AN article published on March 27 on the Western Advocate website ("First Fleet piano flown to UK for repairs"), stating that Edith Cowan University's 1786 Beck piano currently undergoing restoration in the United Kingdom was the first to arrive in the colony of New South Wales in 1788, whilst a great good news story, needs to be treated with caution.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
There is absolutely no substantiated proof, beyond all doubt, that this Beck piano was owned by George Bouchier Worgan, the surgeon on board the Sirrius.
We do know that Worgan definitely brought a piano with him and left it with Elizabeth Macarthur on his return to England in March 1791. That is well-documented through a variety of sources.
The principal proponent of the claim that this 1786 Beck piano was the first to arrive in the colony, Professor Geoffrey Lancaster of Perth's Edith Cowan University, has based his assertions purely on the fact that it is of the period and has collapsible, cabriole legs, thereby making it easier to store.
READ MORE:
Almost all square pianos of the period were on trestle stands of one sort or another that could be easily disassembled and stored, so merely having a collapsible base is by no means adequate proof to make such a claim.
Lancaster's substantial 2016 publication, The First Fleet Piano: A Musician's View, provides many statements casting doubt on his own assertions in this regard.
IN OTHER NEWS AROUND BATHURST:
To date, no record has come to light stating the maker's name of Worgan's piano. Until such time as that occurs - if ever - readers, journalists and researchers need to keep an open mind on the matter. The search continues.
Readers may care to access further information regarding the ongoing search and research surrounding "the true First Fleet Piano" and read about an alternative "First Fleet Piano", a 1785-86 Longman and Broderip square piano, with a far more credible provenance, in the hands of a private collector in Sydney, via lochista.com/category/first-fleet-piano or www.colonialdance.com.au/piano-of-the-first-fleet-29.html
