Much of the appeal was purely salacious, but it was also presented as a form of moral instruction – examples of ‘what may happen to a boy in Victoria’. What tended to hold the most fascination was the Chamber of Horrors with its likenesses of notorious criminals and scenes of torture. The main front hall of the waxworks towards the end of the 19th century. īurke and Wills wax diorama at the waxworks from 1862 H2011.8
A life-size tableau of the explorers Burke and Wills (and King) was among one of the many figures on display, and appeared with astonishing speed, within weeks of news breaking about the ill-fated Victorian Exploration Expedition. New figures were constantly added to keep up with current events. Wax figures included members of royalty, Napoleon, the Pope (wearing robes made by the nuns at the Abbotsford Convent), Voltaire, and Shakespeare. Bourke Street, north side between Russell and Swanston Streets, (circa 1888) H81.111 The waxworks final location being between the Melbourne Coffee Palace and Parer’s Crystal Cafe.
Thus we have the Bearded Lady looking benevolently upon Mr John Pascoe Fawkner, who, by the way, seems from his expression of countenance, by no means impressed with the compliment.’
‘Distinctions of social rank or of moral qualities are, however, totally ignored. It displayed wax models of historical and current figures both international and local, sometimes to amusing effect: Like it’s famous London counterpart – Madame Tussaud’s wax museum (est 1835) – the Melbourne waxworks walked the line between ‘instructive entertainment’ and sensationalism. The Melbourne waxworks was a wildly popular institution for over half a century. ‘The advertisements state truly that “everybody goes to the Waxworks” and judging by the crowds that are constantly undergoing the process of ingress and egress … one can readily believe, not only that everybody goes, but that everybody goes more than once.’
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