Women stringing pianos 1920s - courtesy Leichhardt Local Studies collection.
Leichhardt Local Studies: Beale's Piano Factory
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Women stringing pianos 1920s - courtesy Leichhardt Local Studies collection.
Leichhardt Local Studies: Beale's Piano Factory
Playing Second Fiddle: A history of the relationship between technology and organisation in the Australian music economy refers to advertisements, from 1924/5, in which Beale and Co claimed exports to various parts of the world and trumpeted their success at the 1924 Wembley Exhibition.
PIANO INDUSTRY IN AUSTRALIA - Largest Factory In The British 'Empire - Canberra Times Thursday 25 November 1926
"This early film offers insights into the workmanship involved in piano manufacture and boasts the slogan, ‘Wherever you trade, buy Australian Made’." - Piano Making c.1924
"CARS COLLIDE.
Piano Manufacturer Killed.
SYDNEY, Dec. 16.—Mr. Octavius C. Beale, managing director of Beale and Co., Ltd., piano manufacturers, of Sydney, was killed instantly in a motor collision at North Stroud this afternoon. - 1930 'CARS COLLIDE.', The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879-1954), 17 December, p. 16, viewed 8 June, 2011, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article/32990301
THE QUEEN'S CHOICE.
Beale Pianos.
Beale pianos and player pianos, the Beale panchromatic radio and Raycophone Airzone and Sostenurot radios are made in Australia... Her Majesty the Quenn purchased a Beale player piano for her own use at Buckingham Palace... 1932 'THE QUEEN'S CHOICE.', The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879-1954), 24 May, p. 9, viewed 8 June, 2011, http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/32645644
"Upright player piano, Mastertouch recording piano No 1, wood / metal, made by Beale and Company, used as a recording piano by Mastertouch Piano Roll Company, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 1925....There are also several pieces of equipment used in the manufacture and repair of pianos that were previously owned by several Sydney piano repair companies such as Winkworths and Garner & Hancock." - (Powerhouse Museum Object 2006/151/12)
Picture Australia images of veneer and plywood logs being unloaded from barge.
During 1998, the Beale Piano Factory building underwent major renovation, which has transformed it into a residential complex. See "Piano factory, heritage report", 1997, prepared by Robert Irving for Walker Corporation. Available in the local studies collection, Leichhardt Library.
The National Library of Australia, has a Beale catalogue published around 1903: Piano Catalogues: A Window Into Industry, Trade and Australian Social History. Photographs of the exterior and operations of the Beale Piano Factory at photosau.com
For more on Pianos in Annandale see Ronisch Piano dumped on Curb
This page www.ramin.com.au/annandale/story4-1-beale.shtml last update 9 June 2012.