'My own island harp’: Irish sentimental ballads in colonial Australia, 1854–1889

Abstract

This thesis examines the role of Irish sentimental ballads, especially Thomas Moore’s Irish Melodies, in colonial New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria. First is a study of Irish soprano Catherine Hayes (1818–1861) and her tours to NSW and Victoria in 1854 and 1855. Hayes represented a Victorian-era feminine ideal and her concerts, which included both opera and Irish sentimental ballads, were seen to raise the musical standard in Australia. The second study examines a series of public lectures on the subject of ancient Irish music delivered by Irish lawyer John Hubert Plunkett (1802–1869), previously attorney general of NSW. The third is a study of The Australian Album for 1857. This musical album was published in Sydney and was designed to serve as a specimen of the high standard of music in Australia at the time. The album opens with a piano fantasia composed by visiting French pianist Edouard Boulanger (1829–1863) based on ‘The Last Rose of Summer,’ one of Moore’s Irish Melodies. Fourth and last is a study of the Thomas Moore statue erected in Ballarat, Victoria, in 1889. The design of the statue and its unveiling conveyed a notion of unity within the white community and feelings of Australian nationalism. Through these studies I argue that Irish ballads played an important role in creating a respectable cultural identity not just for the Irish community but for the developing Australian society as well.