A History of the Cello in WA - Part 2
A HISTORY OF THE CELLO
IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA
Ian Abbott
Copyright of this paper is held by the Royal Western Australian Historical Society. This article is republished here with the permission of the Royal Western Australian Historical Society. The article was originally published in Early Days (Journal of the Royal Western Australian Historical Society) 14: 434-454 (2014).
Part 2
The cello and chamber music in WA
Richard Pether played in the first known public performances of chamber music, a duet of flute and cello in 1872, a trio of piano, flute and cello in 1872, and a string trio of 2 violins and cello by Stamitz, in 1876.(32) Easton and Schultz played in piano trios performed in Fremantle in 1884.(33) In 1888 the Perth Musical Union announced an approaching concert at which string quartets by Haydn and Mozart were to be performed.(34) It proudly saw this as ‘a sign of the advance of the Colony towards the highest forms of civilization.’(35) Pether played in this first WA performance of a string quartet (by Mozart).(36) String quartets were also performed in 1894, 1897, 1908 and 1911, with this last occasion including quintets by Schubert and Schumann.(37) Piano trios were performed more regularly from 1897, but in an abridged form apparently more acceptable to the public. Winifred Parsons and Kate Chetham were prolific contributors from 1897 to 1908 and from 1909 to 1915 respectively.
The first appearance in WA of a professional piano trio was in 1909. The Cherniavski Trio (of three brothers) included Mischel, aged 12, on cello.(38) Praised as artistically ‘highly successful’, the concert in Perth was poorly attended.(39) This trio again visited in 1914. The Prockter piano trio visited from Canada in 1925, and performed trios by Schumann, Arensky, Dvořák, Saint-Saëns, Beethoven and Grainger. In 1936 the Spivakovsky-Kurtz piano trio visited Perth and broadcast performances on ABC radio. They performed new trios (Ravel), as well as cello sonatas of Beethoven and Brahms.(40)
It was not until 1935, however, that a professional string quartet visited Perth – the ABC’s first touring instrumental group. The Budapest String Quartet (with Mischa Schneider as cellist) presented several recitals on radio and in public. They performed works by Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Smetana, Grieg and Ravel.(41) This ensemble revisited in 1937, playing quartets by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Dvořák, Mozart, Debussy, Schubert, Brahms and Vaughan Williams.(42)
Some premières were serendipitous. In 1925, London- based cellist Miss Bessie Griffiths visited her violinist sister and performed the Mendelssohn piano trio in C minor. She also premièred in WA Richard Strauss’s cello sonata, and played the slow movement of the Lalo concerto in A major, accompanied by piano.(43)
Machines that played recorded music were first advertised in WA in 1896. Their increasing availability, together with the establishment of a gramophone club in Perth in 1925, doubtless educated the critical ear of the discerning public.(44)
By the 1930s there were several professional cellists resident in Perth. Miss Zlata Kalmikoff, and Messrs Sydney Morley, Vernon Rayner, and Valdemar Robertson occasionally played chamber music at the Kylie Music Club. Formed in 1930 by Mrs W.H. ( Jane) Vincent of Peppermint Grove to develop amateurs and professionals, pay for their services, and promote modern music, members met monthly in her music room on Saturday afternoons ‘when everyone else was surfing, playing tennis, or driving’.(45) In its first month it had 105 members, which proved to be a tight fit for the venue. This was changed in September 1931 to the Karrakatta Club, and by early 1932 membership had reached 206.(46) Chamber music involving the cello that was performed during the 1930s included piano trios of Ravel, Brahms, Ireland, Bridge, Haydn, Chopin, Schubert, Dvořák, and Rubinstein; a piano quartet of Brahms; piano quintets of Schumann and Hutchens; string quartets of Beethoven, Borodin and Dvořák; cello sonatas of Popper and Rachmaninoff; and the adagio from the D major cello concerto of Haydn (with piano accompaniment). The 1930s therefore constitute the second golden age of the cello in WA.
In August 1932 the visiting examiner from the Trinity College of Music, London was ‘astonished at the number of groups who were making a serious study of music’ and did not agree that there was no opportunity in Perth for musicians.(47)
Although Musica Viva began in 1945 in Sydney, it did not include Perth in its touring until 1950 and 1951, when its string quartet comprised of European-trained players performed to great acclaim. Musica Viva did not resume in WA until 1975, with four performances in Perth each year.(48) Music lovers in Perth were then able to enjoy hearing some of the world’s best chamber music groups.
Wonderful rare photograph from Perth’s early musical history - of the Rayner family siblings: Olive, Denis, Vivien, Eileen and Vernon Rayner - WA professional cellist featured above.
(N.B. This photo did not form part of the original article - it has been recently provided thanks to a modern day member of the Rayner family - MetSO’s Lynette Swarbrick)
The cello suites of J.S. Bach
These six suites, written for an unaccompanied cello, were composed in c1720 but playing editions by cellists were not published until 1826 (Dotzauer) and 1866 (Grützmacher). Pablo Casals (1876-1973) was the first cellist of the modern era (1890s-) to have regarded them as more than just pieces suited for practice, first performing them in London in 1905.(49) References to the suites being played in eastern Australia before 1940 are sparse, with three dances from the C major suite played in 1938 in Melbourne being the only instance found.(50) There is a tantalizing reference in 1922 to a Bach prélude and bourrée being played in Perth by the visiting English cellist Dallas Fraser. This may refer to the cello suite in C major. Valdemar Roberston played this bourrée in 1933 and a gavotte from Suite No. 6 in 1937.(51) In 1950 the bicentenary of Bach’s death was not vigorously celebrated in Perth, and no information has been found of any cello suite being performed then. Jill Heady learned some of the suites in Perth in the late 1950s. However, the first performance in WA of a complete suite (C major) seems to have been in 1967 by Brian Meddemmen at the University of WA (UWA). Then, in 1976, all six were performed by Rohan de Saram who had studied with Cassadó and Casals. He again performed suites 1 and 6 at lunchtime recitals at UWA in 1978.
The first historically-informed performance in public of these suites in WA is likely to have been that of Anner Bylsma, visiting from the Netherlands. In 1985, the tercentenary of the birth of Bach, he played to extraordinary acclaim suites No. 2, 3, and 6 at St George’s Cathedral(52). Since then several distinguished cellists have visited WA and played at least one of the suites: Timothy Hugh (1985, No. 5); Colin Carr (1988, Nos 2 & 3); Raphael Wallfisch (1992, No. 2); and Jennifer Ward Clarke (1999, No. 2). Unlike the partitas and sonatas for unaccompanied violin composed at about the same time as the cello suites, no autograph score exists. This confers an unusually broad interpretive freedom on the player in terms of choice of bowing, phrasing, and dynamics.
In 1982 the cellist Gregory Baron endowed the Pauline Steel Memorial Prize at UWA, initially for the best annual performance of a nominated piece for solo cello. This prize commemorates the death in 1980 (at age 32 years) of Ms Steel.
Other significant works for unaccompanied cello have been composed by Kodaly and Britten, but these have seldom been performed in Perth. Performances by Rohan de Saram (1976, Kodaly), Timothy Hugh (1985, Britten No. 1), Colin Carr (1988, Britten No. 3) and Susan Blake (1997, Britten No. 2) possibly represent the WA premières of these works.
The cello in regional WA
Celli were represented in major regional centres not much later than in Perth. By 1900, Bunbury had an orchestral society which purchased musical instruments, including a cello.(53) Orchestras were formed at Kalgoorlie (1899), Boulder (1900), Geraldton (1907) and Albany (1913).(54) These ensembles struggled to survive. Music teachers in Kalgoorlie (from 1904), Albany (from 1913), Bunbury (from 1924) and Geraldton (from 1928) often included cello in their advertised skills, and celli were first advertised for sale in Kalgoorlie (1911), Albany (1916) and Geraldton (1922)(55).
More remarkable is the number of active players scattered through country districts. In 1883 Governor Broome visited New Norcia and his wife noted ‘a regular string band, some eighteen or twenty strong, of native boys; one playing a big double bass, others violins, a ‘cello and so forth’.(56) In c.1910, Father Rosendo played the cello in the Monastic band at New Norcia. Outside of Perth and Fremantle during the period 1898-1951, nearly 70 cellists were active players in at least 38 towns.(57). Those praised in reviews include Messrs L.J. Miskin, G. Mutton, Wright, Smart and A.J. Watts, Mrs G.G. Lavater, and Mrs M.L. Bowman (née Marjory Pether).
Success of WA cellists
To date there has been no cellist equivalent of Eileen Joyce (1908-91), who though not born in WA, was educated in WA from 1911 and became a virtuoso pianist and soloist who lived in England and toured Europe, America and Australia during her long career.
The most eminent is Catherine Hewgill (born 1963). Raised in Mosman Park in a musical family and influenced by amateur cellist and family friend Graham Bean (1926-99), she commenced her cello studies with Jill Heady in Perth at the age of 10 years. In 1977 she won a music scholarship to Methodist Ladies’ College (MLC).(58) Her début as soloist was in 1977, when she played Bruch’s Kol Nidrei. She performed this ‘with great tonal refinement and showed a technical assurance beyond her years’.(59) In 1978 she studied in London with Eileen Croxford at the RCM and in 1979 won first prize in the Perth-based Garland competition for solo instruments. From 1981 she studied at the University of Southern California with Gabor Retjo and in her first year won best cellist and best chamber music player awards. In 1984 she won the $10 000 Hammer-Rostropovich scholarship and studied with Rostropovich.(60) In July 1984 she briefly returned to Perth and played the Debussy sonata with ‘such understanding and eloquence’. She plays ‘as if to the manner born; her command of the instrument is quite awesome, and seemingly effortless one can safely predict a distinguished, even brilliant, career’. Cellist Gregory Baron in 1984 considered her ‘one of the finest cellists in Australia. She certainly has world-class potential’.(61) Her performance of the Barber sonata in 1985 was described as ‘most distinguished’ and providing ‘a stature which it does not really warrant’(62). Hewgill joined the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in 1989, and was appointed principal cello in 1990, a position which she retains.
Other illustrious WA-born or -trained cellists include Jill Cooper née Heady, Catherine Jones, Coral Lancaster née Paget, John Tooby, Patrick Murphy, Clare Tunney, Melinda Gourlay, and Louise McKay.
No WA cellist has won the Young Performers Award, which began under a different name in 1944. This is in marked contrast to 13 successful cellists from the eastern states, as well as 24 successful WA-based singers, pianists and violinists. Does this signify that WA cellists are not competitive or are too self-effacing to enter competitions?
Training and education of cellists in WA
Cello teaching was first advertised in WA in 1896.(63) This was by the visitor Claude Harrison, previously teacher at the University of Melbourne conservatorium and principal cello in Marshall-Hall’s orchestra. Then, in 1897, Miss Winifred Parsons (who had lessons from Harrison) advertised herself as teacher and performer and by 1898 was a member of the so-called Perth Conservatorium of Music.(64) Convent schools in Perth and regional centres occasionally taught cello, though few nuns actually played cello. Some, particularly Sister Amy Hearne, were highly qualified violinists and pianists.(65)
Benchmarking of the local standard was achieved through visits by representatives of the Trinity College of Music of London (TCML, from 1898) and the Associated Board of the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music of London (from 1903). Unsurprisingly, most of the students examined were aspiring pianists or violinists and only occasionally did a cello player submit for examination. Winifred Parsons gained a senior pass from TCML in 1899.(66)
Local examination commenced following the establishment in WA of the Australian Music Examinations Board (AMEB) in 1918.(67) Again, few young cellists presented for examination. During the 1930s Patti Hannah and Billie Smith, students of Victoria Square College, were evidently talented but disappear from the record by 1940. A State schools’ orchestra commenced in 1944, held its first music camp in 1952, and by 1956 included ten cellists.(68) The establishment of a readership in Music at UWA in 1953 and a subsequent School of Music produced no cellist graduates for 30 years.
Perth Boys’ High School formed an orchestra in 1902 and again in 1953, but these included only one or two cellists.(69) Methodist Ladies’ College did not form an orchestra until 1966. This included one cello. By 2013, 32 students of MLC were learning cello. Special provision for musically talented students at Perth Modern School (1968-) and Churchlands Senior High School (1972-) assisted the training of young cellists. Instrumental music services have since expanded to some 400 schools run by the Department of Education. In 2013 this included 402 primary students and 119 secondary students under the tuition of 11 cello teachers.
However, it was not until the establishment in 1975 of the WA Youth Orchestra (WAYO, though not under that name) that impetus was given to ensemble training of young cello players. Aspiring players had to audition to gain membership. This immediately raised the standard. In 1975 there were only four cello players. By 1978 this had doubled. During the period 1975-2013 some 372 cello players have been trained in orchestral and other ensemble playing under the auspices of WAYO. Few, however, became professional players.
The first graduate (Mus.B.) cellist from UWA was Dale Brown (1984), followed by Margaret Boerema and Kevin Gillam (1985). Another ten had graduated up to 1999.(70) The establishment of a music conservatorium in WA (WAAPA) in 1983 led to appointment of the cellists Gregory Baron (until 1989) and Suzanne Wijsman (1990-96) as cello and chamber music tutors. The latter moved to UWA in 1997 and under her supervision more than 30 cellists have graduated. A few WAYO-trained students did not further their education at UWA, and instead studied and graduated either in England ( John Tooby, Melinda Gourlay) or at other conservatoria within Australia (Louise McKay). All have returned to WA.
Three outstanding teachers of cello were active in Perth during the period 1960-90. Jill Cooper (née Heady, 1944-) with her family migrated to WA in 1953. She had commenced tuition with Eileeen Croxford at the RCM in London at age 7. In WA she was taught by WASO cellists Ruth Krieg (née Cranfield) and Zoltan Barna. She was the first WA cello student to attend the Australian Youth Orchestra national music camp (1958, Melbourne). She gained her A.Mus.A. in 1960 and joined WASO in 1961, where she remained until 1988. She was also an active chamber musician, particularly with the Perth Chamber Soloists (1979-). Catherine Hewgill and Margaret Iddison are two of her most successful students.
Gregory Baron (1938-) took up cello at age 12 in Argentina and continued his studies in Switzerland with Paul Bugere and then at the Royal Academy of Musc in London. There in 1960 he co-founded a string quartet, which became the Alberni string quartet in 1962. This came to the attention of Frank Callaway (UWA), resulting in invitations for the quartet to visit UWA in 1973, 1974 and 1975. The Alberni quartet premièred in WA the complete cycle of 17 Beethoven string quartets. Members of this quartet settled in WA in 1976 and became the Arensky quartet in 1978, and then the WA String Quartet (1983-89). Baron also played in WASO (1975-80, 1993-94). He taught many cellists who became professional players, including Iain Grandage, Patrick Murphy and Coral Lancaster (née Paget).
Sally Talbot (1953-) started cello at age eleven in England and later studied at the RCM in London with Harvey Phillips. She settled in Perth in 1978, played in WASO until 1979, and tutored at WAYO until 1983. During this period she taught many of the young cello players, of whom Catherine Jones and Dale Brown became professionals, and Kevin Gillam became a music educator.
Opportunities for professional employment of young cellists in WA as performers have always been limited. The number of permanent cellists in WASO is currently fixed at nine, and usually there is a slow turnover of positions. The appointment of three cellists in one year (1988) was unprecedented. Few of the cellists currently in WASO were born or trained in WA.
Amateur cellists
Amateur is used here to signify those who play for no payment, and includes cellists who learned to play the instrument at school, learned as adults, teach or once taught music in schools, or have retired as professional players. There has been a long involvement of advanced amateurs in orchestral playing, namely: Fremantle Orchestral Society (1887-1952); Perth Orchestral Society (1898), Metropolitan Orchestra Society (1913-52); and Commercial Travellers Orchestra (1927)(71). At present in Perth there are five community symphony orchestras: The City of Fremantle (1961-); Metropolitan (1977-); Hills (1981-); Churchlands (1981-); and South Side (2011-). There is also a WA Doctors Orchestra (2005-) and a string orchestra called Encore Strings (2010-). These collectively provide playing opportunities currently for at least 40 amateur cellists. The Metropolitan and Fremantle orchestras have also provided opportunities for cellists undergoing tertiary level training to gain experience in performing concerti with an orchestra.
There is also an unknown, probably small, number of amateur cellists (mostly in Perth, presumably), who play chamber music for pleasure. Favourites would include the string quartets, piano trios and other ensembles of Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and others. Much of this music was written to be played by friends to friends.
Gender
Until the 1890s, it was considered (in much of Europe) ‘unladylike’ for girls or women to play the cello. This changed with the emergence of the virtuosi May Mukle (1880-1963), Guilhermina Suggia (1885-1950) and Beatrice Harrison (1892-1965). There were two female cellists playing in WA as early as 1894, Mrs Gibbs and Miss Winifred Parsons.(72) During the first golden age of the cello in WA, more than one third of cellists playing in public were female.
Nearly 75% of all cellists who have played in WAYO during the period 1975-2013 are female. This proportion differs little from other string instruments, which dispels the Jacqueline du Pré effect. Presumably it reflects the legacy of most girls avoiding mathematical- and science-based subjects during their education, and of most boys avoiding music, rather than being related to preference for alternative activities such as playing sport. This hypothesis deserves further examination. In contrast, during the same period, the proportion of female cellists playing in WASO is much lower (39%). More female cellists played in the precursor of WASO (50%, 1931-50) than in WASO in recent times (35%, 1994-2013). Several of the experienced cello teachers that I interviewed informed me that females comprised about half of their students.(73)
Conclusions
Like many other events in WA, the gold rushes of the 1890s led to a critical mass that fostered playing and enjoyment of the cello. Immigration of professional cellists, increasing availability of gramophone recordings of virtuosi, broadcasting on radio of cello repertoire and formation of orchestras and ensembles together raised the profile of the cello in WA. These factors nullified the few setbacks, including the failure of UWA to establish a conservatorium of music as planned in 1915, the introduction of ‘talking’ motion pictures in 1929, the 1930s depression, and the advent of television in 1959. Thanks to the ongoing activities of trained teachers and establishment of WAYO, the standard of playing has never been higher. All that remains is the composition in WA of cello sonatas and concerti with a distinctive WA-inspired sensibility, resonance with the ancient landscape, and agreeableness to the discerning listener.
Endnotes
Cello is a diminutive suffix in Italian, and is derived from violoncello (literally: Small large viol), first used in 1665. Violoncello is used nowadays only in formal settings. The abbreviations ‘cello and cello were first used in the WA press in 1886 and 1887 respectively. ‘Violincello’ was sometimes used in early press reports but is erroneous.
Bunbury Herald and Blackwood Express, 19 Sep. 1928, p. 4.
Sydney Morning Herald 15 Sep. 1923, p. 16; West Australian 16 July 1937, p. 22; C. Fifield, Ibbs and Tillett: The Rise and Fall of a Musical Empire, Ashgate, Aldershot, 2005.
E. Clifton, ‘Music and the stage in the early days’, Early Days: Journal and Proceedings of the Western Australian Historical Society 1(8): 1-18, 1930, 1(9): 16-33, 1931; A. H. Kornweibel, 1973 Apollo and the Pioneers, Music Council of Western Australia, Perth, 1973; J. Farrant, ‘Playing in tune’, in Farewell Cinderella: Creating Arts and Identity in Western Australia (ed. G. Bolton, R. Rossiter & J. Ryan), pp. 91-128, UWA Press, Crawley, 2003; Historical Encyclopedia of Western Australia, UWA Press, Crawley, 2009, pp. 606-611, 613-616, 652, 919-920.
Perth Gazette 7 Sep. 1833, 28 Nov. 1835, 15 Feb. 1835, 13 Aug. 1842; Clifton 1930/31; I Berryman, Swan River Letters, Swan River Press, Glengarry, 2002; J.M.R. Cameron, The Millendon Memoirs: George Fletcher Moore’s Western Australian Diaries and Letters, 1830-1841, Hesperian Press, Carlisle, 2006; J. Farrant, Past Present and Future: The History of the Royal Schools Music Club in Western Australia 1926-2006, RSMC, Nedlands, 2006; P. Barnes, J.M.R. Cameron, H.A .Willis, The Australian Journals of Marshall Waller Clifton 1840-1861, Hesperian Press, Carlisle, 2010; J. Meyer & V. Rogers, ‘Harmonising campus and community: University music’, in Seeking Wisdom: A Centenary History of The University of Western Australia (ed. J. Gregory), pp. 307-20, UWA Press, Crawley, 2013.
Western Mail 4 Dec. 1924, p. 15.
Perth Gazette 21 Mar. 1840, p. 31.
Perth Gazette 30 June 1864, p. 2.
Inquirer & Commercial News 2 Dec. 1883, p. 5.
The Diary of A.H. Stone (1850-52, typescript loaned by P. Statham-Drew) has no reference to the cello, even though Stone was a competent flautist and played in ensembles.
Inquirer 6 Mar. 1867, p. 3.
Herald 3 Sep. 1870, p. 3.
Inquirer 12 Feb. 1873, p. 2.
Perth Gazette 21 Feb. 1873, p. 2, Inquirer 26 Feb. 1873, p. 3.
West Australian 1 Nov. 1884, p 3.
Daily News 30 May 1885, p. 2.
Daily News 17 May 1888, p. 4.
Kornweibel, p. 98; Eastern Districts Chronicle 20 April 1889, p. 4.
Daily News 29 Sep. 1894, p. 2.
Marcia Harrison, West Australian Symphony Orchestra: Celebrating 75 Years, WASO Holdings, Perth, 2003.
M. Buzacott, The Rite of Spring: 75 Years of ABC Music-making, ABC Books, Sydney, 2007, p. 128.
Perth Gazette 16 Mar. 1860, p. 2.
Argus 10 Feb. 1865, p. 5, Sydney Morning Herald 17 Mar. 1863, p. 4.
Perth Gazette 6 July 1866, p. 2; Inquirer 11 July 1866, p. 2.
Inquirer 22 Aug. 1866, pp. 2, 3.
Inquirer 30 Oct. 1896, p. 3.
West Australian 10 Nov. 1896, p. 4, 20 Nov. 1896, p. 5, 8 Dec. 1896, p. 4.
West Australian 28 Mar. 1905, p. 1; Daily News 28 Mar. 1905, p. 6.
West Australian 20 Aug. 1921, p. 2.
West Australian 14 June 1923, p. 8, 19 June 1923, p. ?8; Daily News 9 June 1923, p. 1, 12 June 1923, p. 7.
West Australian 12 Sep. 1925, p. 15.
Herald 9 Mar. 1872, p. 3; Inquirer 13 Mar. 1872, p. 3, 2 Aug. 1876, p. 3; Western Australian Times 31 Oct. 1876, p. 2.
West Australian 13 Sep. 1884, p. 3.
Inquirer 15 Oct. 1897, p. 14.
West Australian 24 Jan. 1888, p. 3; Daily News 27 Jan. 1888, p. 3.
West Australian 20 Jan. 1888, p. 2.
West Australian 2 Aug. 1894, p. 7; 2 Oct. 1897, p. 4; 13 May 1911, p. 7.
Kalgoorlie Miner 13 May 1909, p. 6.
West Australian 20 May 1909, p. 7.
West Australian 28 June 1936, p. 23.
West Australian 13 June 1935, p. 19; 20 June p. 14; 21 June p. 19.
Daily News 23 Apr. 1937, p. 9.
West Australian 13 Nov. 1925, p. 15; 21 Nov. 1925, p. 14.
Daily News 23 Mar. 1927, p. 8.
Daily News 25 Aug. 1930, p. 2; West Australian 22 Sep. 1930, p.13; 23 Nov. 1931, p. 10.
West Australian 25 Feb. 1932, p. 17.
Daily News 2 Aug. 1932, p. 2.
Musica Viva Society Bulletin 1962-1985.
The Times [London] 6 June 1905, p. 1.
Argus 11 Mar. 1938, p. 4.
Daily News 16 Dec. 1933, p. 7, West Australian 2 Feb. 1937, p.10.
Western Australia’s Music Maker 3(5), p. 12.
Bunbury Herald 30 May 1901, p. 3.
Kalgoorlie Miner 21 Nov. 1899, p.1; 15 Feb. 1900, p. 5; Geraldton Guardian 13 Sep. 1907, p. 2; Albany Advertiser 23 Aug. 1913, p. 2.
Albany Advertiser 4 Jan. 1913, p. 2; Bunbury Herald and Blackwood Examiner 7 Mar. 1924, p. 4; Geraldton Guardian 19 Jan. 1928, p. 3.
Lady [Mary Anne] Barker, Letters to Guy, Macmillan, London, 1885, pp. 89-90.
Based on an online keyword search of 27 rural newspapers, 1877-1954, except that goldfields newspapers were not searched after 1914; G.V.S. Hadley 1956 Group music making in Western Australia, B.Ed. Honours thesis, UWA, p. 19; J. Bird, Round Pool to Woodanilling. A History of Woodanilling, p.234, Woodanilling Shire Council, 1986.
MLC Parents and Friends newsletter No. 95 (1979), p. 6.
West Australian 24 Oct. 1977, p. 19.
West Australian 23 Aug. 1984, p. 51.
Western Australia’s Music Maker 2(5), p. 3. Reviews of her other performances are available in West Australian 20 Nov. 1985, p. 79 and 3 Aug. 1992, p. 44.
Western Australia’s Music Maker 3(6), p. 7.
West Australian 31 Oct. 1896, p. 2.
West Australian 17 June 1897, p. 3; 14 Jan. 1898, p. 7.
Anne McLay, Women out of their Sphere. Sisters of Mercy in Western Australia from 1846, Vanguard Press, Northbridge, 1992.
West Australian 29 April. 1899, p. 5.
Ronda Jamieson and David Hough, What Harmony is this? 100 Years of the Music Teachers’ Association in Western Australia 1910- 2010. West Australian Music Teachers’ Association, Victoria Park, 2010.
Hadley, p. 19.
Hadley, p. 64.
John A. Meyer, Touches of Sweet Harmony: Music in the University of Western Australia, 1953-1998. CIRCME [Callaway International Resource Centre for Music Education], Nedlands, 1999.
Hadley, p. 63.
Inquirer 24 Aug. 1894, p. 13.
Acknowledgements: I thank the Sisters of Mercy (per Annie Medley),WASO (per Paula Schibeci),WAYO (per Ben Burgess) and MLC (per Michelle Campbell) for access to archival material, the professional cellists Gregory Baron, Jill Cooper, Melinda Gourlay, Peter Grayling, Catherine Hewgill, Karel Nemec, Sally Talbot and Suzanne Wijsman for consenting to an informal interview, and Ashley Arbuckle, Carol Day, Geoff Hadley, Jean Harvey née Farrant, Bruce Herriman, Ivan King, John Meyer, Linda Papa, Margaret Pride, Victoria Rogers and Graham Wood for helpful information. Other sources include concert programs held by Battye Library, Museum of Performing Arts, and Reid Library (UWA), and the personal archive of Ian Abbott.