Centenary of Melbourne Birthday Cake Clock: A Silver Spectacle

The sterling silver Centenary of Melbourne Birthday Clock Cake, James W. Steeth & Son, 1934, in sterling silver and silver gilt featuring five tiers with candles, kangaroo and emu emblems, a clock mechanism with an enamel dial with hour markings reading Birthday Cake, and featuring the female figures of Peace and Prosperity and gold boomerang hands, with engraved plaque to the ebonised base Centenary of Melbourne 1834-1934, the first tier featuring a gilt map of Victoria and the wording Supplied By The Myer Emporium Ltd. Melbourne, and engraved verso, J W Steeth & Son, Makers, Arco House Melbourne, each tier and and various components marked sterling, 18.11 in. high, 12.99 in. diameter (ebonised base), 4.5kg silver weight (approx), The Centenary of Melbourne Birthday Cake Clock, 1934, In 1934-35 Melbourne marked its centenary year with great aplomb with John Batman's much lauded 1835 diary entry: 'This will be the place for a village', providing the springboard for nearly a year of events and pageantry. Victoria and Melbourne, along with the rest of the country, was reeling from the devastating effects of the Great Depression, (in 1933 one in three breadwinners was unemployed), but the appointed Centenary Celebrations Council clearly relished presenting Melbourne as a city of growth, prosperity and modernity. Some 300 centenary events ran from October 1934 to June 1935 including a Royal tour by Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester whose speech to formally open the Centenary firmly cemented ties between Victoria's settlement and the founding of Melbourne with Empire; an International Centenary Air Race sponsored by Macpherson Robertson, of chocolate making renown; a splendid Centenary People's Fair, 'Joyland', on Batman Avenue on the banks of the Yarra; a gigantic birthday cake, and; the Centenary All-Australian Exhibition, events showcasing the endeavour, 'happiness' and progress of the city of one million people., The Centenary Birthday cake was a spectacle. A fruit cake of five tiers, weighing an extraordinary 10 tons and comprising 36 000 eggs, 1½ tons each of sugar and butter, 4 ½ tons of mixed fruit and other 'all Australian' ingredients it was enthusiastically reported as the world's largest cake ever made, baked by confectioner George Rath, of the Astoria cafe in Swanston Street.