Davy, Dr R.C.E.

The Hon. Z.L. BETTISON (Ramsay) (15:35): I would like to speak today about an amazing pioneer woman from Salisbury, a woman who was a leader, who had a life of achievement but also a life of pain. Ruby Claudia Emily Davy was a talented child born to musical parents in Salisbury in 1883. She went on to become one of Australia's leading music teachers and the first woman in Australia to receive a Doctorate of Music. Her parents, William and Louisa Davy, both had musical backgrounds and supported her through that time. By the age of nine, Ruby had written a cantata, a medium-length vocal composition with accompanying music.

In 1893, William gained ownership of the shoemaking business after his father retired, and Ruby and her family moved into the business premises, adding two new rooms to the building where her mother set up a music school, the Salisbury School of Music. Ruby soon began to help her mother with teaching and had 27 pupils by the age of 13. Ruby became dux of the Salisbury school in 1896 and then went on to complete her education.

In 1904, she was accepted into the Bachelor of Music at the University of Adelaide and, upon graduating in 1907, she went on to gain an Associate Diploma from the London College of Music in 1912. In the same year, she began teaching music at the Elder Conservatorium. The next year, Ruby began her studies for the Doctorate of Music under the supervision of Professor Matthew Ennis. While continuing to study piano throughout her doctorate, after gaining permission from the university council to do so, Ruby also expanded her repertoire of instruments by studying violin, clarinet, oboe, trumpet, flute and bassoon. The extensive repertoire of instruments served Ruby well in her final doctoral composition of an oratorio, Hymn of Praise.

Upon her graduation in 1918, Ruby achieved the historic milestone of becoming the first woman in Australia to receive a Doctorate of Music, a feat that would not be replicated by another woman for another 58 years. Following the achievement of becoming the first woman to attain a Doctorate in Music, she experienced a happy and successful period of her life. However, this came to a halt in 1929 with the death of her father and, only a few weeks later, the death of her mother. The death of both her parents left her physically and emotionally devastated and she entered into a period of mourning that would last for five years. Ruby ordered a very large monument for her parents, spending about £500, and it was constructed by Tillett Memorials.

By 1934, she began to recover from the loss of her parents and again to be involved in music. She moved to Melbourne and opened another music school, the Davy Conservatorium of Music, in South Yarra. She was honoured by the City of Salisbury in 1936, during the centenary celebrations of South Australia, with a special concert featuring a large choir and some of Adelaide's leading musicians.

Ruby's rising popularity and success led her to pursue fame and recognition overseas in Europe and later in America. She went on her first overseas postings at about the start of World War II, which interrupted what was going to be a very exciting planned tour. She returned to Australia in September 1940 and opened the School of Music, Dramatic Art and Radio Technique.

While she continued to teach at her music school in St Kilda, Ruby established the Society of Women Musicians of Australia and became their first president. They continued with great success to organise many funds for World War II. In 1947 she required a mastectomy. This hampered her ability to play the piano.

She died in 1914 at the age of 65, leaving behind £300 to the University of Adelaide for a scholarship named the Ruby Davy Prize for Composition. She also left more than £800 to the Elder Conservatorium, which was used by the director at the time to buy completed works of Beethoven and Mozart. She is still remembered at her birthplace of Salisbury through the Ruby Davy Memorial Cabinet.