatre venues, see the essay “Flexible Theatrics in Early Goldfields Ballarat” by Ailsa Brackley Du Bois, Australasian Drama Studies, Issue 77, January 2021.

(17) The Argus, September 11, 1855 p.6

(18) Jacobs was not the only attraction at the Montezuma. In the Hotel to which the theatre was connected, a tiger was on display and in mid-August 1855 it escaped from its cage and entered the store of Messrs. Hopkins and Coles, before being lassoed by some diggers and returned to captivity.

(19) The Star (Ballarat) October 4, 1855

(20) The Age, Melbourne, August 20, 1855

(21) The Star (Ballarat), December 27, 1856

(22) The Star (Ballarat), February 14, 1857

(23) Sovereign Hill Heritage Museum https://sovereignhill.com.au/history

(24) Evening News (Sydney) October 27, 1900

(25) Bell’s Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle, August 22, 1857.
The Age (Melbourne) August 25, 1857.
The Star (Ballarat) August 19, 1857

(26) The Star (Ballarat) August 22 and 26

(27) Diary of a miner working on the Ballarat goldfields, 1855 Jul. 8 - 1856 Jan. 1. MS13681, State Library of Victoria. Page 12 – “Also met Sandy Baxter, who tells me his hole on the Gravel Pits reef at the back of the "Montezuma" is bottomed but would not pay so gave it up.”  Page 189 – “Turned out about sunrise. Got a claim marked out between the near corner of the Montezuma Theatre and the puddling machine boys shaft. After that, went and got Breakfast …”

(28) Ailsa Brackley du Bois (2017) Repairing the Disjointed Narrative of Ballarat’s Theatre Royal. M/C Journal, 20(5). https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.1296

(29) Geelong Advertiser and Intelligencer, March 29, 1854

(30) The Star (Ballarat) October 17, 1857

(31) The Star (Ballarat) May 27, 1858

(32) The Star (Ballarat) September 2, 1858

(33) Mentioned in the court report as “Egerton”, so possibly actor-manager Henry Egerton.

(34) Bell’s Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle, November 6, 1858

(36) The Star (Ballarat) September 21, 1859 p.2

(37) The Star (Ballarat) November 1, 1859 p.4

(38) The Star (Ballarat) October 10, 1859

(39) The Argus, February 14, 1860 p.7

(40) And probably the same Henry Miller who was a Member of the Legislative Council.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Miller_(Australian_politician)

(41) Sydney Morning Herald, April 24, 1860 p.4

(42) The Star (Ballarat) July 6, 1860 p.3

(43) Follow the Track - an Australian novel / written by ‘Twig’ and illustrated by ‘Stump’, December 1861.
https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/20161774?keyword=%22follow%20the%20track%22%20%22twig%22%201861

(44) The Ballarat Star January 15, 1866 p.3

(45) “Stodare: The Enigma Variations” by Prof. Edwin A.Dawes – Kaufman and Company, Washington DC 1998.

(46) Like most magic illusions, these principles were evolutionary. For a detailed examination of the magic behind the glass, refer to “Hiding The Elephant” by Jim Steinmeyer, pub. William Heinemann 2004.
For more on optics and the work of John Henry Pepper, see “Cyclopaedic Science Simplified” pub. F. Warne 1869.

(47) See “Empire of Enchantment – the Story of Indian Magic” by John Zubrzycki, Scribe Publications 2018.

(48) Geelong Advertiser, July 20, 1866

(49) Empire, Sydney, November 22, 1866

(50) Bell’s Life in Sydney and Sporting Chronicle, November 24, 1866 p.3

(51) The Age, Melbourne, March 5, 1867 p.5

(52) The Age, Melbourne, March 11, 1867 p.5

(53) The Argus, Melbourne, April 15, ,1867

(54) Leader (Melbourne), August 3, 1867

(55) Melbourne Punch, March 5, 1868

(56) The Herald (Melbourne), May 14, 1868

(57) Ballarat Star, September 8, 1868 p.2 includes a full physical description of the interior of the theatre.

(58) The Herald (Melbourne), November 24, 1871 p.2

(59) The Ballarat Star, September 20, 1878 p.2

(60) Express and Telegraph, Adelaide, January 20, 1883