‘The Postman’s Knock’
The introduction of colour television to Australian households in 1975 was life changing, and the arrival of coloured illustrated sheet music covers, over a century earlier, probably felt quite similar to music consumers
With the invention of the upright piano in England in the 1820s, households around the world rapidly acquired a relatively cheap and reliable source of entertainment. Like radio or TV in the following century, it wasn’t the appliance itself that was entertaining but rather what you played on it. Earlier in the 1800s, sheet music offering the latest tunes tended to have simple black and white covers limited to a description of the contents in a decorative typography. Some publications would include an illustration on the cover, but it wasn’t until the late 1830s with the invention of colour lithography (images drawn on a flat stone with a crayon and then inked) that sheet music would be transformed as a product.
British coloured sheet music arrived in Sydney soon after this printing innovation, but surviving illustrated music covers at Rouse Hill Estate show that music printed in Australia, even in the 1850s, continued to be produced using black and white lithography. This reflected the limited expertise available locally at the time and was also cheaper to produce.
The copy of ‘The Postman’s Knock’ at Rouse Hill Estate, composed by W.T Wrighton, was published in Sydney by Jeremiah Moore in 1856 and has a charming cover of a postman knocking on a door in town. This lithograph illustration by Archibald Alexander Park (1801-1863) is based on the cover of a London edition of the song published a year earlier.
Watch the performance
Listen to Amy Moore share her performance of ‘The Postman’s Knock’. We have also added other versions to inspire you further, and illustrate how some parlour songs have evolved into folk songs over time.
This video was recorded at home in 2020 during a COVID-19 lockdown.
Supported by: City of Sydney
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