Adelaide's Salvation Army brass band in 1881 would be first of hundreds to be formed throughout Australia
Adelaide's Salvation Army Band No.1 in Adelaide in the early 1900s.
Adelaide had the first Salvation Army brass band in Australia from 1881. This followed from South Australia being the birthplace of the Salvation Army in Australia after John Gore and Edward Saunders met in Adelaide and in 1880 decided to form a corps in the city.
Salvation Army Band No.1 in Adelaide would be the start of a regiment of bands through Australia that numbered 200 senior and 130 junior groups in the 1990s.
The Salvation Army placed restrictions on members playing in outside community bands that weren’t relaxed officially until 2020. But Doug Burnside was an example of a Salvation Army Eb bass player and conductor who gave 42 years to Salvos music but to the Australian army and South Australian community bands.
After starting to play a musical instrument at school in the early 1940s, Doug Burnside joined the Prospect Salvation Army Band in 1942 and graduated to the senior ranks as a bass player. Burnside served for 12 years in the Australian Army’s Central Command Band after attending the Army School of Music. To raise morning for a graduation party, Burnside’s class members took part in a Mornington Eisteddfod. Burnside won first prize for the Bb solo of Percy Grainger’s “At dawn”.
During his time with the Central Command Band, Burnside played parttime with South Australian/Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. A highlight was being one of 200 army bandsmen from all over Australia to play at the 1956 Olympic Games. When the Central Command bandmaster broke his leg, Burnside took over conducting one of the bands deployed to play national anthems for medal ceremonies.
Returning to Salvation Army activities in 1989, Burnside became bandmaster of the Arndale corps band in 2001. With community bands, Burnside’s time with Port Adelaide saw it win C Grade championships in 1960, 1961 and 1962. He was foundation bandmaster of Marion City Band from 1969 to 1978 when it won a D Grade first prize in the 1971 Tanunda Band competitions and the national title in 1972. He had more competition success with the Elizabeth City Band. In 1978, Burnside was awarded a badge of merit from the South Australian Band Association.
In 2017, when the Adelaide City Salvos band toured the Northern Territory and outback South Australia, it had a repertoire “ranging from light rock, swing, devotional and meditative.”
