The Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music was established as a private Conservatorium in 1901 after breaking away from the control of the University of Melbourne, where it had been founded in 1895. George William Louis Marshall-Hall, its first proprietor, named his institution The Conservatorium of Music, Melbourne, and operated it initially within The Conservatorium operated within the Victorian Artists’ Society Building in Albert Street, East Melbourne.

The Conservatorium continued to function as a private Conservatorium with a Sole Proprietor through its second Director, Fritz Hart and on to its third Director, Harold Elvins. When Elvins purchased the Conservatorium business he set about forming the Conservatorium into a non-profit company. This was achieved in 1944 and the Melba has continued to run since that time as an incorporated company with an governing Council. Several further Directors and a change of premises for ten years to 16 Hoddle Street, Abbotsford, saw the Conservatorium, by 1983, purchase accommodation at 45 York Street, Richmond, where it has remained to the present day.

Australia’s famous diva, Dame Nellie Melba, associated herself closely with the Conservatorium, teaching here from 1915 until her death in 1931. Melba prolonged her link with the Conservatorium after her death through the provision of a generous bequest, and it is Melba’s association with the Conservatorium which was responsible for the change of name of the institution, in 1956, to the Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music. Dame Nellie Melba is featured on the most recent Australian $100 bill, taken from an original etching by Lyell Dolan which resides in the Melba Conservatorium of Music Entrance Foyer.

Featuring a monogram Dame Nellie Melba designed for the concert program of her 1902 tour, the Polymer Note was officially launched at the Melba Conservatorium of Music’s Richmond Campus in May, 1996. A centre has been established at Lilydale Museum for Dame Nellie Melba research.

Today the Conservatorium has achieved accreditation for its Diploma of Music and Bachelor of Music Courses through its affiliation in 1994 with Victoria University of Technology. The Conservatorium also offers private studio tuition through its Single Studies program, and short courses.

In 2002, the Conservatorium commenced delivery of two new degree programs at the University's Sunbury campus, in a cross-sectoral Music Department shared with Victoria University TAFE's School of Further Education and Employment Services. These new BMus programs at Sunbury provide undergraduate courses in music technology and contemporary music performance.

The Melba Conservatorium of Music continues to produce classical and contemporary music performers and other music professionals well equipped to pursue a variety of careers at local, community, national and international level. Students spend more than half of their training in performance and /or studio related activities under the guidance of a small specialist staff, dedicated to providing students with a supportive and professional environment in which to learn and develop as musicians.

Throughout the Conservatorium’s century of existence it has continued to produce quality musicians who achieve success in their field of music. Some of the prominent musicians the Conservatorium can include as past students include the composers Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Linda Phillips, Phyllis Batchelor, Esther Rofe and Margaret Sutherland. Some of the many notable singers include Elsie Morison, Stella Power, Florence Austral, John Brownlee, Kathleen Castles, Mary Campbell, Gertrude Johnston, Harold Blair, Strella Wilson and more recently Reijeli Shepherd-Paulo, Helena Dix, Rosemary Boyle, Lucas de Jong and Liane Keegan.

Dame Nellie Melba

PATRON DETAILS: The Patron of the Conservatorium is Dame Nellie Melba's granddaughter, Pamela, Lady Vestey.

Directors of the

Melba Conservatorium

George William Louis Marshall-Hall
1901-1913

Fritz Bennicke Hart
1913-1937

Harold Elvins
1937-1943

Clive Carey and Claude Monteath
1943-1945

Morris Barr - Registrar
1948-1953

Herbert Davis
1955-1963

Harold Badger
1963-1975

Joan Arnold
1975-1986

Lynette Casey Brereton
1987-1998

Melville Waters
1999-present