HILDA TANSEY
(1901 - 1975)
AUSTRALIA'S
FIRST LADY CONDUCTOR
She was a cunning poker player, loved her budgie, had a great sense of humour
and she was my aunt. She was also a fine player of brass instruments, conductor
and teacher, and the first lady conductor of a brass band in Australia.
Her talents are no surprise as she was the younger daughter of Tom
Tansey, himself champion trombonist at the South Street competitions
at Ballarat for many years, player at Geelong and with Code's Band, and a
bandmaster at Murtoa, Traralgon, Hay, Castlemaine and Beechworth. He began
teaching Hilda when she was six years old and had to stand on a box to see
the music on the music stand . She gave her first public performance in 1909
in Murtoa, playing a cornet solo at a school concert - "Songs we sing at School",
which had been especially arranged for her. Soon she was playing with the
band, and then with the Traralgon Brass Band, where during the years of WWI
she became first collector, then Secretary at age 16.
Tom Tansey
Geelong, Vic, 1902
Hilda was born in Geelong, Victoria. However she spent her adult life in
Sydney and it is her musical life here in the 1930s and 1940s that I am trying
to trace through newspaper cuttings and photos.
The Sydney Ladies' Band was formed in the early 1930s but by April 1934
the band was practically insolvent with debts of £107 for uniforms
and instruments. This band had women players but a male conductor/teacher.
Hilda and ten other players took over the debt and formed a new organization,
the Sydney Ladies' Brass Band, with Hilda as honorary conductor and teacher.
She was working at Farmers at the time and hired a room at the bottom of
George St near the Quay for practice at five shillings a week. Other women
joined until they had 29 members.
With the exception of some bass instruments and drums, each girl bought
her own instrument, and they made their first appearance in a grand pageant
on Gala Day, November 22, 1934.
Hilda Tansey, 1934
During their initial preparation and training period they raised 65 pounds
through social functions, and by adding 35 pounds from engagements and the
remainder from the members' contributions of one shilling per week, they had
paid off the debt with which they started within four months of accepting
engagements.
As a comment on their success, the Australasian Band and Orchestra News
of July 26, 1935 says "Here is a practical illustration to many male bands
of the saying "Never have your wishbone where your backbone ought to be"."
They were very busy ladies. In April 1938 they led a parade
of Red Cross Nurses through the city for the laying of the foundation stone
of the building in Jamieson St which was to become the home of the NSW Division
of the Red Cross Society. They played at the official opening of the Velodrome
at Canterbury in 1936 and appeared regularly at Mark Foy's on Friday nights,
as well as playing on beautifully decorated floats during parades and at
garden parties.
Some members of the brass band
During the War years the band used to play for the troops at Liverpool
and Ingleburn, and at the Showground. Unfortunately the R.S.L. refused to
let the band march on Anzac Day in 1945, and this was a contributing factor
to the members' decision to disband.
The "Trocadero" dance band.
While all this was taking place Hilda also played with a ladies' band which
played for dances at the Trocadero. This is a 1938 photo of this band, with
their long dresses and hair styles so typical of the times.
In 1961 Hilda became an inaugural member of the Randwick District Brass
Band. She was elected Honorary Treasurer and her husband, Ted Cafe, was Honorary
Secretary. She spent the final 11 years of her playing life with them, including
playing at the departure of the regular liners taking their travellers overseas.
Hilda's life illustrates the way of life in Australia this century - from
playing in a band depleted of players by the events of World War I, to the
place of music in public life in the 30s and 40s, large public dances, street
parades, World War II and attitudes towards women, and the age of the big
liners.
I am still looking for anyone else with connections to these women's bands,
who might be able to provide further anecdotal or documentary evidence.
e-mail: btur@tpgi.com.au
This article is similar to the one published in
Australia's BAND WORLD
, March 1998.
On what occasion was this delightful float of the Ladies Brass Band used
?
