On this day ………… 10th March 1891

Before the days of motion pictures, the next best thing was cyclorama, a huge mural of some particular gripping episode in history which surrounded the viewer. By 1891, the gramophone had arrived on the entertainment scene and for added realism, recordings of sound effects could be played. Thus it was that the 1891 cyclorama of the battle of Waterloo opened in Melbourne on this day to huge crowds. Not only did the whole panorama look spectacular with artificial smoke drifting across the battlefields and recordings of cannons booming out, but it had a real life relic of the famous battle. The promoter of cyclorama had discovered in a benevolent home, a soldier who had been involved in the battle. His name was Jeremiah Brown and he was just short of his 99th birthday. The promoters found an old uniform for Jeremiah and gave him a place of honour in he display where he told wide eyed boys of all ages of his adventure as a 14 year old at the battle of Waterloo.