About this blog:

St. David’s Park Bandstand, Hobart, Tasmania. (The photograph was taken by Jeremy de Korte, 18/01/2018)

Welcome to the ‘Australian Band Stands’ blog page where you will be able to find historical information about band stands and rotundas from around Australia. This site is a companion site to the blog, ‘Band Blasts From the Past‘ and both blogs will compliment the other. I realise that other books, historical socieities, libraries and other parties will have their own histories of band stands. However, through this site I will present some further infromation in my own way.

There is already some useful information on band stands in this country. Books by Allison Rose (2017) and Brenton Brockhouse (2016), an academic study by Tracy Videon (1996), and my own blog post (2020) all provide different information on band stands. They are unique structures, and I aim to present as many as possible on this site. Many I have visited, and for the others, I have a collection of historical postcards.

Memorial Park Band Rotunda, Finley, New South Wales. (The photograph was taken by Jeremy de Korte, 27/12/2023)

About me:

I have been involved in the community band movement for nearly thirty-five years. First and foremost I am a member of two community bands, the Southern Area Concert Band which I joined in 1988 and am now a Life Member, and I am also a member of the Stonnington City Brass. Through this involvement I developed a deep appreciation for the history of the band movement in Australia and also the administration. In 2014 I joined the Executive Council of the Victorian Bands’ League and in 2018 I was elected as one of two Vice-Presidents – in this role I am responsible for the League’s History and Archives. Outside of this involement in the community band movement, I am a qualified musician, teacher, arts administrator and librarian, and I work in a dual role of Teacher-Librarian and Instrumental Music Teacher at one of Melbourne’s secondary colleges.

Acknowledgement of Country:

I acknowledge that I have been working and residing on the lands of the Bunurong, Wurrundjeri Woi Wurrung, and the Wadawurrung peoples, the first gatherers of information in this country, and I pay my respects to their elders, past, present and emerging.