A gramophone believed to be about a century old, that once was used to play music across the Queensland airwaves, has been restored and donated to ABC Radio Brisbane.
The player initially belonged to Queensland’s very first radio station 4QG, which turns 100 in 2025, and still broadcasts today as ABC Radio National (RN). In the 1920s the gramophone would have been connected to a microphone to transmit music to audiences.
Ann-Maree Falzon at ABC Radio Brisbane. Picture: Jack McKay
The gramophone somehow wound up in the hands of Anne-Maree Falzon‘s (pictured above) grandparents as a wedding gift in 1930. Anne-Maree so loved the piece, and the “crazy, wonderful, silly” songs she had listened to on it that she asked her grandmother if she could have it one day.
Falzon said:
“I think I was about 11. And she said, ‘Yes, certainly.'”
It sat in her living room for decades. Later when she and her husband downsized it ended up in an attic where its condition deteriorated. This is when Falzon contacted the ABC to see if there was any way to restore it.
ABC Radio Brisbane’s content director Matthew Connors became invested and reached out to the Repair Cafe Redcliffe Peninsula, who found a village up to taking on the task.
The repair cafe’s president, Les Barkla, said:
“Everybody has done just an amazing job of restoring it to what I think is something really, really special. I suppose it’s a tribute to the skills of the people we have. We don’t want to lose these skills.”
One of the volunteers, Roger Veall, who has a background in fixing antique clocks, worked on the mechanics. Another, George Mock, ingeniously used a 3D printer to add doorknobs to the cabinet on the gramophone.
Mock said:
“The three little knobs there … might look like timber, but they’re actually 3D printed in plastic.
“The crank handle just did not exist. We didn’t even know exactly what it should look like, but there were a few pictures. We scrounged up a bit of rod and bent it and put a handle on it. It looks alright.”
Last Saturday July 13 was ABC Radio Brisbane’s very popular open day. The restored gramophone was officially unveiled and even played the attendees some music. It will remain on permanent display at the ABC Brisbane building in South Bank.
Falzon said:
“It is back home. I feel really a bit emotional because I feel like it has come full circle, and my family will be able to enjoy it here.”
Main picture: Kenji Sato