Services Bands Afternoon Tea
Monday, 3 February 2025
Government House
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley
Bujari gamarruwa, Diyn Babana Gamarada.
In greeting you in the language of the Gadigal, Traditional Owners of the land on which we gather, I pay my respects to Elders past, present, and emerging.
It was 236 years and 362 days ago that the first service band of drums and fifes performed in the colony of New South Wales.[1] The date was the 7th of February 1788; the place was Sydney Cove; and the occasion was the reading of the Commission appointing Captain Arthur Phillip as the first Governor of NSW.[2]
The players were members of the NSW Marine Corps, bringing to NSW a long tradition of military music, not only for ceremonial occasions and for entertainment, but also on the field of battle.[3]
At that time, service as musicians in the British Forces was not always entirely voluntary. A description by a Royal Naval seaman, William Robinson, writing under the pseudonym Jack Nastyface in the 1830s, recorded an occasion:
[W]hen we were conveying an East Indian fleet from England to the Tropic, one of them happening to have an excellent band on board, our captain took a fancy into his head that he would have some of them; so before he took leave of his convoy, he very kindly sent a lieutenant and boat’s crew to press the two best musicians, which they did, and brought them on board to increase our band for the captain’s amusements.[4]
I should add the caveat that, as the NSW Marine Corps were comprised of hand-picked volunteers, it is unlikely any of those at that first performance were enlisted through press-ganging[5]. Auditions for service bands today, although rigorous, are, I am sure, far less aggressive (although I have watched the occasional bandmaster in action!).
Since that first ceremony in 1788, the connection between service bands and Governors of NSW has continued, today through you, representatives of bands from the Navy, Army Air Force, Police, and Corrective Services.
Not only has there been this long connection with the Governors of New South Wales, there is a long tradition of music at Government House. The very first event was a Ball celebrating Queen Victoria’s birthday in 1843, two years before the House was formally ready for occupation.
In those days, this room – labelled the ‘Music Room’ on the original plans[6] - was smaller than it is now and there were no windows at the southern end of the room. In a major extension undertaken on that section of the House around 1900, the stage and minstrel gallery above were added and the southern windows now behind the stage were installed.[7]
The musicians performed in this alcove on the western side, arriving on stage through a passage that led from the main hall, which was closed off in 1949 for the installation of a lift for the anticipated visit of King George VI.[8] Sadly, that visit didn’t materialise due to the King’s deteriorating health.
Nor was the Arcade part of the original structure of the House – the arches and beautiful Kauri pine and gilded cedar ceiling only added in 1879.[9] Our best historical guess is that the doors from the ballroom onto the Arcade had been installed in the 1870s.[10] It seems the door from the Drawing Room onto the Arcade was added around 1900.
Throughout its history this House has hosted many events supporting the constitutional, ceremonial, and community roles of the office of Governor. In almost all, there is a musical component. You have continued that fine tradition.
Which is why we are here this afternoon: to thank you for your service to Government House; for providing the perfect atmosphere for every event we have here – whether the high ceremonial events – particularly our investitures- to our smaller receptions and large community events - including Open Days, where this year on Australia Day our visitors started peaking towards 4,000.
And then there is Jazz@theHouse, which is attracting visitors from far and wide, and is often described to me as one of the now ‘not-so-hidden’ gems of Sundays. Our visitors to the House on those days are between 600 and 1000, depending on weather, time of year and other events that may be on.
On all these occasions, you bring great vitality to the House and much joy to our thousands of visitors. Thank you.
Here’s to the services bands!
[1] Anthea Skinner describes the occasion as the first time an “official piece of European military music [was] played on [Australia’s] shores”: Anthea Skinner, Marching Forward, Looking Backwards: Tradition and Change in Australian Military Bands, 1930-1955, PhD thesis, Monash University, 2016, pp.34-35, available here
[2] see, for instance: George Burnett Barton, History of New South Wales From the Records, Volume I, 1889, available here
[3] On the evolution of music in military contexts, of the role and later merging of ‘field musicians’ and ‘bands of music’, see: Skinner, op. cit., pp.31-35.
[4] Jack Nastyface [William Robinson], Nautical Economy; or, Forecastle Recollections of Events During the Last War, Dedicated to the Brave Tars of Old England, by a Sailor, Politely Called by the Officers of the Navy, Jack Nasty-Face, 1836, pp.123-124, available here
[5] John Potter, ‘The Marines of the First Fleet’, Naval Historical Society of Australia website, available here
[6] Purcell, Government House Conservation Management Plan. Vol. 3, 2023, pp.22,23
[7] ibid, pp.86-87
[8] ibid, p.125.
[9] ibid, p.73
[10] ibid, p.69