POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

'Hapsburg' upright piano by Beale & Company

Object No. 2003/168/1

Beale and Company was the largest producer of pianos in Australia from the 1890s through to the early 1960s. Being a Sydney based firm they are of particular significance to the museum's musical instrument collection which has a strong collection of Australian made pianos including the earliest surviving Australian made piano by John Benham of Sydney dating from about 1835 through to the state of the art Stuart and Sons concert grand piano made in 1998-1999. The Beale Company was founded by Octavius Charles Beale in 1879. The company began by importing sewing machines and later pianos and reed organs. Based in Sydney, they began piano manufacture in 1893. In 1901 they established a large factory at Trafalgar Street Annandale, which was heralded at the time as "an important industrial success" according to the Sydney Mail (18/1/1902 p.166). The factory was opened by the then Prime Minister, Sir Edmund Barton. At this time it was estimated that the company had already sold 14,000 pianos since being founded. The Beale Company continued piano production until it was taken over in the early 1960s and subsequently closed. It has also been estimated that they had made over 95,000 pianos up to the time they ceased production in Australia. Priding themselves on making Australian pianos suitable for Australian conditions, they patented and string locking device in 1902 that attempted to stop pianos going out of tune with changes and extremes in the Australian climate. Having the facility in their factory of making veneered timber they also manufactured furniture and wooden cases for other items such as gramophones in the 1920s and 1930s. This diversification of manufacturing allowed them to manufacture fuselages for De Havilland Mosquito aircraft as a government industry during World War Two. The Hapsburg Beale piano was the early type of upright piano Beale imported from Germany and then sold in Australia, prior to them commencing actual piano production in this country. The trade mark name "Hapsburg" was applied for by OC Beale in 1882. Many of these instruments were sold in Australia and they became a common domestic instrument alongside many other German upright pianos also imported into Australia during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This piano is an interesting example of material culture illustrating the earlier stages of the Beale Company prior to piano production. It is also an indicator of the retailing and importing side of the business in its early stages. This particular instrument remained in the same family from the late 1940s until donated to the museum in 2003. Michael Lea Curator, music & musical instruments February 2003.