From Australia’s Jewish Past
Dr Doreen Miriam Bridges AM – an eminent early childhood music educator
Doreen Bridges
Doreen was born at Glenelg, Adelaide, on 11 June 1918. She was the eldest of three children of Sir Roland and Lady Jacobs, a well-established Australian family.
Her father’s parents, Charles and Elizabeth Jacobs, were pioneers of Gawler in South Australia. She was educated at Walford House, a private school, and studied at the University of Adelaide, where she completed an Arts Degree then enrolled in the Faculty of Music, and graduated with a Bachelor of Music and later a Licentiate in Musical Perception enabling her to teach young children. She was the first music undergraduate to serve on the Women’s Union, and the first to be elected president. She was, at a relatively young age, showing qualities of leadership.
She graduated during World War II and began lecturing in Music to WEA (Workers Education Association) classes, teaching children in kindergartens and teaching the piano privately. She became a Red Cross volunteer but wanted to do more for the war effort exploring what was required to join the Women’s Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF). She wrote to the head, enquiring if she could be useful. ‘I told her that I could type and sent through my qualifications. Doreen was told that she could apply to become an officer and was soon selected for an officers’ training course in Melbourne, then went to the RAAF command headquarters in Brisbane as a WAAAF administration officer, with special instructions to start a choir among the five hundred-plus girls there. This proved more difficult than anyone imagined, because of the shiftwork hours, so she formed a music-listening group. At RAAF headquarters she learned a great deal about administration and social work while helping ‘her’ girls with their problems. In 1944, she attended the first course at RAAF headquarters in Melbourne, for women education officers, whose purpose was to help the girls return to normal life after the demobilisation. The girls would be introduced to leisure-time activities – hobbies, handicrafts, drama, and discussion groups. After the war ended Doreen’s role was to manage all WAAAF education for New South Wales – in preparing the girls for civilian life. The girls had become accustomed to being provided with everything, and they were now going into a situation where they might need to cope with problems in the work environment and with the tenancy of citizens’ rights. The girls also needed to know about study rights and opportunities for ex-servicewomen.
She later became the professional officer for music with the Universities Commission, which was set up to organise postwar tertiary training across Australia. Her responsibility was to advise on courses of study and the eligibility of ex-service people who wished to study music, drama or dancing. Doreen had written a survey of the whole field of music education at universities and conservatoriums all over Australia, and was able to advise on the professional opportunities for music graduates. She shared an office with Edna Goulston, an ex-Wran, who was doing similar work in the social science and paramedical fields.
Doreen travelled to England in 1948 for her sister’s wedding. Whilst there she studied composition and gained a Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music in school music. Her compositions include the music for two ballads by Helen Palmer, an Australian socialist publisher, ‘The Balad of 1891’ about the shearers’ strike and ‘The Ballad of Eureka’, both of which have been used in television productions by the ABC. Her association with Helen led her to edit a collection of poems and essays. She wrote many articles for music and education journals, papers for conferences, and she collaborated on a new version of a Developmental Music Program, Stage 1, including a section for preschool children, and a collection of about two hundred children’s songs.
Doreen always kept her interest in introducing music to tiny children. She believed that early education was vital to the development of music skills. She taught special children’s classes on Saturday mornings at the Conservatorium of Music for many years. The classes were open to anyone of any age who wanted to learn music. Fees were kept low and by the end of World War II, two thousand students attended most of them part-time.
Doreen married an architect and they had one son. After his birth, she worked part-time, for some years, with the WEA and university tutorial classes. In 1957 she began working as a part-time lecturer in the University of Sydney Music Department having been established in the Faculty of Arts in 1947. The first Bachelor of Music course began in 1959 and later there was a postgraduate school. Doreen initiated lectures to honours and post-graduate students, on theories of music education. She remained on the staff at the university until 1974 and during this time she gained her PhD; her thesis on ‘The Role of Universities in the Development of Music Education in Australia 1844-1970’. This was the first doctoral thesis from the University of Sydney Music Department and the first music education doctorate from any Australian university. It also gave her a great interest in music history. In 1972 she received a research grant to work with the Australian Council for Educational Research to develop an objective test of musical ability for use at tertiary entrance level, in addition to other selection processes. She went on to devise the Australian Test for Advanced Music Studies, which included a wide range of music from the twelfth to the twentieth century – non-Western. This test is used consistently by the New South Wales Conservatorium and by some music institutions interstate and overseas. This test has been translated into Polish and is used for applicants to the Warsaw Academy of Music.
Doreen was active in the Australian Society for Music Education, was chair of the New South Wales chapter and a member of the editorial board of the Australian Journal for Music Education. She wrote many articles for this journal and contributed to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and the Australian Dictionary of Biography. She was an Honorary Life Member of both the Kodály Music Education Institute of Australia, and the Australian Society for Music Education, and Chairman of the Board of Governors of the New South Wales Conservatorium of Music. She was widely recognised as a distinguished and versatile music educator and researcher who had taught at all levels of education. She retired from formal teaching in 1978, but remained involved with pre-school children at the North Sydney Leisure Centre and conducted courses at other centres. She also gave lectures to in-service courses for teachers of high school students as well as for younger children and parent groups. The Bridges to Music Children’s Music and Movement classes were experiential and designed to joyfully awaken all of the senses and help the child’s overall development while establishing music as part of their everyday life.
After her retirement, she returned to Adelaide and lived to the grand age of one hundred and six. She passed away on 16 September 2024. Dorren was recognised for her achievements in music education with an Order of Australia in 1984.
The AJHS acknowledges the following references in the preparation of this story:
Interview – Wendy Lowenstein 1993; Australian Institute of Music Education; Beginning with Esther – Lysbeth Cohen; Kodaly Australia
The Australian Jewish Historical Society is the keeper of archives from the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 right up to today. Whether you are searching for an academic resource, an event, a picture or an article, AJHS can help you find that piece of historical material. The AJHS welcomes your contributions to the archives. If you are a descendant of someone of interest with a story to tell, or you have memorabilia that might be of significance for the archives, please make contact via www.ajhs.com.au or [email protected].
