BRASS BAND MYSTERY - CAN YOU IDENTIFY LOCATION AND/OR BAND?

[Ross Ewington]

I have been trying to identify the brass band and location in this photo for some time but without success.



The photo is printed on Kodak "Austral" photographic card for postcards. It has not been used although
someone has written "Triabunna?" on the reverse ... I think it would be a "furphy" if you followed that
line of inquiry.

Some of the bandsmen are wearing WWI service medals so judging by their age at the time the photo
was taken the card probably dates from the 1930s.

There is always a chance that the band, the card or both may not be of Tasmanian origin but it was
purchased by a friend with a number of "Tasmanian Only" cards.

Any assistance will be appreciated.

[Malcolm Groom]

As an Old boy of The Hutchins School I can tell you that it is definitely the entrance to the Hutchins War Memorial library in Macquarie Street now demolished to make way for the Nettlefolds Car Showroom (currently Myer). Next door to what was for a time the Masonic Club. Immediately to the left of the Band (as they face us) was the School Assembly Hall.

As a Senior School student we used to visit the library frequently as it was right next to or classroom. It was rumored to have been built over the top of a swimming pool but that may have been schoolboy gossip

That would suggest that the Band has a Hutchins connection.

Malcolm

[Ross Ewington]

Thanks Malcolm - sometimes if you wait long enough, the answer will find you rather than the other way around.

Now the locality of the photo has been established, my "best guess" for the musicians in the photo is (if it's a Hobart band) is the The Returned Soldiers' and Sailors' Band (later known as the Returned Servicemens' Memorial Band). There may have been a "Hutchins Connection" but I can't recall The Hutchins School as having ever been associated with a brass band.

The other possibility is that the band were visitors to Hobart and if that was the case, we will probably never know who these finely turned-out musicians were.

[opulent7]

This is a photograph of the Returned Soldiers' Memorial Band (known today as Glenorchy City Concert Brass) taken outside the War Memorial Library, Hutchins School, Hobart on ANZAC Day 1936. This very same photo can be found in "The Mercury" newspaper, Tuesday, 5th May 1936 on page 9.

[Ross Ewington]

Many thanks 'Opulent7' ...looks like it's definitely 'Q.E.D.' on this one!

[Malcolm Groom]

It is very likely that as the ANZAC DAY march began at the top of Macquarie Street that this photograph was taken at the assembly point for the Band at the beginning of the march for 1936. It may even be after they returned from the march to their original assembly point