‘Robin Red-Breast’

For many emigrants coming to New South Wales in the mid-19th century the notion of ‘home’ belonged to places far over the seas in the northern hemisphere.

It would be some time before the idea of Australia as ‘home’ took hold – with greater calls for political independence and a sense of national identity building towards Federation in 1901. In the 1850s, however, many in Sydney still looked back sentimentally towards the bird life, flowers, landscapes and seasons in Great Britain and Europe to express emotion through their music, art and stories. ‘Robin Red-Breast’ tells us the seasonal story of the British native songbird, which seems quite a contrast to Rouse Hill Estate’s soundscape of Blue Mountains bell birds, magpies, currawongs and kookaburras.

This song's composer, Anne Wilhelmina Pelzer (1833-1897), was born into a family of musicians in London and was a successful composer, pianist, concertina player and teacher there. Her sister, Catherina Pelzer (1821-1895), was a celebrated guitar virtuosa and her instruction manual for amateurs, ‘Learning the Guitar Simplified’, was reprinted twelve times in the 19th century alone! The ‘Pelzer daughters’ had successful careers as professional musicians and this was considered somewhat unusual for ‘ladies’ of their class. Anne subsequently withdrew from her performing career following her marriage to Dr Julius Althaus in 1859, but she continued to be celebrated for her musicality in social circles.

Watch the performance

Listen to Anna Fraser and Luke Byrne perform ‘Robin Red-Breast’ and then have a go yourself! This is the only known recording of this song so you can help us share more versions with the world.

This video was recorded at home in 2020 during a COVID-19 lockdown.

Supported by: City of Sydney

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