b'A new era and a new nameAllen Allen & Hemsley The gold rush of the 1880s created a period of exuberance.announced they were leaving Colquhoun to become The residential property market boomed, especially incrown solicitor, and Friend to establish his own firm.Marvellous Melbourne, but the crash that followed causedTheir departures were a significant loss to the practice.pain across the Australian colonies. In 1888 property prices in Prahran, a suburb of Melbourne, peaked at an average ofSir George Wigram Allens son Arthur responded quickly1,000, but within ten years would average just 520.by inviting Alfred Hemsley to join the firm. Hemsley wasa promising young solicitor and dapper gentleman who had As real estate prices faltered, so did many of the novicearrived from England a few years earlier. He would prove building societies and property finance companies that hadan astute hire. His appointment in 1894 heralded a new funded the boom. By 1893 fifty- four of these businesses hadera for the firm under a new name Allen Allen & Hemsley collapsed only ten remained. The colonies entered a severe(aname that endured until 2001). Another notable change economic slump that saw GDP fall 17 per cent over 1892at this time was a move from the Elizabeth Street site in and 1893. A devastating drought in 1895 accentuated andSydney, where the firms offices had been located for over prolonged the depression.seventy years, to the Equitable Building on George Street.Against this backdrop Allen & Allen was facing its ownHemsley set a new standard for legal work and becamechallenges. George Colquhoun and Archibald Friendone of the most respected legal and political minds inAllen Allen & Hemsley documents.60'