This medal and postcard provide glimpses into the international exhibition movement and the enthusiasms and concerns of the societies that embraced it. During the nineteenth century international exhibitions were the shopfront of the industrial revolution and new global economy. They expressed national pride, enabling nations, empires and colonies to showcase their achievements in science, art and industry, and to promote their social and cultural values. Visitors could marvel at the latest technological inventions, sample exotic cultures and be entertained by theatrical, musical and circus performances, or educated by art shows and ‘improving’ lectures.

The international exhibition movement began with the Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations – known as the Great Exhibition – at London’s Crystal Palace, a revolutionary structure of cast-iron and glass, in 1851. At this time, Great Britain was the leader of the Industrial Revolution and the Great Exhibition was a symbol of the Victorian Age and British imperial self-confidence.

During the five months of the exhibition, more then six million visitors viewed some 13,000 displays from around the world and the profits paid for the establishment of major scientific and cultural institutions. Tasmania provided the largest number of exhibits of the three Australian colonies appearing, and this official bronze exhibitor’s medal was presented to the colony following the exhibition. It is engraved with the words: ‘EXHIBITION OF THE WORKS OF INDUSTRY OF ALL NATIONS’. The Crystal Palace postcard is one of a series featuring steel engravings with coloured inks that were produced as souvenirs of the exhibition. The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery has seven of these postcards in its collection.

The Great Exhibition captured the world’s imagination and over the next 50 years exhibitions were held on every inhabited continent. In Tasmania, a series of arts and industrial exhibitions led up to modest international exhibitions held in Launceston in 1891/92 and Hobart in 1894/95.