Citation
Fourteen Fiddlers – Petition of 1848: Peter MacFie, 2016. https://petermacfiehistorian.net.au/publications/fourteen-fiddlers
Outline
The correspondance relating to a petition submitted in Hobart on 11 November 1848 by a group of fiddlers, asking Lieut. Gov. Denison that the law be changed to allow them to play the fiddle in public houses. This petition and part of the response is displayed at the New Sydney Hotel in Hobart.
Petition
Framed petition as on display at the New Sydney Hotel, Hobart
Full Correspondence (pdf)
Fourteen Fiddlers of Hobart Town.pdf
Excerpt (the Petition)
Humble petition of the undernamed musicians residing in the district of Hobart Town
Respectfully Showeth,
That petitioners have been earning an honest livelihood by their profession although repeated attempts have been made to deprive them of their only means of subsistence by the interference of the police under the plea that their merely exercising their profession in the houses of Licensed Victuallers, for a couple of hours in the evening renders such houses as Disorderly! Yet there is nothing in the Licensing Act prohibiting the playing of a violin in said houses.
That petitioners beg to draw to his attention to the fact, that the mechanic and labourer has not the means, nor is he qualified to enter the ballroom and the only recreation he has after his daily toil is the innocent one of music and dance. Petitioners beg to add that in the neighbouring colonies the playing of musical instruments in a public house is not deemed ‘disorderly’, but by a stretch of Police construction it is here prosecuted as such; and Publican havoc been fined under such far fetched interpretation of an act of Council; the penalty inflicted does not Authorise an Appeal otherwise the question would be set at rest by the Justices at the Quarter Sessions: Petitioners are therefore deprived of the means of an honest livelihood. Many of them are cripples, and almost all are suffering from diseases which prevents them from having a recourse to hard labour; and in all instances, the nature of their profession Your Excellency must be aware unfit(s) them for such a task.
They therefor humbly but earnestly appeal to Your Excellency, praying that you will be pleased to adopt such measures as will give the Licensed Victuallers permission to employ petitioners for a few hours in the evening, and that there s no actual disorder that the inference of the Police should be deemed unnecessary.
Hobart Town 11 November 1848
Thos Bucknell [plus 13 others]
End of Excerpt
For full correspondence, download pdf above
Index
Bicheno, J.E., 2
Bucknell, Thomas, 1, 2
cripples, 1
Cross, ?, 2
dance, 1
Denison, Sir William, 1
fiddlers, 1
Fletcher, ?, 2
Hamilton, 2
Hobarton, 2
Hunter, ?, 2
Licensed Victuallers, 1
Lloyd, ?, 2
music, 1
musicians, 1, 2
Oatlands, 2
Pear, ?, 2
Perry, George, 1, 2, 3
public houses, 1
violins, 1
Wilmot, Eardley, 2