Bob Slater - George Coppin
Bob Slater spoke about George Selth Coppin (1819 – 1906) The Comedian
The Actor
On-stage performances from Age 6 to Age 82
- UK: Woolwich Theatre, Richmond, Queen’s Theatre (London), Dublin
- 1843 – 1844 Sydney
- 1844 – 1845 Launceston/Hobart (built Theatre Royal)
- 1845 Melbourne - (built Olympic, Theatre Royal, Haymarket)
- 1846 Adelaide – (built Queen’s Theatre)
- 1848 Melbourne
- 1854-1866 Partnership with G V Brooke
The Person
Born Sussex, England, 1819
Arrived Sydney, 1843
Launceston, 1844
Melbourne, 1845
Adelaide, 1846
Victorian Goldfields, 1848
Geelong, 1850
England, 1854
Melbourne, 1855
Married – Harriet Bray, 1855
Richmond Councillor, 1857
MLC, 1858-1863
Harriet died, 1859
Married - Lucy Hilsden, 1861
G’fields/Sydney/Dunedin1862
Bankrupt/USA, 1863-1864
MLA, 1874-1889
Retired from Theatre 1882
MLC, 1889-1895
Died Melbourne, 1906
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)
- Lower House/ Upper House Politician
- Football (Carlton – President 1871)
- Cricket (Richmond – President; internat. sponsor)
- First Grand Master, United Grand Lodge of Victoria
The Entrepreneur
- Entertainment
– Olympic Theatre (‘The Iron Pot’)
– Royal Hotel
– Theatre Royal
– Haymarket Theatre
– Promoter - Lola 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 named 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 first camels.
– Charles Dickens, cricket, football and horse racing.
The Humanist
“Coppin showed a marked talent for applying his energies to the promotion of specific reforms or institutions which had caught his attention. In the Victorian Legislative Council in 1863 he campaigned for the introduction of Post Office savings banks based on the English Act of 1861. More often his philanthropy worked independently or in the municipal sphere.”
“He opposed the payment of members of parliament, and when it was passed gave his salary to charities”
Sally O’Neill, biographer
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 the Port Phillip District. It was a charitable organisation 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 had 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.
Chiltern Athenaem
His Legacy
- Australian Theatre (Sydney, Melbourne, Launceston, Adelaide)
- Gordon House
- J.C. Williamson & Maggie Moore
- Torrens Title/ Post Office savings banking
- Freemasons Homes
- The Old Colonists’ Association/ Homes
- Sorrento
- Hot Air Balloons
- Cricket Tests / wicket keeping/Bowls
- Victorian Humane Society
- St John Ambulance in Melbourne
- 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 'pernicious “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