Olive and Eva were two young women whose harmonies warmed many a heart that heard them and whose 1956 recordings became the first commercially available discs released by an all Indigenous act. They’re not household names but they should be. Their music is beautiful and their story fascinating.
Olive McGuiness and Eva Bell (later Eva Mumbler) were cousins who spent their early childhood on the Erambie Mission in Cowra, New South Wales. Both enjoyed musical families who loved getting together and sharing songs and stories.
When Eva was eight her family moved to Sydney looking for a better life and they initially settled in the Redfern area. Sunday evenings became a popular time for families of the inner Sydney aboriginal community and their friends and neighbours to come together and have a sing-song. Eva was fun-loving, confident and always ready to perform a popular number from her favourites Lena Horne, The Ink Spots or Ella Fitzgerald.
Olive didn’t leave Erambie until she was in her mid teens. She came to Sydney and stayed with Eva’s family while she tried to find work. The two would occasionally harmonise together at the Sunday night sing-songs until one evening they were heard by Mrs Grace O’Clerkin who heard something special.
Grace O’Clerkin and her husband Cornelius were socialists who had moved to Sydney from the Townville region of Queensland. They enjoyed close friendships with many of the aboriginal families in the area and had already spent some time encouraging the singing talents of Eva’s older brother Teddy. Their houses, first in Newtown and then La Perouse, became regular gathering places for informal concerts. In the mid 1950s these gatherings would also nurture the career of Jimmy Little after he arrived in Sydney with his brother Freddy. Grace O’Clerkin was a talented guitarist, poet and songwriter and she had a small selection of songs that she began to teach Olive and Eva.
The O’Clerkins began to get Olive and Eva gigs at local Socialist party gatherings in halls and community centres and their popularity soon began to grow beyond their immediate communities. Before long they felt confident enough to enter the nationally syndicated Australian Amateur Hour radio show. The duo made the 1955 national final as one of ten very different and talented acts. You can read a newspaper article from the archive on that year's final here.
Their success on Amateur Hour and their increasingly popular performances around Sydney drew them to the attention of Reginald (Rex) Shaw of Prestophone Records. He’d already released discs by a variety of local acts like bandleader Frank Coughlan and pop crooner Ray Melton. In early 1956 he took Olive and Eva into the studio with a small band, most likely led by Horrie Dargie, and they cut four sides: Old Rugged Hills, Rhythm Of Corroboree, Maranoa Moon and Homeland Calling.
The 78rpm discs caused a sensation within Olive and Eva’s community. No-one there had ever had the chance to listen to a record made by someone they knew before then. Sadly though it seems that most of the copies that sold were snapped up by family and friends and then worn out through repeated plays on their home stereos. Few copies appear to have ever made their way to radio stations where they might have got a vital play or two that could have opened further opportunities for them.
Olive and Eva continued to perform for a few months after the record came out but then Olive decided she wanted to go home to Cowra. She was keen to start a family and had always enjoyed the quieter life. Eva stayed in Sydney and continued performing publicly for more than a decade. She won the NADOC week Music Quest in 1962, could often be found singing at shows with the likes of Jimmy Little or the Silver Lining Band and was a regular entrant (and winner) of the many talent shows run by inner city pubs at the time.
When they found themselves in each other’s company at a family gathering they would often sing together. Many in the Wiradjuri people of New South Wales still fondly remember them and their beautiful harmony singing.
Olive and Eva may not have had the hits of Yothu Yindi or be as well remembered Jimmy Little but their legacy is no less important. Their contribution to the history of recorded music in Australia deserves recognition and their beautiful and haunting music should be more widely heard.
This episode of RareCollections is built around an interview with Maisie Cavanagh, sister of Eva and cousin of Olive.
Track: Old Rugged Hills
Artist: Olive and Eva
Composer: Grace O’Clerkin
Label: Prestophone
Duration: 3:09
Year: 1956
Track: Homeland Calling
Artist: Olive and Eva
Composer: Grace O’Clerkin
Label: Prestophone
Duration: 2:34
Year: 1956
Track: Maranoa Moon
Artist: Olive and Eva
Composer: Grace O’Clerkin
Label: Prestophone
Duration: 2:36
Year: 1956
Track: Rhythm Of Corroboree
Artist: Olive and Eva
Composer: Grace O’Clerkin
Label: Prestophone
Duration: 2:31
Year: 1956