Shared Stories: Belonging

Belonging - Babaneek Ladies’ Choir

Have you sung with a big group of people? What does it feel like?

The Babaneek Ladies’ Choir aimed ‘to bring cheer and comfort to its listeners, to provide joyful fellowship for all who love to sing’.

At the height of its popularity the choir included about 70 members. They met every Monday at the Boolaroo Uniting Church Hall for practice and fellowship.

The choir performed in community halls, churches and aged care centres throughout the region and as far as Sydney and Port Macquarie. They sung hymns, wedding songs, spirituals and musical comedy free of charge. Members funded the choir’s activities.

When they performed everyone wore blue outfits and a wide gold collar, later replaced with a yellow ribbon.

Babaneek is a word reportedly chosen from the local Awabakal language meaning ‘mother’.

The choir began in 1950 as a small group linked to the Order of the Eastern Star. The Order is a Masonic body open to master masons and their female relatives. Choir membership opened to women outside the Order in 1963. Babaneek Ladies’ Choir disbanded in 1982 when choirmaster and original organiser Dulcie Callinan retired after 32 years of volunteering with the choir.

Babaneek Ladies’ Choir
Side One
1. Creation’s Hymn 2. You’ll Never Walk Alone 3. I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked 4. The Lord Is My Light 5. The Lord’s Prayer
Side Two
1. Bush Night Song 2. Beautiful Isle of Somewhere 3. Little Tommy Went A-Fishing 4. Oh, What a Beautiful Morning 5. God Save the Queen
Sung by the Babaneek Ladies’ Choir
1965
Lake Macquarie City Council Local Studies Collection
Donated by Mavis Chapman

Babaneek Ladies’ Choir in concert at Toronto Methodist Memorial Hall
August 1967
Lake Macquarie City Council Local Studies Collection

This work by Lake Macquarie City Library is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License