In November 1923, the Royal Navy Special Service Squadron embarked from Plymouth on a trip around the Empire. The Squadron consisted of two battle cruisers, the Hood and the Repulse, and five light cruisers, the Danae, Dauntless, Delhi, Dragon and Dunedin. Their first stop was Sierra Leone followed by other ports in Africa, over to India, Penang and Singapore and then south to Fremantle, the first of eight Australian ports and then onto New Zealand and Fiji. This was the first naval cruise around the world since 1882 (1) and was a reminder of the kinship of the British Empire to its outlying dominions and that after the Great War, Britannia was still the Mistress of the Seas (2).
The planning had began at a St Kilda Council meeting held on Monday, January 21, 1924 when Cr Unsworth moved a motion That, in order to commemorate the visit of the British Fleet to Melbourne during the month of March, 1924, a St Kilda Gala week be arranged from the 17th March to the 22nd March inclusive or such other week as will fit in with the date of the proposed visit; that the co-operation of all the citizens, patriotic bodies, clubs, business people, entertainment proprietors be sought to make the proposed St. Kilda Gala week a fitting recognition of this most important event, and that the Mayor be empowered to call a meeting of citizens with a view to making the necessary arrangements (8). Cr Taylor seconded the move. Cr Clarke said a small committee should be appointed to draw up a programme, even though the Mayor, Cr Allen, said the Town Clerk, will no doubt do most of the work (9).
The motivation to host the fleet was twofold. Cr Unsworth said St Kilda was an ideal city and the only one that could lay itself out to have a gala week in honour of the the visit of the British Fleet and Cr Taylor said that it was the least they could do....to show their gratitude to the Jack Tars (10) who had done so much for them during the war (11).
Tuesday, March 18 was a day of sunshine and early Autumnal mildness (13) when Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick Field and senior officers arrived at St Kilda pier in the Vice-Admiral's pinnace at 11.00am (14). In beautiful sea-kissed St Kilda (15) they were greeted by the Town Clerk and then presented to the Mayor, Cr Allen, and a number of speeches were made. There were two thousand children from the three local state schools, Brighton Road, Elwood and St Kilda Park, who had each been given a small Australian flag to wave. A choir of 700 children from the schools sung Rule, Britannia and the National Anthem, accompanied by the St Kilda City Band. The choir master was the head master of Brighton Road, Mr H. E. F. Lampe (16). The day had been declared a public holiday and this ensured a good crowd, estimated at 30,000 (17).
But this was not the only event in St Kilda as Mr Chamberlin had planned a gala week, which had started the night before. The Age had a comprehensive report of the activities of the Tuesday night: Men, women and children came by train, tram, bus, motor car, and every other conceivable form of conveyance, each of which was crowded to its utmost capacity. People hung on to the sides of tram cars or stood, several deep, in motor buses, but once they reached St. Kilda they plunged into the fun and forgot all about the trials and troubles of getting there until it was time to get back home again.
The Esplanade itself was a struggling mass of humanity under a blaze of myriads of colored lights.... and every side show and amusement place added its quota of vari-colored lights. In the band stand, which had been artistically decorated, a band played catchy melodies that set the feet of the sailors and their newly-made friends itching to dance. A few could not resist the temptation to dance in the street, but most of the others found their way to one or other of the palais de danse, where men in uniform were admitted free. The scene at the Wattle Path Palais was a particularly brilliant one. A large number of officers and men accepted the invitation of the management to free dancing, and all appeared to be enjoying themselves to the full. At no time did any of the tars seems to have any difficulty in finding an abundance of partners.
Luna Park, with its many side shows and attractions, was the rendezvous of hundreds of the men of the fleet. They tackled, the scenic railway, the "big dipper" and other thrills with shouts and whoops that left no doubt as to how they were enjoying the fun. At all the other places of amusement the scene was equally gay and care-free. Sailors and citizens joined in fun and frolic. There was much laughter, shouting and joking, but through out the evening the fun was harmless. St. Kilda's welcome will undoubtedly serve to place that city 'on the map' as far as the visiting sailors, at least, are concerned (19).
The Prahran Telegraph summed up the week - How the sailors would have been welcomed if there had been no St. Kilda, we do not know. They would have had a poor time compared to the time they have had...The hospitality of St. Kilda has been of the most generous and lavish description, and nothing has been too much to do to give the bulk of the sailors innocent pleasures (24).
Acknowledgement
Thank you to my research colleague, Isaac Hermann, for alerting me to the photograph of the Palais Picture Theatre and Palais de Danse, St. Kilda and to Sandy Khazam, Team Leader Arts and Heritage, City of Port Phillip for kindly supplying me with the photograph. Isaac also provided me with some research and realised that the photo of the warship from the Gilmour and Penhalluriack album (see footnote 5) was actually the Danae and that it was taken during the visit of the fleet in March 1924.
Footnotes
(1) The Sydney Sun, November 28, 1923, see here. There is also detailed Australian itinerary on the Naval History Society of Australia website, here.
