valvetrombone

Maryborough Naval Volunteer Band, Queensland, 1905

from State Library of Queensland

• Vesna Verencevic said:

  Fury erupted in Maryborough, Queensland, in December 1914 on the eve of the Maryborough Naval Band’s departure for Ipswich. A great scandal and the police investigation were enveloping one of the world’s best performers. I told a version of the story live on West Bremer Radio. The Maryborough Naval Band was making a concerted bid to win the 1915 Queensland Band Championship. But on the eve of the contest, one of its cornet players, nineteen-year-old Claude Elliott, was mugged and left dazed on the ground. Claude’s cornet was damaged, the mouthpiece thrown into a gully, and his music torn to pieces and placed in his pocket. The young man was discovered lying in the street twenty minutes later by the Maryborough baker. The band had pulled out all stops in a bid to win the coveted state title. Suspicion for the attack on Claude immediately fell upon members of the Naval Band’s main rivals – this was the civilian Maryborough City Band and the Ipswich City Vice-Regal Band. Claude recovered from the mugging and was able to play, but only after borrowing his conductor’s personal cornet. Once the competition got underway, the Ipswich police were on guard throughout the concerts at Queen’s Park to ensure that there was no repeat of the brutal attack. After days of competition, the winner of the Besson Shield, £100 prize money, and the champion band of Queensland that year was the Maryborough Naval Band – they took the honors from the Ipswich City Vice-Regal Band by just a solitary point. ..... Yet, this is not the end of the story. Check the website if you want to know what really happened. historyoutthere.com/2022/01/23/great-band-scandal-of-1915/