Town criers Melva and Stan Stott, looking splendid in their tricorn hats and period costumes, are standing at the door of a coach, greeting the somewhat bemused passengers.
‘Hear ye, visitors to Anglesea! We would welcome you to this beautiful part of the world. You are now on the Great Ocean road, truly one of the world’s most spectacular thoroughfares.... Oyez! Oyez!’
Melva, 56, in long, hooped dress and lace-up boots, and ex-clockmaker Stan, 60, in replica First Fleet naval bibbed uniform, believe they are the only husband-and-wife town criers in the world. And they’re practising for the world town crier championships to take place in Britain. Melva, "daughter of an English King" (‘he came from a long line of Kings, the 10th of 15 children born to the King family in a Landkey village near Barnstaple"), has a husky voice.
Is that due to too much public crying? ‘No,’ she giggles. ‘It’s always like this. Some people say it’s sexy.’
Stan, clad in replica uniform of a First Lieutenant of the Sirius, has gold-buckled shoes matching the bell he rings. The couple took up town crying four years ago, both coming from a theatrical background. ‘We enjoy dressing up in costumes,’ says Melva. ‘Most town criers are entertainers of some sort; otherwise they wouldn’t have the courage to go out and shout at people in the street. We don’t shout at each other at home...oh, maybe when we practise. You really do need a loud voice; loud-voiced people seem to get more points in competition than the quieter ones.’
Melva is one of only two women town criers in Australia and she declares she and Stan are also the only husband-and-wife town criers in the world to cry together. The Stotts belong to The Ancient and Honourable Guild of Australian Town Criers of which there are 36. It started when they went to hear a town crying championship in nearby Geelong, learned the rules and caught the enthusiasm of others practising the art. ‘Most town criers are retired; it’s a good retirement hobby,’ Melva points out. ‘Stan won his first competition in Anglesea. He was actually the only one who entered. I did my first cry in New Zealand.’
When seaside Anglesea’s 3,000-strong population swells to 30,000 in the holiday season, Stan and Melva get into their outfits to meet buses; Melva in a flowing period skirt and Stan in elaborate blue jacket, tails swept back, white pantaloons joining white hose, swinging their bells and extolling the virtues of the beach and mountains to important visitors.
‘My Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen!
Your Excellency, the Governor,
Richard McGarvie and Mrs. McGarvie,
Commissioner Toni McCormack,and Shire Officials,
Distinguished guests and residents!
As Town Criers for the SurfCoast
we welcome our Governor
to our fair and beautiful Shire!’
Melva remembers startling the passengers by doing a cry on a Melbourne tram (in exchange for a free ride) and Stan went one better and cried in a fish-shop. ‘We advertise anything that’s going on in the community,’ says Melva. ‘We go to school and scout camps and tell them what’s going on in town. We are very proud of where we live and we have welcomed the Premier of Victoria, Mr. Jeff Kennett, to Anglesea.’ Sometimes their outfits confuse bystanders when they’re doing a cry in the streets. ‘We are often mistaken for pirates, or Captain Cook and Mrs. Cook.’
