By NOEL MURPHY
THE CALIBRE of Geelong’s superstars never fails to surprise.
Well-known football, cricket and other sporting stars aside, the city has a veritable pantheon of champions, heroes and often-unsung achievers.
Dubbed “legends” in a modest but powerful exhibition hosted by Geelong Gallery, this league of extraordinary gentlemen and ladies is an eye-opener.
For instance, how many of Geelong football aficionadoes know of Charles Brownlow’s sterling career as a colonial silversmith?
Who knows the story of Moi-Yo Millar, the most beautiful woman in Australia who co-starred in the world’s biggest travelling show of the 1930s and ‘40s as assistant to the Great Dante?
JF Archibald, founding editor of the Bushman’s Bible, The Bulletin – and whose bequest created the Archibald Prize – was born in Geelong. Likewise, the artist Arthur Streeton, pioneer of Australian impressionism.
The greats keep coming, too: Tom Wills, father of Aussie Rules football, coach of the first Australian cricket team to tour England – and all Aborigines; World War I Victoria Cross recipients Albert Jacka, Rupert Moon and James Newland; bohemian arts patron Harry Tatlock Miller; opera singer Marjorie Lawrence; wool tycoon Frederick Dalgety; goldsmith Stuart Devlin; inventor-publisher James Harrison.
One of the most remarkable legends was the giant, figuratively and literally, William Buckley. His years living with the Wathaurong, after escaping a convict settlement at Sorrento in 1803, and his efforts as ‘go-between man’ trying to negotiate the black-white divide constitute one of Geelong’s greatest but little known stories.
The figures in Legends of Geelong are featured with biographical narratives, portrait images and memorabilia, artworks or publications illustrating aspects of their life.
The gallery hosts Legends of Geelong until 15 February.
