POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Player piano made by Beale & Company Ltd

Object No. 2004/84/1

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 a 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 become a government industry during World War Two when they manufactured fuselages for De Havilland Mosquito aircraft. The earliest Beale pianos known as Hapsburg Beales were imported from Germany and then sold in Australia, prior to the company commencing actual piano production in this country. The trade mark name "Hapsburg" was applied for by OC Beale in 1882. After this time the company produced a number of different styles of piano including grands and upright grands. The commencement of player piano production by Beale is uncertain but by the 1920s three models of the Beale Player Piano were being produced. According to a 1920s catalogue these were the Model 5, Model 5-1 and Model 5-3 and were advertised as the New Beale Player Piano. This example, a Model 5-1, has a serial number that dates it to 1927. The Beale Player Piano is a classic example of a domestic piano of the 1920s to 1940s period and provides contrast to other popular overseas makes of player piano such as by Wurlitzer, which is also represented in the collection. This instrument is also representative of the peak of piano production by Beale prior to the Great Depression, where they were claiming to have manufactured over 50,000 instruments since they began production. This piano was bought by the donor in the late 1960s and was used as a domestic piano. Michael Lea Curator, music & musical instruments December 2003.