Its objects were: The provident fund was entirely dependent on members' subscriptions; the other aspects were reliant on support from the general public.
[1] The inaugural committee included wardens: George Coppin, Julius Siede, William Pitt, Joseph Simmons, George Chapman, Richard Capper, Lachlan McGewan, John Hennings, William S. Lyster, Henry B. Wilton, Frederick Coppin, John Dunn, and Henry Walter Scott.
A controversy arose in 1872 when the name of the Governor of Victoria (Viscount Canterbury) was removed from the free list of some theatres in the colony at the behest of the Association.
Coppin went to some effort to promote membership of the Association, to the point of selectively employing actors who were members for certain productions at the Theatre Royal;[3] in 1875 he brought an action against Ilma de Murska for singing selections from The Bohemian Girl without his permission as rights holder.
[4] A Bill was passed by the Victorian Parliament in 1876 and amended in 1888, permitting the Association to set up a permanent fund for the benefit of members.