Surf Wear 33

Victoria - home to Australia’s first musical surfwear designer!

Media Release, Tuesday 8 April 2003

It has been revealed by the University of Melbourne, that one of Victoria’s favourite sons, composer Percy Grainger, was the world’s first designer of terry toweling clothing.

Grainger will be remembered this year in a special series of activities to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the University of Melbourne.

Although Grainger is best known for composing the twentieth century classic, “Country Gardens”, he also composed “The Warriors – music for an imaginary ballet”, which was played at the opening of the Sydney Olympic Games as Cathy Freeman lit the cauldron.

Another of Grainger’s more unusual achievements was to design Australia’s, and probably the world’s first highly coloured designs for cotton towelling clothing back in 1910.

The Grainger Museum, which includes examples of Grainger’s unusual clothing designs is located within the grounds of the University of Melbourne, adjacent to the Faculty of Music (Conservatorium of Music) in Royal Parade.

The museum holds an eccentric collection of musical instruments, manuscripts, clothing and artifacts tracing the life of Percy Grainger and his mother, Rose. The museum also catalogues Grainger’s first experiments with proto-electronic music, including a collection of Grainger’s own music machines, and the first electronic synthesizer from England.

Percy Grainger was born in Melbourne in 1882, the only child of Rose, and architect and civil engineer, John Grainger, the designer of Melbourne’s Princes Bridge. The young Percy was educated at home by his mother, and showed a very early, and precocious talent for art and music.

Grainger and his mother travelled to England in 1901 and later moved to the United States in 1914 following the outbreak of war. He later collaborated with Dame Nellie Melba in support of the allied war effort.

Grainger’s numerous folksong recordings were considered to be of such significance in the United States that the Library of Congress copied the original cylinders on to disk.

Country Gardens became a signature tune for Grainger and the cover design for the music incorporated an Australiana motif.

The Grainger Museum was opened in 1938, after a significant bequest and assistance with the design by Percy Grainger himself.

The Grainger museum will be open to the public as part of the University of Melbourne Community Open Weekend, from 11am to 4pm, on Saturday May 10.

For further information visit : www.unimelb.edu.au/150 or phone (03) 8344 3874.

More information about this article:

Brian Allison
Grainger Museum
Ph: (03) 83445270
Fax: (03) 9349 1707
Email: ballison@unimelb.edu.au

University of Melbourne Media and Publications Office

Bruce Wardley, Manager
Ph: 61 3 8344 8705 Mob 0439 384 676
Fax: 61 3 9349 4921
Email: bwardley@unimelb.edu.au

News on the web: http://www.unimelb.edu.au/news/