William Elton

Welcome to the wonderful, exciting, exotic and dazzling world of Djin-Djin! The stage presentation was a massive success in the latter part of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, throughout Australia and New Zealand and even on tour in South Africa in 1903. The world of Princes, Princesses, the evil Bogie-man, Dames and Damsels and everything in between. Never heard of the show? Fear not, you are not alone. The show that saved J.C. Williamson's from bankruptcy; that was so incredibly successful that every performance had the "HOUSE FULL" sign out the front of the theatre in which it was playing, and as a result turned people away in droves at every performance, is now largely forgotten. Opening in 1895, it seems there were popular revivals of the show for around ten years before it disappeared completely. This was quite possibly largely due to the fire in the Theatre Royal, Durban on 20 October 1903, where it was playing during the South African tour, which took with it all of the costumes and properties. Nothing exists today except the script, an incomplete musical score, some original scenery and costume designs and a few programmes. Gone and forgotten. Until now!

Great success from adversity is certainly a tried and true subject. And that is true of the 1895 production at The Princess' Theatre on Spring Street in Melbourne, Djin-Djin, or to give the show its full title, Djin-Djin, The Japanese Bogie-Man or The Great Shogun Who Lost His Son & The Little Princess Who Found Him.  They didn't do things by halves back then, which included the title for the pantomimes which were presented. The story behind the production of Djin-Djin is almost as incredible as the storyline of the show itself. Welcome to Djin-Djin and the incredible story of its birth, success, disappearance and now its new life, with our exhibition of twenty-four original costume designs by Will R. Barnes along with specially made recreations of three of the costumes just for this exhibition. 

We are indebted to Isla Baring, daughter of JCW Managing Director, Sir Frank Tait and Lady Viola Tait, for her very generous donation of twenty-four original hand-painted watercolour costume designs by Will R. Barnes to Beleura which are the inspiration of our exhibition. 

Depression!

The 1890s brought with it a great depression.  Not only the depression but also a severe drought. Businesses closed, banks closed and with the hard times, theatre house numbers slumped. J. C. Williamson and George Musgrove, the co-directors of the largest theatrical organisation in the world at that time, were in trouble. Big trouble. They needed a show that would bring audiences back into their theatres across Australia and New Zealand. At the time, they were presenting revivals of Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas and other favourites rather than spend money on new productions, but these had all been seen before and people weren't willing to part with their money for yet another revival. 

J. C. Williamson

George Musgrove

Williamson sent his business partner, George Musgrove to London to see if there was something new that would entice audiences back into their theatres, but there was nothing. Nothing new or exciting. The only solution was to create their own unique, all-Australian production. 

And so, with the assistance of one of his managers, Bert Royle, who had already proved himself as a writer of reputation, the men set to work on a new pantomime. But not just another pantomime which would be the same formula as those which had played before, this would be an all-Australian pantomime and one which was aimed at a mature, adult audience. It was a total break away from the nursery rhyme storylines such as Mother Goose or Dick Whittington normally presented in the pantomime format. Williamson also decided to cash in on the massive success of The Mikado and the craze for all things Japanese which was sweeping the world by storm. An Australian story with strong Japanese additions.

It was to be the most expensive and lavish production mounted in Australia at the time but with the country in the middle of a depression and disastrous drought, no bank would loan the money to cover the initial costs. 

It was after an evening performance of the comic opera season which was playing at The Princess' Theatre, which had opened just nine years earlier, when James Cassius Williamson called everyone connected with the show onto the stage. Cast, orchestra members, scenic painters and stagehands, wardrobe dressers and Front of House staff were all assembled on the stage. Williamson stood on a chair in front of everyone and told them, with a tremble in his voice, that they were in desperate trouble; that a new show was in the pipeline which they hoped would bring their audiences back and put the company in the black and save them from bankruptcy. With tears in his eyes and a wavering voice, he asked his loyal staff if they would be willing  to work for six days with five days' pay in order to keep the theatre running, and everyone in full employment, so the rest could be put into this new production. "Three cheers for the Guv'nor", came a cry from a cast member and the company agreed unanimously to the request. It was full steam ahead with preparations for Djin-Djin, The Japanese Bogie-Man. 

Pictorial Souvenir

The Firm's resident stage director 'Johnny' Wallace

A lavish production indeed it was. Williamson put his trusted A-team to work on the show straight away. The cast consisted of approximately two hundred people.  There were forty principal roles, over sixty ballet dancers, twice as many as normal to cope with the lightning quick costume changes; chorus ladies and gentlemen, a children's chorus, acrobats and jugglers, extra ladies and gentlemen as well as a host of supernumeraries.

Behind the scenes was a large orchestra, an army of costume makers, scenery builders and painters, property men, gasmen and electricians and limelight men, scene shifters, flymen, all of whom numbered over one hundred. 

Added to this were the JCW finest creative powers. Leon Caron was the show's composer and Musical Director with George F. Pack writing additional music. The scenic designers were the best. George Gordon, who had also designed the lavish interiors at The Princess' Theatre nine years earlier, Phil Goatcher, who was one of the highest paid designers in the world, and Walter Spong. The lavish costumes were designed by Will R. Barnes, with the exception of The Golden Ballet finale which was designed and constructed by London based designers Monsieur and Madame Alias and then shipped to Australia. The Dance Arranger was Madame Rosalie Philipinni and the Wardrobe Mistress was Emily Nathan. All the best in the business. John Wallace not only directed the show but also arranged the Marches.

Scenic design for the Fan Ballet - Australian Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne

Williamson had the latest theatrical machinery sent over from London for the spectacular effects of an on-stage earthquake, and a flying machine. William Hassan devised machinery which made bare cherry blossom trees in the Winter scenes burst into flower before the audience's eyes for the arrival of Spring as well as lava flowing from the erupting Mount Fuji during the show's climax. 

Djin-Djin had an incredible ten full transformation scenes in it. On 27 December 1895, the day after its opening performance on Boxing Day of that year, The Argus declared:

It is an orgy of splendor from beginning to end: a surfeit of rich colour, of architectural and landscape scenery which has all the charm of novelty and freshness, of sumptuous costumes, gorgeous processions, Oriental pageantry, rapid and dazzling movements, ballets that are all sparkle and glitter, and stage groupings that fascinate the attention  by their rapid and kaleidoscopic changes.

Scenic designer George Gordon would wait in the wings and walk onto the stage to take a bow after setting reveals and transformation scenes during the thunderous applause which erupted throughout the auditorium. Audiences had  never seen anything of this scale before!

The crowded auditorium of the Princess' Theatre, Melbourne (1896)

The Costumes. 

The exhibition at Beleura in Mornington of twenty-four original 1895 watercolour costume designs were the creation of Will R. Barnes.

Born in 1851 in Geelong, Victoria, Will Barnes was a cartoonist, illustrator and watercolour painter. His father, William Barnes senior, was an illustrator for the Melbourne magazine, Punch from 1855-1869. 

Barnes heard that J.C. Williamson was looking for a costume designer for an upcoming, lavish production and decided to give costume designing a shot so he took some of his work to the JCW offices and was given the job of creating hundreds of costume designs on the spot, with no theatre design experience. His costumes received rave reviews from critics and audience members alike. 

His talents would be used by Williamson's again in the 1896 equally extravagant pantomime Matsa, Queen of Fire and Tapu in 1897.

In 1898, Barnes went to New York to try his luck where he worked until 1924, designing thousands of costumes for over fifty productions including those at the 5,500 seat Hippodrome Theatre. He would also design lavish costumes for Barnum and Bailey. At one point there were twelve productions playing on Broadway at the one time featuring his costume designs. Will R. Barnes died in America in 1939 aged eighty-eight. The watercolour designs in our exhibition show his versatility and imagination, particularly seeing this was the first stage production he worked on.  

Will Barnes

Emily Nathan

Special mention must go to Emily Nathan who worked in the wardrobe department for Williamson's for fifty-five years.

She would have worked very closely alongside Will Barnes, who had no costume designing or dress-making experience at the time of Djin-Djin, guiding him in the right direction and making adjustments to his designs to make them work for the stage.

Miss Nathan was born in Hobart on December 14, 1858 and began working for Williamson-Garner-Musgrove in 1881. Her first job as a costume maker was in 1882. She was quickly promoted to Wardrobe Mistress and worked on costumes for two generations of leading ladies. Dame Nellie Melba had many costumes made by Emily and the legendary Nellie Stewart referred to her as "The Mistress of the Robes". So trusted was she by Williamson management that she would often spend hundreds of pounds on fabrics at a time, sometimes buying several hundreds of yards in one shopping trip. She had a team of fifteen to thirty workers under her supervision but always preferred to do her leading lady's costumes herself, doing all of the intricate beading and sequinning and sewing of thousands of tiny pearls by hand, working from 7am until 3am the next day so she could see the costumes in both daylight and at night under stage lighting. 

She would also reproduce designs by the famous costume designers Monsieur and Madame Alias of London for productions which came to Australia. She also made costumes for the first Australian productions of Florodora,The Bing Boys Are Here, the lavish spectacle Australis, Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas and Havana in 1909, one newspaper writing how she cut one hundred and sixty Spanish style dresses as well as all of the principal's costumes.

Emily Nathan died aged eighty-nine in 1948 in Bondi where she shared a house with three of her unmarried sisters, the house full of Victoriana. Her contribution to the costumes for Djin-Djin would have been enormous. 

The Creatives.  

The Musical Score. 

The score for Djin-Djin was in the capable hands of Frenchman Leon Caron. Born in France on January 13, 1859, he was one of three candidates for the prestigious Grand Prix de Rome prize in 1870. After working successfully as a Musical Director in London and America, he made his way to Australia where he got a job as violinist at the Melbourne Opera House and then became Musical Director for the William Lyster Grand Italian Opera Company. After a short time there he worked for George Coppin's company, composing the music for the production Babes In The Woods.

He became Musical Director for the Williamson-Garner-Musgove organization in 1887 and wrote the music for Djin-Djin in 1895 and followed it with the score to Matsa, Queen of Fire the following year. In 1900 he would conduct the production which opened the newly renovated Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne, H.M.S. Pinafore. His last production under the Williamson banner was in 1903 with The Country Girl.

During his lifetime he would compose ballets, music for stage Tableaux, which were very popular at the time, and special songs which were interpolated into existing shows.

Special mention must be given to the production Australis; Or The City of Zero : A Spectacle of a Hundred Years, which opened on December 26, 1900 at Her Majesty's Theatre in Sydney. It was a fantasy set in the year 2000 after the war of the worlds which left Australia as the only country which remained, run badly by an ex-Trade Union leader!

Caron was also commissioned to write a special Cantata titled, Victoria, Victoria for the grand opening of the newly built Exhibition Building in Melbourne in 1880, the orchestra and choir numbering over 1,000.  

Caron, who was highly regarded as a conductor, arranger and composer of orchestral and choral works, died on May 29, 1905 following a series of heart attacks, aged fifty-five.

Rising young musician George F. Pack contributed to the score with some of the lighter songs. 

Leon Caron and George Pack

Bert Royale

The lyrics for the songs in Djin-Djin were written by Bert Royle, who also co-wrote the script with J. C. Williamson. Arriving from England in 1888, he got work with the Williamson-Garner-Musgrove organisation the following year as an actor and singer, appearing in a number of Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas and other musical presentations. A gifted writer he was soon collaborating with Leon Caron on pantomimes such as Ali Baba,Red Riding Hood and The House that Jack Built. 

He began working as JCW's literary secretary in 1895 and moved to New Zealand in 1898 where he acted as Williamson's and Musgrove's representative.  He managed the JCW business in New Zealand from 1901 until his death in 1929.

The Scenic Designers.

Three of the top scenic designers in Australia set to work on Djin-Djin creating a total of ten transformation scenes and scenic effects, such as the earthquake where "the great dragon topples over bodily, and then pile upon pile the massive pillars fall from their foundation. The manner in which the ruins pile up is extraordinary. There, in the foreground, lie the broken columns, and back of all is the open country lit up with the red light from the volcano in the distance with its flowing lava." Other scenes were described, "Never before have the eyes of theatre-goers been privileged to gaze on such a feast of color. The variations are infinite. Now it is a landscape scene in tender graduations of peacock blues and subdued reds; now we have a carnival, all Chinese lanterns and soft moonlight."

Djin-Djin discovered within "The Ruined Temple of Gompachi" (scenery by George Gordon)

George Gordon was the main designer of Djin-Djin with each setting reveal receiving rapturous applause. So much so that he would come onto the stage to take a bow following many scenes.  He was also responsible for the newly built Princess' Theatre and painted the first drop curtains in 1886. He worked on productions such as The Pirates of Penzance, Iolanthe, Patience, The Mikado, The Sorcerer and The Geisha. 

George Gordon

Phil Goatcher

Walter Spong

Phil Goatcher was the highest paid scenic designer and painter in the world when Williamson brought him to Australia in 1892. Principal painter for the D'Oyly Carte Company and Covent Garden and The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, his reputation was world-wide. A master at perspective and illusion, he also designed and painted the interiors of theatres, The Block Arcade in Melbourne, as well as productions such as Trilby, Aladdin,The Chocolate Soldier and The Gondoliers.

He was commissioned to paint the front curtain at the Boulder Town Hall in Western Australia in 1908. Found discarded and damaged by vandals, water and dust, $250,000 was spent to fully restore it in 1991 over six months.  Because of its historic importance, it is now considered to be priceless and is thought to be the last surviving curtain of its kind in the world. His scenery for "The Hall of a Thousand Storks" in Djin-Djin was considered to be a masterpiece in perspective. The last production he designed and painted for Williamson's was The Merry Widow in 1917.  Goatcher died in Perth in 1931.

"The Hall of a Thousand Storks" (scenery by Phil Goatcher)

Walter Spong was responsible for "The Golden Ballet Finale". One critic wrote of this setting, "Here Mr. Spong has given us a setting of unrivaled magnificence, and here too, the management have provided that wonderful electric curtain which just gives the gorgeous spectacle its necessary background of glowing fire. Everything is suffused with a deep golden glow."

"Palace Gardens of the Daimio Hojo No Kami" (scenery by George Gordon)

"... Mr. George Gordon never before painted such a magnificent landscape in his life as the palace gardens of the Daimio", enthused the critic for Table Talk in the edition for Friday, 3 January 1896.

"... the temple and the Damio's palace present the most characteristic styles of Japanese architecture." - On and Off the Stage, Table Talk, Friday, 27 December 1895

"Courtyard of Daimio's Palace" (scenery by George Gordon)

George Gordon and staff at work at the paint-frames in the Princess' Theatre

Tap here to view a detailed Synopsis of Scenery and Events for Djin-Djin.

Dance Arrangements.

Madame Rosalie Phillipini was responsible for the dance arrangements and tableaux for the production. Brought to Australia by J. C. Williamson in 1893, she was appointed Directress of the Royal Ballerinas, a troupe of permanent dancers with the Williamson company. She created the dances for both Djin-Djin in 1895 and for Matsa, Queen of Fire the following year. She also created new full-length ballets, the most notable being Turquoisette: A Study in Blue. Madame Phillipini ran a dancing school at The Princess' Theatre, two of her star pupils being Jennie Brenan, who herself would go on to be one of JCW's choreographers, and Mary Weir, the featured dancer who would become the second Mrs. J.C. Williamson and the mother of his two daughters. 

 Madame Rosalie Phillipini

The juvenile performers of the Fan ballet  The Princes of All NationsMillie Young as 'Prince Polenta' on the far right, with his attendant 'Diminuendo'

Tap here to view the credits for the Production personnel for Djin-Djin.

The Cast of Djin Djin. 

Many notable performers were employed by the Williamson-Musgrove company for their 1895 extravaganza. Some of the better known names of today were:

Florence Young, sister-in-law to Sir George Tallis, owner of Beleura, and principal soprano of Williamson and Musgrove's Royal Comic Opera Company, played the role of Prince Eucalyptus.

Millie Young, Florence's sister and wife of Sir George Tallis. Millie played Prince Polenta. 

Edward Farley played the title role of the Djin-Djin, complete with a somewhat startling costume!! 

Englishman, William Elton, who had been principal comedian in the Royal Comic Opera Company between 1887- 1891 (with which he had created the roles of King Gama in Princess Ida, Jack Point in The Yeomen of the Guard and the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers in the Australian premiere productions, amongst many others), played the comic role of Tom Wallaby.

Flora Graupner, another stalwart of the Royal Comic Opera Company, played the role of Princess Iris. 

English comedian and dancer, John Coleman played the 'Dame' role of Okiama, the Daimio's elderly maiden sister.  (Coleman had been playing in variety under engagement to Harry Rickards, who released him to play the role in the pantomime for Williamson and Musgrove). 

Carrie Moore made her professional stage debut at the age of 13 as Prince Omi (who first appeared in Act II in the guise of a baboon, as the result of an enchanted spell).  She and Ivy Scott (as Princess Cheekee), popularised the interpolated duet "I Don't Want to Play in Your Yard" by H.W. Petrie and Philip Wingate.

The role of Dede, a dancing role, was originally played by Marietta Nash in Melbourne but for the Sydney season, the role was played by Mary Weir. Miss Weir would go on to become the second Mrs. J. C. Williamson and was the mother of his two daughters. 

Two popular family troupes were employed for the production, the Flying Banvards and The Ridgeway Family, both families of parents, teenaged and young children. Professor Smith's Wonderful Bicycle Act was also a feature! 

Tap here to view the principal cast list of Djin-Djin.

Florence Young as 'Prince Eucalyptus' 

The Flying Banvards

The Ridgeways

John Coleman in the 'Dame' role

Okiama (John Coleman) sings the comical song "Airy Fairy" accompanied by the courtiers strumming their Shamisens

Prince Eucalyptus (Florence Young) kneels before the enthroned Princess Iris (Flora Graupner) to pledge his love (at left), while the other foreign Princes and courtiers look on.

Tap here to read Bert Royale and J.C. Williamson's script for Djin-Djin (transcribed as a Word-Document).

Lady Viola Tait's Dream and the Exhibition at Beleura House and Garden in Mornington. 

At the conclusion of the mighty J. C. Williamson Theatre empire in 1976, the subsequent selling off of its theatres, workshops and archives was divided or discarded. Scenery and costumes were either sold off in sales or put into hire through various hiring companies; notes, receipts, photographs, and other memorabilia were tossed out by the ton. A lot was acquired by various State institutions such as the newly formed Performing Arts Museum at the Victorian Arts Centre, The State Library of Victoria, State Library of New South Wales and other Government bodies. A lot, however, was simply discarded. Word got out and theatre lovers swamped Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne during the throw out and a lot of treasures were saved. Lady Viola Tait, widow of the late Sir Frank Tait who was one of the J. C. Williamson General Managers and the fifth brother of the mighty theatrical Tait brothers, was one of the many people who hastily went to The Maj to rescue as much as she could. Among the many, many items, thousands of items in fact, which became The Tait Collection, were the twenty-four costume designs from the 1895 Pantomime, Djin-Djin which Beleura House and Garden is pleased to present as their first exhibition for 2026.

Will Barnes' design for Prince Eucalyptus's dress costume

Design for The Shogun 

It was Lady Tait's dream to mount an exhibition of these original watercolour costume designs, by Australian artist Will R. Barnes, as part of the 1996 Spoleto Melbourne Festival of Arts. She gathered a small team of notable people to assist with the project, including the Victorian Premier at the time, The Honourable Jeff Kennett, the Artistic Director of the Melbourne International Festival, Leo Schofield, the Artistic Director of The Adelaide Festival, Barrie Kosky, Mrs. Cecily Storey, wife of the Victorian Minister for the Arts, and the Consul General of Japan. 

Letters were sent out to all of the heads of businesses with Japanese connections, Japanese cars and other high profile products, in the hope that the Australian-Japanese theme of the production and exhibition would encourage them to donate towards the costs. Sadly the exhibition, which included plans for four foot cut out copies of the original costume designs to go alongside the watercolours, and an audio-visual presentation aimed at children on the history of Pantomime, never came to fruition.

Work had commenced with contributions from well known Melbourne scenic designer Paul Kathner and film-maker Paul Cox. David Marriner of Marriner Theatres had agreed to give one of the function rooms at the newly re-opened, and lavishly restored, Regent Theatre for the exhibition and its launch. But without proper funding, the project was abandoned, much to Lady Tait's heartache. 

Design for the "Golden Gate" Chrysanthemum Ballet costume

Design for Tom Wallaby's dress costume 

Jump forward twenty-nine years!  Over lunch with Lady Tait and Sir Frank Tait's daughters Isla and Sally, Isla happened to mention she had twenty-four original costume designs from the pantomime, Djin-Djin, and wanted to donate them to someone worthwhile but didn't know who. Beleura instantly came to my mind and within seconds my brain went into overdrive at the thought of bringing Lady Tait's dream to fruition. Perhaps a song written by the show's composer Leon Caron would be possible at the launch! A recreation of one of the costumes as a show-piece! And, of course, a photo of Lady Tait with text explaining her dream for her own exhibition back in 1996. A discussion with Martin Green, General Manager at Beleura, was highly successful and plans were underway for the exhibition. 

A meeting with Isla and Sally and Tait Memorial Trust member Diana Murray at Beleura was very successful and we all became hopelessly excited about plans for what would be an exhibition of the one hundred and thirty year old designs exactly thirty years after Lady Tait's vision! 

Lady Viola Tait

The Costume Reconstructions. 

Initially I thought one costume would be a good addition to the exhibition so guests to Beleura could get an idea of how the design might have ended up. After starting the first one I thought, perhaps a female costume to accompany the male one would be a nice touch. Two would look much better than one, after all. Having almost finished the first reconstruction I visualised the exhibition space one day and realised... THREE would actually work even better! Three seems to be better than two!! 

Now, I am NOT a sewer by any means. I've done a lot of restoration work on historic JCW costumes in my collection of twenty-four from the productions of My Fair Lady,No No Nanette,Irene,Camelot and Gypsy, but I've never made one from scratch! How hard could it be though? Start at the beginning and work up.  The interesting part about working directly from the watercolours of Mr. Barnes was, he was not a costume designer or tailor at the time. At that point he had no knowledge of how to constuct costumes and what was possible and what was not possible. He was given the job and he certainly produced incredible designs, but there were problems. Problems which would have been solved with some design alterations, by the JCW Head Wardrobe Mistress, Emily Nathan. 

Will Barnes' design for Djin-Djin 

Edward Farley poses in the finished costume

Sadly, I've only been able to find three of the Barnes’ costume designs in our exhibition in photographic form, as worn in the original production: that of the eponymous bogie-man, together with one of the Princess Iris costumes worn by Flora Graupner, and one of the Chrysanthemum Ballet designs. The design for the latter we have has "Golden Gate" written on the back, specifying it as the yellow variety of the flower. The photo of the assembled ballet dancers in the Chrysanthemum costumes shows there were sixteen dancers in this number and there seem to be five or six variations on the design as well as five or six different colours depending on the variety of the chrysanthemum. It's interesting to note that while most of Barnes' design ideas in the watercolour painting remain, some details have been slightly altered to make the sewing work better on the dancer's bodies OR to simply make them more practical to construct. One of the problems I was faced with was, what was the back of the costume like? How did the left-hand side of the costume connect to the right-hand side at the back?

Design for Princess Iris 

Flora Graupner as 'Princess Iris'

Other problems for me were finding the right fabrics, sometimes having to paint fabric in order to make it match a colour from the original watercolour; working from a design and getting my recreation as close to the watercolour design as I could. There was also every possibility that Emily Nathan had changed something that I was having difficulty with, from Barnes' design, that wasn't practical to make OR was historically incorrect, such as parts of the Shogun's Japanese collar.

Also my inability to machine sew was a problem. I did a lot by hand but for some of the construction I needed help. Thanks to my friend, Cheryl Martin AND her trusty sewing-machine for coming to the rescue with the construction of the main body of The Chrysanthemum Ballet dress and the blue jacket for the Tom Wallaby costume. Once I'd cut the pattern and Cheryl worked her magic from that, by referring to the original design, things were underway. There were also countless discussions about how the costumes might have been originally constructed and what alterations Emily Nathan would have made for practicality and appearance on the stage.

The Chrysanthemum Ballet troupe

My aim was to really honour the original watercolour designs of Will R. Barnes and to bring his work to life with the three recreations, but to also honour the work done by JCW Wardrobe Mistress, Emily Nathan and to add some of the subtle changes she made to his designs, such as dropping the back of the skirt section on the Chrysanthemen Ballet costume, without taking away from Barnes' designs. I like to feel both artists would be pleased with what I've done and would be absolutely thrilled to know their work is being displayed again for the public at Beleura House and Garden. 

My sincerest thanks to Isla Baring for trusting my decisions regarding the twenty-four designs and for the chance to bring her mother, Lady Viola Tait's, dream to reality. To Martin Green, Managing Director at Beleura, Lyn Johnson, temporary Archivist, for her initial help putting the exhibition together, and Beleura's new Archivist, Giselle Banks, for her enthusiasm and patience with my notes, emails and ideas, along with all of the staff at Beleura, for their absolute excitement and faith in the exhibition. What a great honour and adventure this has been, from the first casual discussion with Isla about what to do with the designs, to putting the scissors through the first piece of fabric for the recreations and now, bringing it all to guests at Beleura. 

I hope they enjoy Djin-Djin, The Japanese Bogie-man and its extraordinary story, from its conception to its production and now, to its 2026 presentation. Hopefully I'll see you there as well.

Kevin Coxhead. 

"My thanks to Rob Morrison for his additional information and assistance with the photograph and image resolution." 

For information about the exhibition at Beleura House and Garden in Mornington, phone 5975 2027 Tuesday - Friday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

 Beleura House & Garden, Mornington

Picture Sources

J.C. Williamson portrait, programme cover, cast, ballet and scenic photos from Souvenir of Djin-Djin digitised by the National Library of Australia, Canberra

Djin-Djin souvenir booklet - cover artwork by Will R. Barnes, also including Synopsis of Scenery and Events, Production personnel, cast list and script - State Library Victoria, Melbourne

The Princess' Theatre in 1893, two years prior to the production of Djin-Djin - State Library Victoria, Melbourne

George Musgrove, Co-Producer - Tait Collection

John Wallace portrait - Photograph album of Australian actors and actresses, ca. 1870 - ca. 1900, compiled by Gordon Ireland - State Library Victoria, Melbourne

Will Barnes at work - Melbourne Punch, 25 January 1900, p.4 

Emily Nathan - Rob Morrison collection

Leon Caron with George Pack, Associate Composer - Tait Collection

Bert Royle, Co-Writer and Lyricist - Tait Collection

George Gordon - The Australasian (Melbourne), 17 June 1899

Phil Goatcher - Falk Studios, 1896, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney

Walter Spong - Tait Collection

Courtyard of Daimio's Palace (scenery by George Gordon) - JCW Scene Book 3 - Theatre Heritage Australia

George Gordon and assistants at work in the old Princess' Theatre scenic paint-frame - photo by LUK - The Leader (Melbourne), 2 January 1897, p.7 

Madame Rosalie Phillipini, Dance Arranger - Rob Morrison collection

Scenic photos taken on stage during the Sydney season of Djin-Djin at the Lyceum Theatre by A.J. Perier (c.March 1896) - State Library of New South Wales, Sydney

Will R. Barnes' watercolour costume designs - Tait Collection

Lady Viola Tait - photo by Angus Forbes

All other photos and illustrations from the author's collection

English actor & vocalist. Né William John Shuttleworth. Born 1850, Manchester, England. Son of William Shuttleworth (surgeon). Married (1) Fanny Eliza Lewis, 1 September 1872, (2) ??, 1902. Died 27 January 1903, London, England, aged 51. Father of George Elton (actor) and Fanny Elton.

On stage in England and Australia.

Riley/Hailes Scrapbook, pages 93, 284.