The local band with a global significance

ONE hundred years of musical history will be celebrated by Ballarat Memorial Concert Band this weekend when the ensemble releases a commemorative eBook of its story so far.

Launching via a Facebook broadcast on Sunday, 31 May at 4pm, Ballarat Memorial Concert Band: a century of music was commissioned by the Public Records Office of Victoria, and researched and authored by George Williams.

Mrs Williams said the publication moves chapter by chapter through the decades from 1920 to the present, expanding on the group’s original role as a military band, to when it became a concert band in the 1980s, and beyond.

It looks at the way music and military tunes changed, the world wars, social and societal shifts, and Ballarat’s connection to those topics.

“I thoroughly enjoyed interviewing past band members, talking to people who had been associated, and looking through all the minutes books and archive material,” she said.

“It was such a rich experience and a privilege to be able to delve into that history and bring it forward for people, because it’s not just relevant to the band and musicians, but to anyone in Ballarat to discover.

“At the beginning of each chapter, I’ve done some context for what was happening in the world and Ballarat in that decade, so it’s like reading the history of the last 100 years through the lens of the band.”

The Ballarat Memorial Concert Band was first put together in response to World War One, to remember people who served.

“They formalised in 1920, and that was the same year that the Arch of Victory was finished. The band played at the laying of the foundation stone and at the opening of the Arch,” Mrs Williams said.

“There’s not that many return soldiers’ bands that kept going from the Great War, in the world, so Ballarat having one that’s turning 100 is massively significant in world history, having looked at other return soldiers’ bands, why they were set up, and their different forms.

“We’re lucky to have that connection…but sometimes we take those things for granted. This is a moment where we can really recognise the contributions people have made to Ballarat to make it a place where we memorialise, remember and honour people from the war.”

While exploring the eBook, Mrs Williams said readers may be interested to learn about music’s connection to the front line of war.

“At first, I couldn’t work out why you’d have musicians at war, or what they would be doing,” she said.

“Battalion musicians were considered more valuable than regular soldiers. In a dual role, they were also the field ambulance, right in the line

of fire, running on and taking dead bodies off. They were getting blown up and gassed…

“The band were majorly important for keeping people fighting. If battalions got too low to have the band, they would write to other battalions to spare some musicians, and they would send soldiers in return.”

A former Ballarat Memorial Concert Band leader served in World War One and Two as a band master, and had been a prisoner of war in Germany.

“His war history reads like a spy novel,” Mrs Williams said.

“Another thing people might not know is that when it was the Soldiers Memorial Band, the Ballarat Memorial Concert Band had the first female band member in the 70s.

“Pam Clark was a teenager who walked into the band room and had to confront the male dominated culture, and then a couple of other girls joined. Now the band’s very gender balanced but that took time.”

Presently, the band is in touch digitally and rehearsing remotely via Zoom as best they can. The eBook launch will operate in a similar capacity, during what would have been the busy annual Ballarat Heritage Weekend across the city, had COVID-19 not changed plans.

“They’re excited to launch the book with a live Facebook event, interviewing people from the book, and myself, talking about it and how people can access it,” Mrs Williams said.

“The book is free and will be hosted on their website from the launch onwards. People can just hop on and read it at any time, they don’t need to buy it.

“The band is looking forward to the potential of celebrating their centenary sometime in the future, in one place together.”

Watch live at facebook.com/Ballarat-Memorial-Concert-Band-149201555135856, and keep an eye on ballaratconcertband.org.au/bmcb-a-century-of-music.