Beryl Caten papers relating to Bertram Caten and the Mortdale Public School Boys Band, later the Young Australia League Band

MLMSS 10459

fonds

1882-1997

Textual Records, Clippings, Graphic Materials, Photographs, Cartographic Materials

9642074

0.16 metres of textual material (1 box)

Beryl Caten is the daughter of Professor Bertram Caten (1882-1965), musician and bandmaster. Bertram Caten was born in England and was a trombonist in the Scots Guards before emigrating to Australia in 1913. He was a member of the ABC Orchestra and Professor of Trombone at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. In 1928 he formed the Mortdale Public School Boys Band, which made rapid progress, performing at events throughout Sydney. Approximately two years after its formation, the band was re-established as the Young Australia League Band Sydney, part of the Perth-based Young Australia League which gave youth an avenue for adventure and experiences through sport, music and travel. With Caten as bandmaster, the band performed in Sydney, throughout Australia and overseas, including a New Zealand tour in 1932 and a ten-month tour to South Africa in 1935. The band continued to perform until its disbandment soon after the outbreak of World War II. Beryl Caten, who had travelled with the band on the South African tour, organised a reunion of former band members in 1997.

Reference:
Compiled from the collection

Folder 1
Bertram Caten personal papers, 1882-1987. Includes copy of birth certificate of Bertram William Caten, 21 July 1882; certificate of discharge for Bertram William Caten, Rank Musician, Regimental Staff Scots Guards, 14 December 1906, with letter from Lieut. Fred W. Wood, Director of Music, Band of H.M. Scots Guards, 1922; 4 photographs of Bertram Caten as a young man (3 in uniform); annotated typescript biography written by Beryl Caten, 1987

Folder 2
Mortdale Public School Boys Band and Young Australia League Band, including New Zealand tour, 1932, no date. Includes photographs, program, clippings

Folder 3
Young Australia League Band tour of South Africa, 1935. Includes Bertram Caten’s passport; photographs; printed poem ‘A letter from Cape Town’; photocopy of booklet ‘The Young Australia League presents 40 young Australians around the world : South African Tour 1935 souvenir’; original and photocopied clippings; scrapbook of clippings compiled by Beryl Caton; fold-out map of South Africa with tour route annotated

Folder 4
Reunion of Young Australia League Band, 1997. Includes attendance book; typescript unsigned memoir; clippings

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