Bob Slater
George Coppin
The actor
The person
“Mr Coppin” wrote Charles Kean to his daughter Mary in May 1864, ‘is a good businessman and I believe a truly honourable and upright man but he is a common man and possesses a certain rudeness of manner which is very unpleasant when things do not run smoothly and at the present time he dives both hands deep into his side pockets and looks both blank and black and gives short and curt answers… a well bred man of the world has the art to hide such feelings’, Extract of Article by Sally O’Neill Biographer
The Businessman/Politician/Sportsman/
Freemason
. Theatre owner (Olympic Theatre, Theatre Royal, Haymarket +3)
. Banker (Director, Commercial Bank of Australia – Later to be absorbed by Westpac)
. Railways Financier – Melbourne & Suburban Railway
. Amusement Park Owner (Cremorne Gardens)
. Resort Developer and Owner (Sorrento)
. Football (Carlton President 1871)
. Cricket (Richmond President, International Sponsor)
. First Grand Master, United Grand Lodge of Victoria)
The entrepreneur
. Entertainment
- Olympic Theatre (‘The Iron Pot’)
- Royal Hotel
- Theatre Royal
- Haymarket Theatre
- Promoter – Loa Montez (1856); Nicholas Nickleby (1871)
- Cremorne Gardens
. Resorts
- Coppin named and developed the seaside town of Sorrento, where he built his country home The Anchorage.
- He also owned a beautiful little inlet on Victoria’s west coast, Apollo Bay, after his ship The Apollo
. Other
- First shipment of ice, first roller-skates, first equestrian show, first hot air balloons, first lions, first English thrushes and camels.
- Charles Dickens, cricket, football and horse racing
The humanist
The Old Colonists’ Association was founded in Victoria in 1869 by Politician and actor George Coppin to form a permanent Society of Old Colonists and a memorial to the pioneers of Port Phillip District. It was a charitable organization to house and care for elderly people who were far from home and often destitute. Coppin’s aim was not simply to found a social club for prosperous old Colonists to meet one another in comfortable surroundings and exchange success stories, but to assist those pioneers who ha been unable to provide for their old age by providing accommodation for them. His own precarious existence in the theatre may have made him sympathetic to those experiencing Financial hardship –Tiltern Athanaem
His Legacy
. Australian Theatre (Sydney, Melbourne, Launceston & Adelaide)
. Gordon House
. J.C. Williamson & Maggie Moore
. Torrens Title/Post Office savings banking
. Freemasons Homes
. Old Colonists’ Association/Homes
. Sorrento
. Hot Air Balloons
. Cricket Tests/ Wicket keeping/Bowls
. Victorian Humane Society
. the Dramatic and Musical Society
Epilogue
“Coppin has been credited with both fathering the Australian theatre and inaugurating its second phase of development by introducing the ’pemicious “starring tours” of visiting celebrities’. The first claim can well be disputed. Undoubtedly his enterprise was irrepressible. The business of entertainment suited his talents but, more important, he had an ingrained love of the theatre. He acted to make money but he found a stage in many other spheres. His progressive approach to the theatre was evident in his methods of advertising, his insistence on correct costuming, and his recognition in 1871 of the need for a school of acting to develop Australian talent. However he was not always Scrupulous in dealing with rivals” Sally O’Neill - Biographer