Peter Burgis in the early 1970s with his collection of many gramophones and cylinder machines in the Hornsby extension to the Burgis family home. Built by the well known record collector/writer of research magazines & builder, Mike Sutcliffe.Peter Burgis was born in Parkes, NSW, in 1936 where the family lived according to where his father’s banking work took him. The bank was to become the ANZ in later years, and Peter’s father worked in a senior role, but he moved where his employer posted him. The family later moved to Tamworth and then to Newcastle. Peter was schooled at Newcastle Primary from 1942-1948, and then attended secondary school in Newcastle. The same year, 1949, the family moved again to Abbotsford where Peter attended Drummoyne High School. Then during 1952 and 1953 he returned to Newcastle to complete his schooling, staying with his aunt Sibyl.
It was with aunt Sibyl that Peter discovered his new lifetime hobby. This was the collecting of gramophone records, as his aunt bought the young teenager a new Columbia gramophone and gave him a bit of extra money to buy some records. She hoped her nephew would purchase classical recordings with rich, baritone voices. But, Peter arrived home with two records. One was of the Sons of the Pioneers and the other by Gene Autry. By chance, a friendly, older neighbour who lived nearby gave Peter all of his old gramophone records from the 1930s as a gift, and Peter’s new hobby was started. He now had 32 shellac records. His schooling was extended at tertiary level for the Diploma of Agriculture, which he studied whilst at Wagga Wagga, and that was completed by 1955. While in Wagga Wagga, Peter began corresponding with renowned discographers and notable record collectors. In the field of country and hillbilly music, he met and exchanged information with David Crisp who was an authority in that music art form. He also met and became a lifelong friend of jazz buff, Jack Mitchell, OAM who published books about Australian jazz, musicians and the different styles of jazz. Jack later became a producer of jazz reissue material on his compact disc label in the 2000s.
During his early years of schooling, Peter’s interests were like any young kid from that era between the war years. Cricket, marbles, cowboys and indians, going to the cinema, and reading comics. Listening to the radio was big, and serials such as The Search For The Golden Boomerang and Yes What! were favourites, along with the Hit Parade that featured the latest popular songs. It was whilst staying with his aunt Sibyl during 1952 and 1953, young Peter was able to experience the live jazz and big band orchestras of the time, and he got to enjoy and listen to Bob Gibson & His Orchestra and also Horrie Dargie’s Quintet. Both these groups at times featured vocalist Edwin Duff who was a flamboyant jazz crooner of the epoch. These experiences further extended his curiosity with music and its origins in this country.
Peter was employed by the NSW Department of Agriculture from 1956 to 1960 where he was a wheat quality surveyor moving from Warialda to Tocumwal, NSW. From 1960, he worked for a publishing firm where he wrote articles about agriculture and farming. Later, he joined the NSW Department of Education as Junior Farmer Supervisor. Here, he was sent to various towns for work and first came Cooma, then Bega and then to Coff’s Harbour. It was in these country towns that brought Peter into the world of broadcasting whilst working with the young farmers of the area. His residence for work in these country towns meant he was visiting radio stations to do with his job and he noted the record libraries were starting to discard older 78 rpm recordings, radio transcription discs and the old machines to play them on. The new medium of reel-to-reel magnetic tape and vinyl record albums, plus 45 rpm discs were replacing the old ideas. His ever growing interest in music expanded and Peter was to embark on purchasing enormous quantities of radio show transcription discs, and the popular 78 rpm records being dumped by these country radio stations.
His collection started to grow and week in week out he would take trailer-loads of recordings home and store them. At a station in Grafton, NSW (2GF) he loaded his car and trailer up with 1,000 records.
His employment at this time changed direction when he moved to Sydney to live, and a position at Ashwoods Second Hand Records & Books was offered. Peter took the position of valuer and buyer at this popular shop retailer. The customer base included newspaper journalists, musicians, radio broadcasters, actors, discographers and of course record collectors. Peter spent seven years at Ashwoods and made many contacts over that time as well as learning more about all types of music. In his years living in Sydney, Peter met and married the love of his life, Carolyn in 1966 and both prepared for the family to come and Peter’s working life which was steadily building a good reputation within the arts and music fields.
His personal library started to grow to a substantial size, and Peter had decided that the collection should have its own home. He hired a builder by the name of Mike Sutcliffe, to construct a bespoke building to house the collection, gramophones, cylinder machines and other special Pathe discs and 16” (40 cm) transcription records. The building completed with all walls lined of shelving was perfect and Mike Sutcliffe became a good friend, as fellow enthusiast and writer pertaining to record collecting.
Mike Sutcliffe later wrote a quarterly magazine sold to his subscribers called Australian Music and Record Review (1989–2007). The Burgis library grew in quantity to about 100,000 records.
Peter and Carolyn Burgis at home in the music museum about the same time as the previous photograph. Carolyn embraced the hobby and the path that led Peter to the pinnacle of his career.
It was Peter’s curiosity of the background to these recordings, the artists and the use of pseudonyms by recording artists that expanded his large network with collectors and discographers. Such were Ross Laird and Bill Bennett. Expanding from local knowledge to overseas discographers he made contact with renowned British, German and American counterparts. People like Brian Rust (England), Rainer Lotz (Germany), Peter Downes (New Zealand) and Bill Moran and Ronald Dethlefson in USA, added to his understanding for the role that potentially lay ahead in his own work and employment. Peter conducted his own surveys and engaged notable people to speak in his pursuit of a place to store the Australian heritage in sound and film that survived from the earliest years of the twentieth century. A favourite subject being baritone Peter Dawson who started his recording career making cylinder recordings way back in 1903. It was this artist that Peter enjoyed so much that he wrote the biography and later produced a 10 vinyl disc set and booklet of Peter Dawson’s career for EMI. He was joined on this project by Chris Long who assisted with the remastering of the original recordings. Another expert authority in the Peter Dawson recording career is Steve Rattle who produced a CD of Dawson’s earliest cylinders from 120 years ago. This was so well done, and Steve Rattle became great friends with Mr. Burgis.
Peter’s promotional skills and charming manner came to great use when it involved writing newspaper articles and giving television appearances. This engaged audiences of the importance and significance of storing these great performances of actors, musicians and singers for the future. As well as that, interviews were to be undertaken and stored of sporting legends, politicians and adventurers. All should be retained and housed somewhere within the country, and that was the message Peter proposed and expounded to his fellow Australians. In a survey he conducted during 1969, The Australian Institute of Recorded Sound (AIRS) was created from his ideas followed by a seminar. This forum included talents such Frank Van Straten, AM., Ross Laird, Professor Roger Covell, Jean Whyte, Professor Henry Mayer and other notables. The result being, in 1970 he wrote to the Director of the National Library of Australia (NLA), Sir Harold White to suggest a national museum for recorded sound and film of our Australian heritage. Peter prepared his argument for Sir Harold, who arrived at the Burgis, Hornsby home in his chauffer-driven Rolls Royce. Using the technical wizardry of the day, Peter presented the case for a national museum. The smoothness and the confidence of his argument presented, immediately convinced Sir Harold that it was essential to have such a structure becoming available. This would be to store these very important recordings and additional material and artifacts of the era. In fact, this winning result enabled him to suggest to the South Australian Premier, Don Dunstan, a similar idea for a Performing Arts Archive. Adelaide became renowned later on, for its arts festivals which is still an annual event. Peter’s argument to both men perfectly demonstrated that his passion in saving the heritage of these audio and visual treasures was of paramount significance.
In 1972, came an offer to take an appointment at Macquarie University on staff for the Centre of Advancement of Teaching. This was a public relations position and Peter excelled. Whilst at Macquarie University he was chosen to be a consultant for sound recordings at the NLA. With the mentoring by senior librarian Rod Wallace, Peter was appointed to a full time position at the NLA. The new section was named “Music and Sound Recordings” headed by librarian, Pru Neidorf. So, the National Library of Australia building gave space over to house the collection of recordings and Peter’s position was as a “clerk”. But he felt it should have a bit more pizzazz. So he coined the position as “sound archivist”. By 1974, the NLA purchased 30,000 records from Peter’s own collection for the new library located in Canberra, and his appointment became the “Music and Sound Recordings” Section Head. This NLA role continued until 1984 when the Federal Government created the National Film & Sound Archive, newly located in the old Art Deco building of the Government Printing Office in Canberra and Peter was appointed director. He held that position until early retirement was offered in 1992, and Peter decided to accept the package settlement and let younger staff come up the network ladder to take more responsibilty.
After this significant role in his diverse career closed, Peter Burgis then continued in his capacity as a knowledgable historian of Australiana and the arts. He created his own label “Kingfisher” on cassettes which were sold by mail order to the many collectors across Australia and overseas. It is here, where my relationship with Peter Burgis really bloomed. Peter knew of my works going back to donations to the NLA of my “Lyric” vinyl LPs in the late 1970s, plus my first edition of Smith Ballew’s discography in 1972. Ross Laird was the person who introduced me to writing and the record collecting interests when we were both university students in the late 1960s. As time progressed, my music knowledge expanded as I had spent ten years as manager of a record store in Bentleigh. This was the time I met all the big time collectors, and I was introduced to important people like Frank Van Straten, AM of Discovery Records and music buff Bill Leddin who produced his Kenatone Record label. By the late 1970s I was also embarking on reissues myself of old Australian music artists and overseas talents on my two labels, “Lyric” and “AB” for Al Bowlly content. Another, Lyric release was my recording for the opening of the Westgate Bridge in 1978. I asked jazz clarinetist Geoff Kitchen to arrange this and had the great Carlo Briglia conduct the band. Peter was quite amused because the disc was created to give the feeling of the Gil Dech and Len Maurice Columbia recording of 1932 when the Sydney Harbour Bridge was officially opened.
In the period between the 1980s and 1990s I was preparing research on a 2nd edition of the Smith Ballew biography which Ross Laird helped me on, and my brother Chris Orr designed all the art work and original photographs for the book. And my driving passion, were the interviews with the living artists who gave me such interesting stories and anecdotes of their careers. As a result of my earlier work, in 1984, Peter had me flown up to Canberra for the day to be interviewed for a position at the National Film & Sound Archive. The outcome was a successful, but alas, there was no funding available and the position was revoked. It proved to me that Peter’s belief in my research work merited attention. Through all those years I recorded and saved much in newspapers, photographs and the stories given to me by the great talents in Australian music and entertainment. I had studied voice from choir boy years to a higher level, and at auditions with jazz band leaders and the larger orchestras of the 1920s and 1930s genre, I was hired for my voice skills and knowledge of the old music repertoire of the early decades of the twentieth century. This enhanced my knowledge and its experiences because I got to work with many of the older and seasoned musicians whose professionalism allowed me to absorb and learn more information of the history of those early years of popular music. Those anecdotes are used all the time and shared in my CD reissue projects. It was a joy, as my own researching came straight from the legendary characters of those times and I wrote things down for future use. And boy, did it get to be used.
In the year 2000, I was given an old computer to work with and I created on my CD labels, reissued content from the 1900–1980s which were from non-commercial releases. It could be acetate discs, transcription records, magnetic tape of reel-to-reel, cassettes, video tapes and sometimes a CD copy of raw content. Later came the use of the stick which housed huge quantities of sound recordings. This was where Frank Van Straten, AM as a serious contact came forward and gave much support with material and financial assistance. Peter Burgis became aware and contacted me to get some of my releases that were to his preference. Source material came from everywhere, and different types of collector interests and the content proved to be of great value. It was the State Library of Victoria who became a major recipient for all these produced CDs and DVDs.
The collection’s managers were most supportive and I had the pleasure of working with Dermot McCaul, Des Cowley and many others at the library. Peter was always encouraging and of course he knew all these people at the SLV. The interest shown in my work, created his ideas for me to create a release that was important in his realm and all original source material came from his own library. So many parcels of original sound recordings coming from Port Macquarie, his new address after his retirement were completed and returned to him. Not only that, but my finished projects in so many fields were sent interstate, overseas and to many museums and libraries across the globe. A few years later in my music restoration work, Peter also gave me links to people who were significant in their chosen genre and they started to request my finished work on various musical styles. I got to make finished projects for Peter’s old friends of a lifetime. Collectors such as Jack Mitchell, David Crisp and Mike Sutcliffe.
I had a reputation of making completed projects promptly, and Peter’s endorsement attracted others who required their private libraries to go to digital. Works were completed from the Clark Sinclair, MBE, collection, Randyl Flynn’s collection of his father William’s 3DB radio transcriptions, Mike Walsh’s Her Majesty’s Theatre Trust headed by Mary Murphy, plus material from Jamie Kelly’s library of Australian radio and many private recordings. I also had great help from Ian Dodds of Crystal Stream Audio whom Peter Burgis was a regular customer of his CD catalogue. Peter introduced me to Johnny Ashcroft, OAM whom I had completed a series of private recordings and interviews which Peter had saved for posterity. I got to revisit Jack Mitchell’s CDs and repacked and edited the contents after his death, and the Australian Jazz Museum became a recipient. Peter introduced me to the daughters, Geraldine and Darleen, of the great Lawrie Brooks. Both are renowned authors. Lawrie Brooks had been a Canadian/USA born singer who came to Australia in 1938 with the Jay Whidden Orchestra. He also played the following year with Roy Fox & His Orchestra who also came here from USA. Lawrie Brooks then enjoyed a successful time with Jim Davidson & His ABC Orchestra in Sydney and served during World War Two in the war zone of the Middle East with Jim Davidson’s AIF Band. Geraldine had been interviewed on a Margaret Throsby ABC radio show and talked with her about her father and her own writings. Geraldine came to Australia several times for the Annual Australian Book Awards. I sent an email to Ms. Throsby to tell them I had been reissuing her father’s records onto CD and if Geraldine would like to contact me, please pass on my details. Nothing happened, until I mentioned it to Peter and it was followed up with almost instant results.
And so, the relationship with both talented writers created a fantastic outcome. What came out of it, was being able to share information and rare musical recordings with others in the family and it was a positive ending. Lawrie’s career was now covered from Los Angeles, to Hawaii and Australia. Now documented in its fullest possible format and saved. Darleen completed the biography of her beloved father in 2020 and called it Daddy Cool (Allen & Unwin). Thank you Peter for your help.
Another contact that Peter introduced me to, was the Sound Preservation Association of Tasmania (SPAT). This museum in Tasmania was created in 1986 when on a visit to interview Eartha Kitt at the new Casino, Hobart, Peter met with dedicated collectors who were looking to find a home for the collection of sound recordings bequeathed to them from the Cadbury Company in Sydney. Cadbury had sponsored countless radio programs in the 1940s and 1950s and their new home was to be in Hobart at SPAT. Peter in his capacity at the NFSA arranged for some funding to assist in the creation of the museum. Their curator Lindsay McCarthy contacted me after being recommended by Peter and I was able to restore and put many projects together for them and for my regular donations elsewhere. Peter also introduced me to audio technician and collector Alan Heinecke who transfered many of Peter’s 16” (40cm) radio transcription discs. This occurred as a result of Peter’s own sound equipment having broken down and Alan was able to send the raw audio transfers to me on a stick with all the photographs of the original labels of the artists and the musical content on the recording. This was fortuitous when Humphrey Bishop’s popular Sydney based 2GB radio programs of 1946 were saved from the Burgis collection. The series was the “Musical Comedy Theatre” and featured complete scores in original theatre style performances of about 30 musicals from 1900–1930. Naturally, the cast of singers were the best in Sydney and Humphrey Bishop’s excellent productions were first class.
That was quite an achievement. Thank you again, Peter.
Over 25 years, I shared my CD and video projects with whatever took Peter’s eye and ear. Our mailing of raw source material to and receiving from the post box in Port Macquarie, to my many addresses of that time were most frequent. I am very pleased that this meant more completed items go to so many private collections here and abroad and to those important archives at places such at the ABC in Southbank, the Jewish Holocaust Museum, the State Library of Victoria, The Australian Jazz Museum, Roger Beilby Collection, Jamie Kelly Library, Monash University Music School, The British Jazz Museum, The German Jazz Museum and so many others over two decades.
It’s with Peter’s benevolence and charming manner in being able to know and encourage and nurture the up and coming talents of historical work, that his success rate must have been quite extraordinary. I must thank the people who helped make this happen and I acknowledge the bereaved Burgis family and especially daughter Kylie and the eldest grandson, Samuel Antonio, and the wonderful joy of knowing Peter’s wife, Carolyn. I loved you Peter Burgis and enjoyed every project that was suggested, and every moment of our pursuit in saving the arts heritage of this great country. May you rest in peace knowing your work has been appreciated and has flourished with all the others you have encouraged.
Peter and Carolyn Burgis and their beloved children, family, and grandchildren and their partners, celebrating the 50th wedding anniversary in 2016. Photographs courtesy of the Burgis Family and grandson, Samuel Antonio (2025).