Peter Dawson 1882-1961

Dawson made further tours of Australia in 1931 and 1933. The 1931 tour, with the German pianist Mark Hambourg, was Dawson’s most successful, artistically and financially. Nevertheless he advised entrepreneur Hugo Julius Larsen: ‘I think it would be an excellent plan to permit smoking at concerts. I am sure that if it were general, men, especially, would be more likely to attend. And there is the competition of music halls and cinemas to keep in mind, so I think admission prices should be lowered. The craze for wireless sets and gramophones must be reckoned with, but if the needed reforms are carried out in the concert hall it will probably have a new lease on life, and, in the end, benefit by the educational effect of mechanical music in the home.’

Dawson made his first feature film appearance in 1937 in the Crazy Gang romp Okay for Sound. He was also seen in Chips (1938) and in several musical featurettes, including an experimental Chronophone sound short in 1907. His link with cinema continued when he toured Australia’s Greater Union Theatre circuit in 1939.

Dawson lived in Sydney from 1939 until 1947. He joined his brother’s firm, T. Dawson and Sons Pty Ltd, in a role he described as ‘Number One Handshake’ – in other words, he courted government officials to interest them in buying the company’s metal containers. He toured Australia on recruiting drives, gave concerts for troops and wrote and recorded a stirring march song called ‘V for Victory’.

In 1949, for a tour of New Zealand, Dawson engaged a young Australian pianist, Geoffrey Parsons. The following year Parsons went to Britain where he again played for Dawson and went on to a distinguished career and recognition as one of the world’s greatest accompanists.

On 7 December 1950 Dawson sang the bass solo role in Messiah at the Adelaide Town Hall, as he had done 50 years before. His autobiography, Fifty Years of Song, was published in 1951. In 1953, as president of the Australian Songwriters and Composers’ Association, he pressed for legislation to increase the compulsory quota for local music on radio. He made his last recordings, for the ABC in Adelaide, in January 1960.

Peter Dawson died in Sydney on 27 September 1961. The ABC’s Charles Moses wrote: ‘His great talent has given pleasure to countless concert audiences and radio listeners. During his long singing career he certainly did a great deal to enhance Australia’s musical reputation and I know that many people throughout the world will hear of his passing with very real regret.’

Frank Van Straten, 2007