Eva Mylott
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Eva Theresa Mylott (27 February 1875 – 20 March 1920) was an Australian
contralto A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...
opera singer.


Early life

Eva Mylott was born in Tuross Head, New South Wales. Her parents, Patrick Mylott (1838-1899), an importer of wine and spirits and Mary Heffernan (1839-1931) (the daughter of Edmund and Honora Heffernan), were Irish
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
s who settled in the
Colony of New South Wales The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New ...
. Patrick was born 1838 in
County Mayo County Mayo (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, County Mayo, Mayo, now ge ...
, the son of Patrick Mylott and Mary McDermott. He arrived in 1861 aboard the John Masterman. Mylott became a protégé of Dame
Nellie Melba Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic lyric coloratura soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early twentieth century, and was the f ...
and in 1902, she went to England with her to pursue an opera career outside Australia.


Personal life

On 17 June 1917 in New York City, she married American businessman John Hutton Gibson (died ca. 1933); they had two sons: Hutton Gibson in 1918 and Alexis Mylott Gibson. Mylott is the paternal grandmother of actor and film director
Mel Gibson Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor and filmmaker. The recipient of List of awards and nominations received by Mel Gibson, multiple accolades, he is known for directing historical films as well for his act ...
and his 10 siblings, including Donal Gibson. Through Mel, she is the great-grandmother of actor Milo Gibson. Mylott died in 1920, aged 45, in Chicago, after slipping in the shower and injuring her neck, leaving two-year-old Hutton and infant Alexis in the care of her husband, who died seventeen years later.


References


External links


Eva Mylott, from the official website of Tuross Head, NSW
1875 births 1920 deaths 19th-century Australian women opera singers 19th-century Roman Catholics 20th-century Roman Catholics Accidental deaths from falls Accidental deaths in Illinois Australian contraltos Australian emigrants to the United States Australian people of Irish descent Australian Roman Catholics Gibson family Operatic contraltos Singers from New South Wales {{Australia-opera-singer-stub