Original consignment

Component identifier:

Class MS 8019

Content Summary:

Comprises a large collection of files relating to Rex Hobcroft's early life and various stages of his career. The bulk of the files date from 1961 and contain correspondence, notes and a large collection of printed material in the form of programs, brochures and flyers. There is also a collection of reports on music related issues, music school handbooks and brochures and a copy of Hobcroft's unpublished autobiography titled "Australia's Con man" (380 p.). A number of the files relate to Hobcroft's time as Director of the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music, 1972-1982, and as Artistic Director of the Sydney International Piano Competition, 1976-1990. They contain correspondence, programs, reports, voting sheets and cuttings. There are also scrapbooks for the 1977, 1981, 1985 and 1988 competitions. Correspondents include Don Banks, John Brodie, Don Burrows, Stuart Challender, Miriam Hyde, Wilfrid Lehmann, James Penberthy, William Primrose, Harold Schonberg, Peter Sculthorpe, Larry Sitsky, Storry Walton and Roger Woodward. There is also a large collection of letters and cards from the poet Gwen Harwood to Hobcroft, 1962-1995, which include a number of manuscripts and typescripts of poems by Harwood, some of them dedicated to Hobcroft. The collection documents the various phases of Hobcroft's career in music and the organisations and projects with which he has been associated. It provides a good insight into the musical infrastructure in Australia from the late 1960s to the early 1990s, musical politics and the staging of piano and other musical competitions.

Contained in 79 boxes.

Immediate source of acquisition:

The papers were purchased by the Library from Hobcroft in two instalments, one in 1990 and the other in 1997.

Names:

Hobcroft, Rex, Mr

Contents

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