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The Song of Australia 2 for Conversion

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The Song of Australia 2 for Conversion TOWN OF GAWLER ...to which the prize of twenty guineas was awarded by The Gawler Institute on the occasion of its Second Anniversary, 1859 Gawler Public Library Institute Building, 91 Murray Street Gawler SA 5118 Phone (08) 8522 9213 Fax (08) 8522 9212 Email: [email protected] Website: www.gawler.sa.gov.au 2. This year, 2009, marks the 150th Anniversary of the writing of The Song of Australia . The inspiration behind the concept of holding a competition to find a ‘national song’ is now lost in the annals of time but the Committee of the Gawler Institute exhibited considerable foresight in considering the production of a patriotic song to encompass the whole of ‘Australia’ when Australia still consisted of six independent colonies. The Gawler Institute had been founded in October 1857 and it quickly became an important part of the Gawler community. The first anniversary was celebrated with a two-day ‘exhibition of works of art and natural curiosities’. 1. For the second anniversary, the Institute Sign next to Gawler Institute Committee decided to offer prizes of ten guineas building, Murray Street, Gawler, commemorating The (£10 10s which today would be worth approximately Song of Australia. (Town of AU$1560 2. ) for the words and music for a patriotic Gawler, Gawler Heritage song. Collection) A public notice calling for entries for The Song of Australia competition appeared in The Advertiser on October 1, 1859. The judges were listed as John H Barrow MP, John Brown, John Howard Clark, Hon A Forster MLC, W C Wearing and E J Peake MP. The copyright of the prize-winning words would become the property of the Gawler Institute. The closing date for entries was October 14 and competitors were advised that they could ‘adopt any treatment of subject or rhythmical measure, so as the composition is in accordance with the title and suitable for musical expression’. 3. Competitors were also advised that entries ‘must not bear the name of the author, but a motto’ and that ‘Poem for Prize’ should be written on the envelope addressed to George Isaacs, Gawler. Enclosed in a second envelope should be the competitor’s name and on the outside should be written his motto. The only envelope to be opened would be that bearing the motto of the successful competitor. 4. Also in The Advertiser on October 1, 1859 was another public notice advising would-be composers that, immediately after the awarding of the prize for the words, entries for original music would be called. The judges for the music were named as G W Chinner, F S Dutton MP, A Ewing DACG and W Holden. 5. Similar notices appeared in The Register on October 3, 1859. 6. 1. E H Coombe, History of Gawler, 1837 to 1908 , Gawler, 1910, p. 73. 2. Measuring Worth website, www.measuringworth.com, accessed May 5, 2009. 3. The Advertiser , October 1, 1859, p. 1. 4. Ibid. 5. Ibid. 6. The Register , October 3, 1859, p. 1. 3. The winner was announced in The Advertiser on October 20, 1859 under the heading ‘The Gawler Prize Song’. Readers were informed that the judges had the ‘somewhat laborious task of reading 93 poems’ and that ‘it was not an easy task to come to a conclusion’. 7. As soon as the judges had made their decision, it was sent by telegraph to Gawler where it was revealed that the winning poem ‘(No. 80) was the composition of Mrs C J Carleton of West-terrace, Adelaide’. 8. The Judges’ Report stated: South Australian Institute, Oct, 19, 1859. The Judges appointed to select the best poem from the number forwarded by the Gawler Committee, beg to report that they have twice met, and devoted considerable time and attention to the compositions submitted to their judgment [sic]. They have had much difficulty in arriving at a decision as to the song best entitled to the prize, on account of four or five other productions being of nearly equal merit; but after carefully comparing those reserved for final review, have determined to give preference to Song No. 80, and bearing the motto ‘Nil Desperandum’. 9. The Advertiser of October 21, 1859 carried a public notice which formally announced that the winner for the best words for a patriotic song was Mrs C J Carleton of Adelaide. The Committee stated that it regretted not having the funds to award ‘other prizes to various meritorious productions’ and in an effort to ‘encourage native talent’ the Institute intended ‘publishing a careful selection from amongst them’ provided there were no objections from the competitors concerned. 10. Following this announcement, in another public notice, the Gawler Institute called for entries ‘for the music to The Song of Australia … published in this day’s paper’. 11. The conditions for entries were ‘that the air be written in the G clef, and in any key the composer may select; but not to range below C or above upper G. The chorus (if any) to be written for three or four voices’. 12. The requirements for sending entries was similar to the entry process for the words, ensuring anonymity until a winner was chosen. The awarding of the prize to Mrs Carleton stimulated much public comment. An advertisement placed by ‘T.V.’ in The Advertiser on October 24, 1859 was highly critical of the ‘prize song of Australia’, calling the poem ‘a tolerably good nursery rhyme’ that ‘will never become the popular national song - it is not the right 7. The Advertiser , October 20, 1859, p. 2. 8. Ibid. 9. Ibid. 10. The Advertiser , October 21, 1859, p. 1. 11. Ibid. 12. Ibid. 4. thing’. 13. ‘T.V.’ considered the poem to be ‘calm, soft, gentle and feminine’, suitable to be sung by a cluster of juveniles at a tea party’. In ‘T.V.’s’ opinion a national song must be short, bold, masculine and full of fire’, something that a woman was not capable of composing. In any event, ‘T.V.’ believed that any song, no matter how popular, ‘will die on the advent of Australian independence and severance from the parent state’. 14. ‘T’, in a letter to the Editor of The Advertiser of October, 28, 1859, requested that if ‘any more of these precious productions’ were to be published, they should be done so as advertisements because ‘if they are worth anything they are worth paying otherwise let us have no more of them’. 15. ‘ T’ expressed concern that, with the prospects of the colony being ‘already sufficiently gloomy’, ‘with ninety-three poets we are in almost a hopeless condition’. 16. ‘T’ ended by saying that he objected to importing poets, better to import the poetry. That way, time would not be wasted by men and women writing poetry rather than getting on with their work. Nor would the taxpayers money be wasted by the judges who agreed to read ‘the miserable cudgel-brained rhyming submitted to them’. 17. ‘W. Heritage’, also in a letter to the Editor, offered the opinion that the song, although ‘in many respects a beautiful production’, had ‘neither sufficient fire, nor the comprehensive view of the subject which a patriotic song should possess’. He thought that, from 93 songs, ‘it was natural to expect that the fortunate one which the Judges should select as the best would, indeed, be a gem, and worthy of the occasion’. 18. Also in a letter to the Editor of The Adelaide Observer on October 29, 1859, ‘Cantator’ of Goolwa was reluctant to criticise the winner of the prize poem, ‘particularly when the winner of laurels is a lady’ but that did not prevent him questioning the merits of the poem. 19. ‘Cantator ‘stated that he was against the poem being referred to as a song and that he thought that its ‘metre and peculiar construction’ made it unsuitable for setting to music. 20. The Adelaide Observer , in an editorial column on October 29, 1859, paid tribute to the Gawler Institute for devising a ‘plan of encouraging the literary tastes of the colony’ and for ‘being the first in the colony to invite public competition in works of 13 . The Advertiser , October 24, 1859, p. 1. 14. Ibid. 15. The Advertiser, October 28, 1859, p. 2. 16. Ibid. 17. Ibid. 18 . Ibid 19 . The Adelaide Observer, October 29, 1859, p. 5. 20. Ibid. 5. literature’. 21. However, despite ‘a very useful precedent’ being set, it was thought that the poets had been given a difficult task in being asked ‘to write a national song for a country which as yet may be said to be without a nationality’. 22. Not surprising then that the competition failed to produce something akin to Rule Britannia or The Star-Spangled Banner . The writer thought that the ‘great future of this southern empire might at all events have been a theme worth attempting’ and which hopefully may have elicited ‘more than the mere prettiness of our natural scenery, with its fruits and flowers, and blue skies’. 23. Under the heading of ‘The Song of Australia’, The Advertiser on October 29, 1859 published the following: Epigram by the successful competitor of the Gawler Prize Poem. A thousand faults the critics find, To shreds and tatters rend it; One only fault she find with thou - ‘Tis that they can not mend it. 24. The level of criticism rose to such a point that on November 1, 1859, The Advertiser advised that it would not be publishing ‘any more of the Gawler poems’. The reason given for ‘disposing of all the unpublished matter we have yet standing in type’ was a shortage of space because of ‘important matter’ such as ‘heavy reports’ and the ‘immediate prospect of the English mail’.
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