160 YEARS AGO IN GEELONG
(From the pages of the Geelong Chronicle)
MRS JULIA AVINS – actress
Mrs Avins, an old favorite of the Melbourne stage, came out of retirement to perform in several amateur productions in Geelong in 1863. She played the nurse in a Corio Juvenile Dramatic Club production of Shakespeare’s, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, at the Theatre Royal. A month later she gave several performances of the melodrama, ‘The Lady of Lyons’, and the farce, ‘A Kiss in the Dark’, in productions by the Geelong Histrionic Club.
Born Julia Porter, about 1816, Mrs Avins had arrived in Melbourne in 1840 with her husband, Henry Stacey Avins. She first performed in Melbourne the following year in the play, ‘Hercules, King of Clubs’. In fact, she was the first actress on the stage in Port Phillip.
In those early years in Melbourne, both Mr and Mrs Avins often performed in the same company. Mr Avins set up in Melbourne as an ornamental painter, advertising that he could paint ‘club, assembly and coffee rooms with scenic designs, views etc’. It suggests that he might have been a theatrical scenic artist in England and, perhaps, along with his wife, they were jobbing actors.
Mrs Avins was constantly before the theatre-going public in Melbourne throughout the 1840s until the end of 1850. She first performed in Geelong in 1845 at the Albert Theatre, in Corio Street. She performed only intermittently in the early 1850s, although if she had toured the goldfields, there are no records readily to hand.
She rarely appeared as the lead in plays, being mainly a character and comic actress. It was said she excelled in character roles and also had impeccable comic timing. She was also an accomplished dancer and performed the ‘Tarantella’ long before it gained such notoriety as danced by Lola Montes.
In 1855, there was a fire at the Avins’ house in Moor Street, Fitzroy. Mrs Avins lost all her dresses and theatrical paraphernalia in the fire. Neither the house nor its contents were insured. Fortunately, she was back in regular work from 1856 in the company of actors supporting the famous tragedian, Gustavus V. Brooke, who performed in Melbourne until 1859. In 1860, she performed in a company that toured to Bendigo. In 1861, she toured to Geelong, retiring at the end of that year.
As mentioned above, Mrs Avins came out of retirement in 1863 to perform in several amateur productions in Geelong. In 1869, she again came out of retirement to perform at the Theatre Royal, Melbourne, to reprise her role in the farce, ‘Hercules’, which she first performed there in 1841. Fittingly, the performance was in aid of the Victorian Old Colonists’ Association. Mrs Avins died in Melbourne in 1892.
This article was provided by the Geelong Historical Society. For inquiries, email admin@geelonghistoricalsociety.org.au or write C/- P.O. Box 7129, Geelong West, 3218.
