The monument to lost musicians you drive past a lot

AT the bottom end of Sturt Street, on the corner of Camp Street, stands an Edwardian Bandstand that many of us would pass on a regular basis. But how many of us have looked up at the weathervane at the top, in the shape of a ship with four funnels representing the tragic ship the SS Titanic.

This Sturt Street bandstand is a memorial to the musicians of the SS Titanic who played as they went down with their ship.

“The Victorian Band Association proposes to erect a new bandstand in the block in Sturt Street near the Savings Bank, as a Titanic Memorial. The Association has about 125 Pounds in hand for the purpose, the money having been raised by public subscription and donations from various bands in the State, but about 125 Pounds is still required to erect the stand, of which plans are ready. It is hoped that the City Council will contribute the balance of the money, as the bandstand will be an ornament to the city.” – Evening Echo (Ballarat), 16 June 1914.

“Arrangements in connection with the unveiling of the Titanic Memorial Bandstand have now been completed. It will be remembered that as the vessel was sinking the band, with heroic fortitude, assembled on deck, and played the well-known hymn, “Nearer my God to The.” The massed bands will render this at the unveiling ceremony, which is a most fitting tribute, under the circumstances.

The Ballarat City Orphanage, and other local bands will take part in the ceremony.” – Ballarat Star, 21 October 1915.

The bandstand memorial was officially unveiled by his Excellency the Governor-General on Friday, 22 October 1915, with a lot of pomp and ceremony, filling Sturt Street with an array of brass bands.

Legend has it that the band on the SS band played ‘Nearer my God to thee’ as the ship sunk, on the 15th of April 1912 after colliding with an iceberg and every year on the anniversary of the sinking of the SS Titanic a band plays in the Titanic Memorial Bandstand in Sturt street, in honour of the bandsmen: Theodore Ronald Brailey, Roger Marie Bricoux, John Frederick Preston Clarke, Wallace Hartley, John Law Hume, Georges Alexandre Krins, Percy Cornelius Taylor and John Wesley Woodward.

“The SS Titanic Memorial Bandstand is an excellent and unusual example of creative bandstand design of the Edwardian period. A picturesque composition with dominant roofs of oriental character, it is an exotic and important element of the streetscape of Sturt Street. The bandstand and its construction is indicative of Ballarat’s self-image and patriotic fervour.” – Victorian Heritage Database Report.

Next time you’re in the area, have a closer look at the unique bandstand and its weathervane and remember to keep an eye out on the anniversary of the sinking of the SS Titanic, when a band will play in the bandstand to remember those who died when the ship (the unsinkable) sunk on the 15 of April 1912.

The Titanic Bandstand has been listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.