History of the Band

Australia's oldest community concert band, the Canberra City Band holds a unique position in Canberra's history, having served the Canberra community for over 80 years since 1925. In a city with such a brief history we are very proud of our long tradition of enhancing a wide variety of popular community events; especially our unbroken record of marching in every ANZAC Day March since 1948, and the first public ANZAC Day service in 1926 on Camp Hill, behind the old Parliament House construction site.

Canberra City Band circa 1930s (Les Pogson conducting)


After disbanding in 1937, the band re-formed after World War II in 1947 under the baton of William (Bill) Hoffmann OAM at the insistence of Prime Minister Ben Chifley. A year later (1948), the band made the transition from a Brass Band configuration to the 'new' Military Band format with the addition of woodwind instruments. In those days the band was sometimes referred to as "Mr Chifley's Baby". Until the Band of the Royal Military College at Duntroon was formed in 1954, Canberra City Band provided the martial and parade music for official ceremonies in Canberra.

Since then the Band has increased its involvement in community activities in the Canberra region and has expanded its performance repertoire. It has grown up with the city of Canberra and continues to serve it well. The Concert Band, which is known as the Canberra City Band, is a high grade wind ensemble of approximately 50 players of all ages. Membership is open to all members of the community.

The organisation currently has three bands that all contribute to and serve the Canberra Community. In addition to the original Concert Band, the organisation includes Spectrum Big Band and the John Agnew Band.

Spectrum Big Band is a traditional style big band with trumpets, trombones, saxophones and rhythm section supplemented with vocals. It plays a 'spectrum' of styles from swing music for the dance community to funk, latin and modern big band charts. The band was originally established as the Canberra City Big Band in the early 80s under John Helgesen. At the time, this was the first community big band in Canberra, and the first youth big band to perform at the Merimbula Jazz Festival (1986), and was later renamed KickBrass. It disbanded in 1992 but was reformed in 1997 as Spectrum underGlen Rogers, changing its name to Spectrum Big Band in 2007 under Rod Mason OAM.

The John Agnew Band, established in 2008 as a junior/development band for young Canberrawind musicians, continues a long tradition of a feeder band for the Concert Band. The original 'juniors' training band had its first rehearsal on 1st March 1929 under J. Watson. In 1986, there were 3 junior bands (Junior A Division, Junior Intermediate and Junior B Division run by Keith Helgesen, John Agnew and Naida Blackley respectively).

Historical Events:

Over the years, the award-winning CCB has performed at many historical events including:

  • ANZAC Day Ceremonies since 1926
  • Every ANZAC Day March since 1948
  • Broadcast to Canberra on 2CA (1948)
  • Opening of the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Scheme in Adaminaby (1949)
  • Opening of Parliament (1948, 1950, 1951)
  • Commonwealth Jubilee Celebrations (1951)
  • Passing of the Olympic flame in Sydney on its way to Melbourne (1956)
  • World Expo '85 in Tsukaba, Japan (1985)
  • Australian bicentennial functions (1988)
  • First World Council of Churches held in Australia (1991)
  • Beijing Olympics Torch Relay (2008)
  • Opening of Alexander Maconochie Centre (ACT Prison) (2008)

Regular Events:

The Canberra City Band performs at many important events held annually in Canberra such as the ANZAC Day March, Australia Day, and Floriade. The Spectrum Big Band is a regular at Merimbula Jazz Festival and other regional jazz festivals and is available for corporate functions including balls and dinners.

Highlights:

The Canberra City Junior Band (which began in 1978) won the Australian National Band Championship Junior A Grade title in 1984, 1985 and 1986. This positioned the band as the best junior band in the country. As a consequence, 'Juniors' were invited to play on "Australia Day" at World Expo '85 in Tsukaba, Japan and shared the stage with James Morrison, Rolf Harris and Roger Woodward. Juniors toured Japan for three weeks, playing at Tokyo Disneyland and various schools in Osaka and Nagoya.