Entertainment of Wonders and the Conflux of Apparent Miracles: Magic, Cinema and Illusion in Turn-of-the-Century Performance

In August 1896, the flamboyant American illusionist and magician Carl Hertz arrived in Melbourne with what his advertising presented as 'the two wonders of the world' – Carl Hertz, and the greatest attraction of the century: the Cinématographe. His newly purchased film equipment featured prominently in his performances, and projected the earliest moving pictures seen in Australia. Though these historic screenings are said to mark the beginning of film in this country, we sometimes forget that cinema was merely one of many incredible, and often macabre, illusionistic wonders in popular entertainment.