Jean Schmierer

Music in Gayndah

A History by those who were there

 

Jean Schmierer's Story

 

Jean Schmierer was born in Gayndah in 1950.  She is a real Gayndahite. Her parents were born in Gayndah and her grand parents were pioneer farmers in the late eighteen hundreds.  Baroan Road was one of there sites.  Out past the present aerodrome, there is a John Taylor Road.  That was named after her grandfather.  

 

 

Her grand mother won the first side saddle race held in Queensland and was run on the Gayndah race track.  Her prize for that was a side saddle and it resides in the local museum today.  Jean reports that she has ridden in it many times.

 

 

Music in Jean’s early life was mostly associated with local dances.  Her older siblings, a brother eleven years older and a sister seven years older, took her to dances and taught her to dance. By the time she was fifteen, she was a regular attender at dances and decided it was time to leave school and look for a job.  

 

She was successful, starting work for Ann Cleary down at Byrnestown. From there on in, music, and in particular dances, played a big role in Jean’s life. By the time she was seventeen, she was invited to sing in one of the local dance bands singing songs such as Banks of the Ohio, Harper Valley PTA and Petula Clarke songs, all focussed on old time dancing.  

 

The band did play some rock n roll, but her interest was in old time.  It was through the band that she met her future husband Vin, who played trumpet and sang.

 

The band traveled all over the place, Quilpie, Cunnamulla, Dalby and well as for the local dances.  Most weekends were at least partly taken up by playing at dances. And there were show balls as well as the local dances.  

 

She enjoyed the local Balls, such as the Orange Festival Ball where women would wear long dresses and gloves and the men also wore gloves. “That was just the thing to do because they didn’t put their dirty work hands on the women’s dresses . . . that was the protocol.”

Her vocal skills were not only limited to weekend dances.  She also played important singing and dancing roles in the annual JayCees concerts.  She remembers them as:

Magnificent concerts . . . They were beautifully run and everyone was trained for them.  They had one every year I think.  The lady who trained all the singers and singing groups was the wife of the manager of the National Bank, Mavis Jamieson. She was a very good singer.  She had us all going to practice . . . She was very much the leader.  

There were many locals here that were in them.  They were compered by a school teacher, Bill Mole.  He was marvelous. Just a great compere. He kept them running very well.  They filled the town hall.  Absolutely.  They were very popular and well presented. They were great concerts.  

That would have been back on the sixties.  I only sang solo once I think.  I used to do more dancing.  I did sing with groups but not solo, I was a bit stage frightened.  I suffered from that in those days. And even more so now.