Seven years after the 1885 arrival of missionaries in Australia, leaders of its newly converted 1000 members established a training school in St. Kilda, Melbourne. Because of the problems encountered in the United States by the first Seventh-day Adventist school located in the city of Battle Creek, Michigan, the school in Melbourne was regarded as temporary, pending the finding of a country site for a school.

Since the curriculum had been chosen by Adventist American educators, it did not align with that taught in Australian schools. It was a compromised offering shaped by a conflict that was raging in Adventist circles in America between those who wanted to offer a traditional classical education and those who believed that classes should be practical and prepare students to serve the evangelistic mission of the church. ¹

In spite of this uneasy beginning, music was taught from the opening of the school, the first teacher being acting-principal in the first month of school, 26-year-old Herbert Camden Lacey who had been born in England and raised in India and Tasmania, an Australian island state located off the southern coast of the mainland.

He next enrolled at Battle Creek College and graduated from the classical course in 1895, at age 24. BCC's classical program at that time required two years of voice study with Edwin Barnes, a highly trained musician from England. Given his training at BCC, Lacey's music teaching at the new Australian school likely consisted of giving music lessons in voice. ²

Orwin Morse was hired to teach both vocal and instrumental music for the second year. Although he was trained in a Canadian conservatory in Toronto and capable of teaching instrumental and vocal music, his stay at the school was brief.

Her husband also taught some music in addition to teaching science classes and running the farm. During the Papps' stay at the college, a band of mostly brass players was started. It is unclear whether one of the Papps or someone else started the group, which played a role in the 1904 graduation and is pictured in a photograph taken in the early years of the school. ³

In 1911, the school's offerings and status began to change when it was renamed Australasian Missionary College. The primary reason for the new name appears to have been a desire to gain greater credibility within the Australian educational system, which was being upgraded, and to raise the level of academic offerings and rigor on campus.

Schowe, who was a violinist and had music degrees, encouraged music students to take the exams necessary to gain diplomas and certificates from Trinity College in London and the Sydney Conservatorium. With the heightened interest at the college for credibility, the success of AMC students in achieving this recognition had to be gratifying. Although Schowe also developed a four-year music program that went into effect in 1913, only four students would complete the program. ⁴

While the second decade in the 20th century started with efforts to improve the academic program, by the time the 1920s started, standards had dramatically eroded. Several well-intentioned but poorly qualified principals, acting in concert with the board, succeeded in eviscerating the academic program. As the decade continued, some of the better teachers left, including Schowe and his wife, who both resigned in 1918 in protest over proposed changes.

Two years earlier, Schowe's administrative responsibilities on campus had been expanded, and aspects of the music program, including lessons and the band and orchestra, were parceled out to private teachers. The Choral Society, however, had continued under his leadership. At the end of his last year at AMC, he led the choir in a presentation of portions of Handel's Messiah, a first for the college. ⁵

The appointment of Lynn Wood as principal in 1922 would have far reaching implications for music. A believer in the importance of fine arts, he brought Arthur Martin to the campus in 1923 to serve as music teacher. The following year, construction was started on a music building, the first brick structure on campus, that was completed and furnished with four American made Poole pianos a year later, in 1925. ⁶

In the next two years, as the effects of an economic depression spread and student enrollment dropped to below 200, music was taught on a part-time basis by three teachers, one being former teacher Schowe, who conducted the band. Then Robert William Johnson, a talented and versatile musician, was hired. ⁷

For a decade, Johnson provided outstanding musical leadership. He raised the performance level of the choir, band, and orchestra and expanded the curriculum to include conducting classes. He conducted the choir in presentations of major choral works such as the Messiah and Haydn's Creation and led the band in more refined performances of carefully chosen music. Both his piano and voice students distinguished themselves in off-campus examinations.

In every way, Johnson provided outstanding and loyal service. When his use of non-Adventist soloists in choral productions was questioned and then halted, he cooperated. He personally continued to study music and improve his credentials. ⁸

From then until the end of World War II in 1945, when low enrollment almost closed the school,¹⁰ eight different teachers taught in the music department, the longest serving being Leonard Harvey, an alumnus of the college.

In 1947, George Greer arrived from America, following Ian Wilmoth, who had been teaching for three years. Greer was a venerated choral director who had taught at Pacific Union College and Washington Missionary College, now Columbia Union College, in Washington, D.C.

When he attempted to follow what he felt was his mandate, an intense conflict developed between Greer and H.M.S. Richards and the Voice of Prophecy quartet. In the next four years, three quartet members were fired for not supporting and cooperating with him, and Richards almost lost his job. ¹¹

The invitation in 1947 to go to Avondale Missionary College provided a gracious way to end the conflict and allow Greer to resume his choral work. After what had happened to him at the VOP, the challenge of again developing another choral program had to be invigorating.

He immediately started auditioning students when he arrived, even though school was in recess. By the end of his first school year, he had established the Avondale Symphonic Choir, a sixty-member group that was singing eight-part and twelve-part a cappella sacred music from memory. In that first year, they sang every week in church, toured, placed third in a choral competition, and made their first 78 RPM record. ¹²

Greer also formed an Oratorio Chorus, which included his Symphonic Choir and as many as 70 additional voices, and started the tradition of performing the Messiah annually, along with another oratorio each school year. ¹³

Greer had come as chair of the music program. He immediately created an expanded music program that graduated its first students in 1950 and lobbied successfully for students to be able to use music electives to satisfy degree requirements in other programs. Greer's conducting and singing classes became a requirement for ministerial students as well as music students. Within two years of his arrival, 200 students were enrolled in the music program.

He hired assistants to help teach instrument and voice lessons, and conduct the orchestra. One of these, Yvonne Caro Howard, a native New Zealander and accomplished pianist, was brought from Washington Missionary College, where he had worked with her earlier. Others who would assist him during his five years at the college included John Hurn; Ian Wilmoth, Greer's immediate predecessor; Yvonne Zanotti; Winsome Lambert; and Alan Thrift. ¹⁴

The success of the choir and increased interest in music by college students had an energizing effect on campus and in the field. Within Greer's first two years, an impressed administration and College Board responded positively to requests for a grand piano, acoustic treatment for the practice rooms, and an addition to enlarge the rehearsal room in the music building. In spite of the fact that the school was having financial difficulties, they also voted to proceed with a redesign and enlargement of the chapel, create a new stage with a concert shell, and install new theater-type seats.¹⁵

Greer's concept of sound had been shaped by his exposure to the sound of the noted Glasgow Orpheus Choir and the richness and close harmony of Russian choral works. He worked to obtain a rich balanced sound, paying close attention to detail, dynamics and tonal coloring. His repertoire was exclusively sacred music, including anthems, sections from oratorios and cantatas, spirituals, and arrangements of hymns and gospel songs.¹⁶ By the time Greer left in 1952, the choir, with its extensive touring all over the continent and release of records that were being played on Australian radio, had gained national recognition for excellence.¹⁷

Additionally, a series of four articles about those tours and one on the college in the Youth's Instructor in 1952, a widely read SDA magazine in America, created a mystique about Greer, the choir, and the college.¹⁸ Although the choir's tours were a public relations bonanza for the school, they also created controversial debt at a time when the school was having increasing financial difficulty. Even so, when Greer suddenly left in September 1952, his accomplishments were already being viewed as legendary, a perception that persists to the present in the minds of many.

His abrupt departure before the end of the AC school year was done to facilitate acceptance of a position at Atlantic Union College in the U.S., where the school year was just beginning. Although he had enjoyed remarkable success at three Adventist colleges, his tastes in music and unwillingness to include secular music in his repertoire led to a confrontation with the president of the college during his second year at AUC. Greer left and for the next two years lived in the Washington, D.C., area. He accepted an invitation to return to PUC in 1956, where he worked with distinction until he retired four years later, at age 65, an honored faculty member and emeritus professor. ¹⁹

As stunning as the choir's success at AMC had been, the focus on that group and choral and vocal music had held back other aspects of the overall program. It was Greer's stated belief that "the ideal music department should stress vocal music, for through this medium souls are won . . . ."²⁰

The post-World War II years had been an opportune time for music programs in Adventist higher education to broaden their offerings to include all aspects of music. In many of the Adventist colleges, band and orchestra programs were developed that complemented traditional choral and keyboard offerings.²¹

The transition after Greer left was facilitated by the appointment of a talented musician, Noel Clapham, AMC history and geography teacher. He served as head of the music department and director of the Symphonic Choir during the next four years. Lessons were taught by Romney King and Zelma Harris, pianists, and Jean Kilroy, a contralto and frequent soloist in campus concerts.

During Clapham's time as director, the first onsite LP recording of the choir was produced. The more natural sound of live acoustics, coupled with the vastly improved fidelity of the newer LP recordings yielded a more accurate and pleasing result than with previous records.²²

Thrift, who had completed an A.Mus.A. in piano in 1947 and Dip.Mus. while at AMC in 1951, had continued his studies and obtained two teaching certificates in the interim. He had started conducting in 1954 as an employee of the music branch of the Victoria Education Department and had distinguished himself when he led 1200 children in a well-received performance for the Governor General. More recently, he had served as Music Director of the Western Australian Conference for two years.

In spite of a teaching load that included piano and organ lessons and classes in music history, theory, conducting, and music appreciation, Thrift continued and built on the choral tradition that had been started by Greer. Major choral works, including the Messiah, Haydn's The Creation, Mendelssohn's Elijah, John Stainer's The Crucifixion, and others, were performed each year.²³

Annual interstate tours by the choir in Australia were broadened to include three trips to New Zealand and two to the U.S., in 1983 and 1990. The second tour in the U.S. included performances from coast to coast, in nine states, and an appearance at the General Conference Session in Indianapolis. Critics and audiences praised the choir for its finesse and quality of sound.²⁴

In the 1960s, Thrift's first full decade at the college, A number of changes transformed both the appearance and identity of the school. A new classroom, library, and administrative classroom complex was completed in 1961. In 1964, the school's name was changed to Avondale College and a year later the entrance to the college was upgraded.

A new men's residence hall opened in 1965, followed by a new cafeteria in 1967. These new buildings were highlights in a decade filled with renovations, the building of faculty homes, and other improvements, an era that ended with an enrollment in 1969 of 547, a new high for the school.²⁵

Throughout the years, attempts had been made to validate aspects of the school's academic program by entities outside the school. At first those attempts were resisted because they ran counter to the notion prevalent in early Adventist schools that an insular program with minimal interaction with the world was best. One of the earliest attempts at AMC to do otherwise had happened in 1911, when music students had been encouraged by music teacher Schowe to gain recognition by earning diplomas and certificates from Trinity College in London.

In 1974, the college's first government sanctioned baccalaureate degree program was authorized, a Bachelor of Education in secondary sciences. Within a decade, degree programs for business and education in other secondary areas, including music in 1981, had been authorized. With this change, students could now receive scholarships from the government.²⁶

During his 41 years at the college, Thrift moved from performing only sacred choral music to including secular music. Beginning in the 1960s, he formed a smaller vocal ensemble of sixteen from within the larger choir that performed madrigals and other secular works.

Inspired by this experience, upon return home he changed the name of the Avondale Symphonic Choir to the Avondale Singers, reduced its size to facilitate travel arrangements, and started programming both sacred and secular music. This renamed ensemble took its first tour to Tasmania in September 1972.²⁷

In 1981, the choir, which had sung every week for church services since the time of Greer in the late 1940s, began to sing only as requested. Also, the tradition of the Oratorio Chorus presenting an oratorio at graduation ended midway through that decade because of an increasingly complex schedule for that weekend event.²⁸

The campus was shaken during this decade by the residual fallout from the controversy at the end of the 1970s over the influence and theological beliefs of theology lecturer Desmond Ford, a native Australian. The finding against Ford in 1980 by the General Conference was a crushing blow to many on campus and acted as a catalyst in accelerating the breaking down of a family-like closeness that had been a hallmark at AC for years. It seriously damaged the credibility of the theology department in the minds of some Australians and led to a sharp drop in an enrollment that had crested at 600 in 1981.²⁹

Student attendance at music programs and other campus activities dropped dramatically throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s.³⁰ All of these changes, a result of rapid societal changes and shifts in students' attitudes, mirrored those also occurring in the U.S. at other Adventist schools.

In spite of these troubling developments, constructive changes in these years included an expanded degree program college-wide, an increase in library holdings, and the wearing of academic regalia by the faculty for the first time in 1983 at graduation. The campus was also given a lift with the construction of a new women's dormitory, physical education center, and an architecturally striking campus church. ³¹

When Thrift had traveled to the U.S. to study at AU, David Clark directed the Symphonic Choir and the smaller vocal ensemble Thrift had recently started. Clark had joined the music faculty a year earlier, in 1969, to assist Thrift. A pianist and organist, he had completed a B.A., B.Mus., and Dip.Ed. at Melbourne University.

Clark worked and studied abroad on several occasions. In 1972, he served as Music Director at the New Gallery in London, where he organized its first concert series. Bevan Greive, a talented bass singer, taught voice at the college and directed a choir during that year and then, following Clark's return, for two more years, resulting in a full-time staff of three during that time.

In 1983, Clark traveled to the U.S. to attend Andrews University and complete an M.A. in music history and literature in 1984. In 1985, he went to Japan to study Suzuki pedagogy with Shinichi Suzuki and Haruko Kataoka. He founded and directed the Suzuki Piano School at AC and then served as Regional Coordinator for an annual Suzuki Professional Conference hosted by AC.³²

In 1986, Barry Walmsley, a talented pianist, was hired upon graduation from AC to teach piano and theory, and accompany the Avondale Singers. He continued in that position for five years, until 1990. In that year, Thrift retired, the longest serving leader of an Adventist school music program in the church.

Clark was appointed music chair in 1996. Unfortunately, even though campus enrollment again had passed 600 in 1992,³³ there had been a drop in music enrollment and by 1996 administration proposed closing the program. Irvine and music enthusiast Howard Fisher, Chair of Humanities and geography lecturer, along with other music supporters, prepared a response that Clark presented to the AC Board of Governors, who then rejected the closure proposal. Irvine resigned the following year.³⁴

When Thrift had retired in 1990, he and Clark had worked together for 21 years. This collaboration resumed in 1997 and would continue for seven more years, as Thrift came out of retirement to direct the Singers and assist in piano.

The formation of the chamber orchestra in 1998 by Clark coincided with the first real attempt to establish a concert band at AC by Sharon Tolhurst, newly hired teacher of wind and percussion instruments and lecturer in music theory, conducting, and music education. While there had been numerous brass bands in the British tradition from the earliest years at the school, Tolhurst formed the Avondale Wind Ensemble with woodwinds, brass, and percussion in ratios that conformed to a band instrumentation that had evolved internationally throughout the 20th century.

Robb Dennis, new Head of Music, was present and introduced at the commencement ceremonies honoring Clark and Thrift in 2004. An award-winning singer with twenty years of experience, he was a 1984 graduate of Pacific Union College.

As he arrived on campus for the 2005 school year, Dennis in his role as music head as well as conductor of the Avondale Singers and Chamber Orchestra, and Senior Lecturer in voice and conducting, initiated and completed renovations of the voice studio and the choir room. Although the Music Hall had been enlarged since it had been built 80 years earlier, and been renovated in the 1990s, it included only three teaching studios; two classrooms, one of which was also used for rehearsals and recitals; three practice rooms; and a kitchenette.

Since that original purchase of four pianos for the new music building in 1925, a number of other keyboard resources had been added, including grand pianos in key performing areas on campus and in the music studios, as well as upright pianos for practice and classroom use. In 2002, a new state-of-the-art digital organ was installed in the college church. The instrument, a Johannus Rembrandt 3900, was made possible by a grant from Orland and Joan Ogden and other donations secured through the efforts of Senior Lecturer in mathematics Wilf Pinchin. The instrument was provided and installed by a dealer in Australia.³⁵

In his first year, Dennis formed The Promise, an eight-member vocal ensemble that has enjoyed considerable success and toured extensively. He also joined with Clark in taking another European tour similar to those taken earlier. Dennis has planned a fourth tour for 2008.

College enrollment had started to climb at the turn of the century and by 2005 exceeded 1000 for the first time. This past year it increased to over 1100.

More than a century has passed since Adventist pioneers, guided by Ellen White, established a school in rural Australia near the small village of Cooranbong. Today that community is a suburb in Lake Macquarie, a city of 400,000. That isolated and struggling school of fewer than 100 is now a robust college within an hour's drive of Sydney, a city of four million that provides many cultural opportunities.