William Tainsh
William Alexander Tainsh (1880–1967){{cite web|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/5961891 |title=AustLit:William Alexander Tainsh |publisher=The University of Queensland}} was a Scots-born Australian storyteller and writer of popular verse.
History
File:Willian Tainsh title page.jpgTainsh was born in Perthshire, Scotland and emigrated to Melbourne sometime around 1905 as Melbourne agent of the firm of John Dewar & Sons;{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article175792701 |title=John Dewar & Sons' New London Offices |newspaper=Melbourne Punch |volume=CVI |issue=2696 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=28 March 1907 |accessdate=21 January 2025 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}} His first mention in the Melbourne newspapers was in 1913 as singing at the Warrawee Club, hosted by Scots contralto Jessie Cromb.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article150686054 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=Table Talk |issue=1468 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=11 September 1913 |accessdate=20 January 2025 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}} He sang to good effect at other concerts, but seemingly only in Scottish contexts.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article160723959 |title=As a Woman Views it |newspaper=Graphic of Australia |issue=12 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=7 April 1916 |accessdate=21 January 2025 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}} He later gained a reputation as congenial raconteur and repository of Scottish and Irish folklore.
He was a member of the Melbourne Savage Club and its secretary in 1916.
He was a popular lecturer{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11771644 |title=Educational Lectures |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=27,802 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=27 September 1935 |accessdate=21 January 2025 |page=11 |via=National Library of Australia}} and frequent broadcaster: his New Year's Eve programme on 3LO, redolent of Scottish customs and traditions, became a longstanding appointment.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article174619262 |title=The Clock Strikes 12 |newspaper=Shepparton Advertiser |volume=4 |issue=200 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=23 December 1940 |accessdate=21 January 2025 |page=3 |via=National Library of Australia}}
He became known Australia-wide: his talk on Glasgow humor, the Clyde Band and Broomielaw, was the subject of a national relay broadcast.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193835195 |title=Our Weekly Radio Page |newspaper=The Daily Examiner (Sydney) |volume=27 |issue=8589 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=7 February 1936 |accessdate=22 January 2025 |page=7 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Eventually he published some of his own songs and poems, which were praised for their clarity of thought and expression.
He wrote a piece that the Prime Minister of Australia, J. A. Lyons read to George V on the occasion of his (silver) Jubilee as monarch.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article94899731 |title=King's Silver Jubilee |newspaper=Kalgoorlie Miner |volume=41 |issue=10,342 |location=Western Australia |date=9 May 1935 |accessdate=22 January 2025 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Far carried o'er a world of troubled dawnings,
:Comes with the rising thunder of a flood.
The loyal acclaim that pours today full-throated
:From all the scattered children of the blood.
Though majesty and might and proud dominion
:Be blazoned on the flag we raise above,
Enwoven warp and woof within its fabric
:There runs, bright-hued, the silken thread of love.
Our Sovereign Lord, the years of your high labors
:Have held scant measuring of sunlit days;
So, for your splendid bearing in the shadows
:Yours be the greater love, the greater praise.
Head of our close-held family of nations.
:King of the hearts of men in every land,
Across the seas that bind, but cannot sever
:We proffer you our homage and our hand.{{efn|As published in The Herald on 4 May 1935 and read by Tainsh over 3LO on the evening of 9 May 1935. It is likely Lyons read out the second verse only.}}
Selected works
- William Tainsh, James Brash (composer), "Port o' Sydney": song for baritone; Chappell & Co., Sydney (1922){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16018952 |title=The Benham Farewell |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=26,399 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=15 August 1922 |accessdate=21 January 2025 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}
- William Tainsh, Louis Drakeford (composer), "The Invincibles": song; Allan & Co., Melbourne (1941){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8190859 |title="The Invincibles" Broadcast |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=29,601 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=8 July 1941 |accessdate=21 January 2025 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}
- William Tainsh (1948) Special Occasions, Melbourne; poems, with foreword by Alec Chisholm{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article172496364 |title=Book Reviews |newspaper=The Advocate (Melbourne) |volume=LXXXI |issue=4841 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=6 May 1948 |accessdate=21 January 2025 |page=10 |via=National Library of Australia}}
- William Tainsh (1948) The Visitor, Melbourne; "An inspiring poem with a message for everyone"{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205676277 |title=Advertising |newspaper=The Age |issue=29213 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=11 December 1948 |accessdate=21 January 2025 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}
Family
Tainsh married photographer Mina Moore on 20 December 1916.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article132720162 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=Weekly Times |issue=2,473 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=30 December 1916 |accessdate=20 January 2025 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}} Their family includes:
:*daughter (30 June 1918 – ) Margaret?
:*Douglas Edward Tainsh (13 June 1921 – 30 Mar 2004) served in Borneo during WWII,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article976239 |title=It's Off ... It's On ... It's Really Over! |newspaper=The Argus (Melbourne) |issue=30,882 |location=Victoria, Australia |date=22 August 1945 |accessdate=22 January 2025 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}} married Alice Drysdale.{{cite web|url=https://www.austlit.edu.au/austlit/page/A100424 |title=AustLit:Douglas Tainsh |publisher=The University of Queensland}} Best known as a cartoonist, he created "Cedric" the swaggie in Australasian Post popular in the 1960s.{{cite web|url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/douglas-tainsh/biography/ |title=DAAO: Douglas Tainsh |publisher=Design & Art Australia Online |author=Joan Kerr |access-date=21 January 2025}}{{cite web|url=https://heritage.noosa.qld.gov.au/nodes/view/3044 |title=Heritage Noosa: Doug Tainsh of Eumarella |author=Ian Murray |publisher=Noosa Library}}
They had a home at 12 Northcote Ave, Caulfield in 1942.{{cite web|url=https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Gallery151/dist/JGalleryViewer.aspx?B=6061900&S=1&N=21&R=0#/SearchNRetrieve/NAAMedia/ShowImage.aspx?B=6061900&T=P&S=1 |title=Attestation form NAA: B883, VX89529|publisher=National Archives of Australia |access-date=22 January 2025}}
Notes
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