The Song Of Cicada Wings

On By Renee Lou Dallow ( Hybiscus Bloom. )In Now and thenLeave a comment

Background To The Novel

The song of Cicada Wings is my latest novel. It’s a work of biographical fiction and is the story of an opera singing family based in Brisbane Queensland at the turn of the century. I wanted to immerse the lives of each member of the family in the wider history of Australia whilst telling their individual stories. The Richardsons are actually my family and William Albert Richardson, alias Alberto Ricardi, was my great, great, great, grandfather.

Whilst sitting in my flat with my little dog, Lester, a terrible storm was raging outside. I was on my computer doing some research and came across my family history quite by accident. I think I was looking up my grandmother and found her name on a website by a man called Rex Sinnott. Apparently his great, great uncle had married Sarah Jane Richardson who was the sister of William Richardson, the father of my great ,great, grandfather William Albert Richardson. Ver y complicated but there you have it. Sarah Jane and her brother had come to Port Phillip Bay Melbourne from Huddersfield Yorkshire England with their father who was after work in the goldfields. Their father was a well known watchmaker by trade. Anyway while their story is a great one that’s going too far back.

My story has begun with the next generation of Richardsons. The all singing Richardsons. While Sarah Jane married the dashing Captain Sinnott thirty years her senior, her brother, William Albert Richardson married Mathilde Mackarethe, a pianist. Mathilde was Scottish and a Presbyterian while William Albert Richardson was Catholic. They had met through the great William Saurin Lyster who had brought an opera company from Boston New York To Melbourne Australia. William Saurin was Irish. Mathilde played piano in his company and her husband sang all the great roles for baritone. They had eight children. Four of them became well known opera singers.

Imagine my absolute euphoria on that stormy day. At last I had pieced together my family tree. At least on the Richardson side. I was most excited to trace my family back to Yorkshire. There it was. The history of Colonialism, of settlers, of Federation, of suffragettes and priests and education and segregation. So much to explore! There was my family right at the centre of it all. It is amazing to me how little Austalians know of their own history. I learned so much writing this book. We are so much more than dirt roads and convict toil. If you think this is just another tale of downtrodden convicts then think again. Australia has always embraced the arts. Yet we have been portrayed as uncultured too often. Probably due to our propensity for sports over everything else.

The Richardsons lived in Melbourne and Adelaide but finally settled in Queensland. They travelled to England and back too. New Zealand also plays a big part in this novel as William Albert sang there many times and Edith, the eldest daughter, married and lived there. My great grandfather was Harold, one of the middle children in this novel. His son, my grandfather, Cyril, moved to New Zealand to marry my grandmother, Moira. As they say, the rest is history. The photo above is the Richardson family in the 1880s in front of their house in Vulture Street Brisbane, Queensland.

Cicadas take years to rise up from the earth and sing their little hearts out. Yet when they do they certainly make up for lost time. They can drown out everything with their song. Just as those great Australian touring opera companies long ago.

The Song Of Cicada Wings

On By Renee Lou Dallow ( Hybiscus Bloom. )In Now and thenLeave a comment

Excerpt from The Novel By Renee Dallow.

Edith and Florence were always in healthy competition. Edith was, however, very conscious, that she was the eldest and as such had a responsibility to watch over her sister. Florence was fond of teasing Edith for her serious demeanour and would always do the exact opposite of what Edith told her to do. Their brother, Vincent was very theatrical from an early age, and loved to pretend he was different characters. He loved to mimic his father while he was rehearsing. Charles had a wonderful ability to organise. This became apparent when he began lining up his brother and sisters at just five years of age. He would spin the top in their direction, aiming for in between the legs. If they didn’t duck soon enough, he would give them little tasks like running around in a circle three times, doing a handstand, or reciting a nursery rhyme backwards. This last one sent the children into fits of the giggles. Harold would be given the task of handing out prizes to the winner.

Florence and Vincent would put on little pantomimes together in which they would cast the others. The stories would be made up with invented characters and costumes from their parents wardrobe, which, invariably got dragged across the floor, as they hung around the children’s tiny frames. Mathilde and William, in fact, would have to pay to come and see their shows. Little Harold was put in charge of the tickets. The whole family seemed so happy and carefree that everyone in the neighbourhood couldn’t help but be a little jealous of them. Mostly the Catholics, as the Presbyterians and Anglian families found the Richardsons, to be much too rowdy, for their tastes.

William Albert had started giving private concerts, as he had done in England, years earlier. He was also conducting the choir at Saint Patricks Cathedral. Many of his wife’s students became part of this choir and it gave the couple an even higher standing in the community. So much so that William was able to raise quite a substantial amount for, The Ladies Benevolent Fund. This was something that even made him respectable with other denominations. Money was money, no matter what, one’s religion.

There was an incident at Foy and Gibsons which could very well have tipped the balance completely. Mathilde was taking too long in the millinery department and in girls clothing, looking for play dresses for Edith and Florence, when the boys, who had been told to stay put, had scarpered off. They’d taken themselves to the toy section and had practically destroyed a rocking horse in the display window, which, looked out onto the street. Vincent was eight at the time, but it was definitely Charles, in the lead. Grabbing two year old Harold, he made his way to the rocking horse with Vincent following along behind. Charlie had decided to give his baby brother a ride. Vincent, being the sensible one, tried to pull Harold off the horse, whilst at the same time, restraining Charles. This did not go well. Harold howled and clung to the horse’s main. Charles kicked Vincent, whereupon, Vincent smacked Charles and Harold fell off the rocking horse. All this in a display window which was the pride of the department store and extremely popular with passers by. This live display was certainly not what people expected and complaints were made. Meanwhile Mathilde, returning from the counter with her purchases, was shocked to find the boys had not stayed where they were told to, and immediately sent out a search party. Staff managers and sales people alike were sent out to find the little rebels. When finally they were discovered brawling in a heap, their whimpers now soft and low, they were hauled off to the rest room to calm down. The rocking horse was much the worse for wear too.