Her talents are no surprise as she was the younger daughter of Tom Tansey,
himself champion trombonist at the South Street competitions at Ballarat
for many years, and a bandmaster at Murtoa, Traralgon, Hay, Castlemaine
and Beechworth. He began teaching Hilda when she was six years old and
had to stand on a box to see the music on the music stand . She gave her
first public performance in 1909 in Murtoa, playing a cornet solo at a
school concert - "Songs we sing at School", which had been especially arranged
for her. Soon she was playing with the band, and then with the Traralgon
Brass Band, where she became first collector, then Secretary at age 16.
Tom Tansey
Geelong, Vic, 1902
However she spent her adult life in Sydney and it is her musical life here in the 1930s and 1940s that I am trying to trace through a few newspaper cuttings and photos.
The Sydney Ladies' Band was formed in the early 1930s but by April 1934 the band was practically insolvent with debts of 107 pounds for uniforms and instruments.
Hilda and ten other players took over the debt and formed a new organization,
the Sydney Ladies' Brass Band, with Hilda as honorary conductor and teacher.
She was working at Farmers at the time and hired a room at the bottom of
George St near the Quay for practice at five shillings a week. Other women
joined until they had 29 members.
With the exception of some bass instruments and drums, each girl bought her own instrument, and they made their first appearance in a grand pageant on Gala Day, November 22, 1934.
Hilda Tansey, 1934
During their initial preparation and training period they raised 65 pounds through social functions, and by adding 35 pounds from engagements and the remainder from the members' contributions of one shilling per week, they had paid off the debt with which they started within four months of accepting engagements.
As a comment on their success, the Australasian Band and Orchestra News of July 26, 1935 says "Here is a practical illustration to many male bands of the saying "Never have your wishbone where your backbone ought to be"."
They were very busy ladies. In April 1938 they led a parade of Red Cross
Nurses through the city for the laying of the foundation stone of the building
in Jamieson St which was to become the home of the NSW Division of the
Red Cross Society. They played at the official opening of the Velodrome
at Canterbury in 1936 and appeared regularly at Mark Foy's on Friday nights,
as well as playing on beautifully decorated floats during parades and at
garden parties.
