Great Australians you should know: Eileen Joyce

If I ask you to name a famous identity born at Zeehan on Tasmania’s wild West Coast, I guess it’s pretty obvious I’d like you to say, Eileen Joyce. But who is she and why should we remember her?

A daughter, Eileen Alannah, was born on Wednesday 1 January 1908 to Tasmanian miner Joseph Joyce and his wife, Alice. Western Australia appeared to offer better prospects, and the Joyces moved there before their daughter turned three, living in Boulder where Joe worked in the goldfields. Once established in the area, Eileen was enrolled in and educated at St Joseph’s Convent School where she was further trained on piano by Sister Mary Monica Butler.

A visiting music examiner from London heard Eileen play. He was so moved by her talent he wrote to the local newspaper, saying, “(She) …bids fair to take her place …in the very first ranks among her contemporaries.”  Sufficient funds were raised for the then 15-y.o. to take up a two-year scholarship at Lareto Convent in Perth where she was able to study under the brilliant Sister John More. By 1926, more funds were raised for the young prodigy to head overseas. She went at first to Max Pauer at the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy School for Music in Leipzig before transferring to Robert Teichmuller at the same academy, making great progress.

Leaving Germany after four years, she moved to London, Teichmuller lauding her abilities to the famous conductor Sir Henry Woods. She made her debut for the BBC, playing Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto at the 1930 Proms. Continuing her studies, extending her technique and musicianship, her name spread, initially in broadcast recitals and, later, in recordings. She paid a small fee to Parlophone for the first of these, but her brilliance and her public acceptance soon led to contract recordings. The petite but outstandingly pretty green-eyed, auburn-haired lass from half a world away was well set on her career. By 1936 she returned to Australia to give a series of concert performances under the aegis of the fledgeling Australian Broadcasting Commission. 

Back in England, she entered a whirlwind romance with stockbroker Douglas Legh Barratt, the pair marrying in the Marylebone registry office in 1937. The marriage was an unhappy affair although it produced a son, John, born the day after Britain declared war on Germany. Douglas Barratt died at sea in 1942, serving in the RNVR.

Eileen performed regularly with Malcolm Sargent and the LPO in support of the war effort, doing all she could to raise spirits, especially in blitzed areas.  After the war, her career blossomed, although she suffered shoulder and back pain from chronic arthritis. Forever mindful of good presentation, she had famous creators, including Norman Hartnell, design gowns that were able to hide the cast she often needed to wear. Peggy Chambers, a contemporary, records that the fashion-conscious pianist dressed to suit the music of the composer, including blue for Beethoven, red for Tchaikovsky, green for Chopin and black for Bach.

Through the 1940s, Eileen had formed a relationship with theatrical agent Christopher Mann who managed some of the greatest stars of the day. They remained a couple until his death in 1978. Their combined income allowed them to buy a great deal of property in the country, including Chartwell, becoming neighbours of and friends with Winston Churchill.

Eileen extended her career into films, including playing Rach Two for two different productions and even acted before the cameras on two occasions (A Girl in a Million in 1946 and Man of Flowers in 1983). Her popularity never waned due to her close association with her audiences – she would often chat with concert attendees at a recital – and her preparedness to play for charitable causes. Sadly, due to an incredibly heavy work load (concerts, tours, recording sessions, television broadcasts and more), as well as the pain in her back, she began to suffer a series of nervous problems, even to the extent of a breakdown in 1953.

The girl from an isolated mining community effectively retired in 1960 but remained involved in music, especially through the University of Western Australia, until her death in 1991. She is commemorated there by the Eileen Joyce Studio and by a garden bearing her name in her town of birth.

I think you’ll accept Eileen Joyce as a famous and worthy Zeehanite, despite spending only her first three years there.

Were you a fan of Eileen Joyce? Did you know much about her before this? What other Australians should people know about?