Dolls used by Mona McBurney for her opera The Dalmatian (c. 1926)

Dolls used by Mona McBurney for her opera The Dalmatian (c. 1926)

The Dalmation was the first opera written by a woman to be performed in Australia. Its libretto was adapted from F. Marion Crawford’s novel, Marietta: A Maid of Venice. Excerpts were performed in late 1910, and the first full performance was given in 1926. As scholar Louise Jenkins has observed, ‘The opera stands as proof of the benefits that can be reaped when society provides equal encouragement, support and opportunity for men and women in their musical endeavours.’ The score of the opera The Dalmatian is held by the Grainger Museum. Conservation treatments on the McBurney Collection, to prepare the objects for display in the exhibition Multivocal (2020-2021), have been generously funded by Julia and Kevin Selby.

Grainger Museum Collection, University of Melbourne. Gift of the McBurney family, 1985.

Grainger Museum

c. 1910s-1920s

02.0703, 02.0704, 02.0707