["Socialites at Broome", The Sunday Times (Perth, WA), Sunday 07 August 1910, 3rd Section p1]
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Once a year a magnificent blow-out occurs at the spacious bungalo of Pearl-buyer Davis, partner and general manager of the wealthy Hebrew firm of Rubin and Co. Mark Rubin originally carried a pack to the White Cliffs opal fields; later he came with the spoils to buy pearls and establish the business of Rubin and Co. According to popular report, Mark amassed quite half a million sterling, and now lives among the rich Jews of London.
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Months ahead the cards are out notifying such as are deemed fit and proper persons of the approaching shivoo. 'Twas a gorgeous scene the other night, when some hundred and fifty of the best filed through the brightly-lighted grounds of Davis's residence into the ballroom. Costly and beautiful dresses, equal to the choicest worn by the haut ton of the metropolis, swished among the pot-plants and creepers trailing about the verandahs. Pearls, however, though won from the deep close by, did not sparkle on showy bosoms to any extent. Men appeared in dress suits despite the sultry atmosphere, in accordance with an accepted rule practised all the year round, even in sweltering mid-summer. Lord Chesterfield laid down the axiom that to succeed it was necessary to put on a black coat and go into society, but Broome wears dark, hot and heavy garments at public functions because it's English, you know. The inhabitants have long followed the example of the cable-house which wouldn't get out of the conservative rut of the old country for the world. Even when attending the deliberations of that imposing body, the "Broome Literary and Debating Society," which happen now and again with as much solemnity as surrounds the debates of the Federal Parliament, men and women came on view in evening dress. Nevertheless the peal-buyer's annual "swarry," quoting somebody in the crowd, was a picturesque and fascinating exposition of the wealth that lies within the pearling port of the Nor'-West.
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