Varney Monk (born Isabel Varney Desmond Peterson; 18 January 1892 – 7 February 1967) was an Australian pianist and composer, best known for writing the musicals ''

Collits' Inn Collits' Inn is a heritage-listed former inn and now functions, accommodation and restaurant at Hartley Vale Road, Hartley Vale in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Pierce Collits and built in 1823. It ...

'' (1932) and ''

The Cedar Tree ''The Cedar Tree'' was a television serial that ran from 1976 to 1979 on ITV in the United Kingdom. It involved the story of the upper class Bourne family in the decade leading up to the Second World War. The main setting is Larkfield Manor, ...

'' (1934). ''Collits' Inn'' was described by the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' as "an Australian opera". From families of Scottish heritage and musical ability, her father was a solicitor. Soon after her birth in

Bacchus Marsh Bacchus Marsh ( Wathawurrung: ''Pullerbopulloke'') is a town in Victoria, Australia, located approximately north-west of the state capital Melbourne, at a near equidistance to the major cities of Melbourne, Ballarat and Geelong. As of the ...

, the family moved to Tasmania. Monk's mother died when Monk was aged 11, and her father died in 1929. During her career, she wrote more than 150 songs. Her first song was published when she was 13 years old, and by 1934, Monk had won the best song in an Australian Radio Competition with "Some distant day", and the 1933 Broken Hill Jubilee Song Competition. Using Australian poems as inspiration, she set to music three pieces of verse by

Adam Lindsay Gordon Adam Lindsay Gordon (19 October 1833 – 24 June 1870) was a British-Australian poet, horseman, police officer and politician. He was the first Australian poet to gain considerable recognition overseas, and according to his contemporary, write ...

(1833–1870), eight by Henry Kendall (1839–1882), two by Will H. Ogilvie (1869–1963), and others by

Miles Franklin Stella Maria Sarah Miles Franklin (14 October 187919 September 1954), known as Miles Franklin, was an Australian writer and feminist who is best known for her novel ''My Brilliant Career'', published by Blackwoods of Edinburgh in 1901. While s ...

(1879–1954) and

Henry Lawson Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period ...

(1867–1922). She was the wife of Australian violinist Cyril Monk, whom she married in 1913. She had one son and one daughter, and lived in

Mosman Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governm ...

, Sydney, in later life.

References

External links

Papers of Varney Monk
at

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

Article on the making of ''Collits' Inn''Varney Monk
at

Trove Trove is an Australian online library database owned by the National Library of Australia in which it holds partnerships with source providers National and State Libraries Australia, an aggregator and service which includes full text documen ...

Varney Monk
at

Ausstage AusStage: The Australian Live Performance Database is an online database which records information about live performances in Australia, providing records of productions from the first recorded performance in Australia (1789, by convicts) up unt ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Monk, Varney 1892 births 1967 deaths 20th-century Australian musicians 20th-century Australian composers 20th-century Australian women composers Australian composers Australian musical theatre composers Australian musical theatre lyricists Australian women composers Australian women songwriters