ACT Heritage Library Manuscript Collection

HMSS 0268 Katherine Gibbney Papers

Scope and Content Notes

Katherine Gibbney was born in Canberra in 1956, the eldest child of archivist and historian HJ (Jim) Gibbney and his wife Delia.

She grew up entirely in Canberra attending Lyneham Primary and High Schools before enrolling as one of the first students in the Canberra School of Music's Bachelor of Arts in Music - BA (Mus) - degree course.  She completed this course in 1979, majoring in piano.

Music was an important part of her childhood.  She studied piano from the age of four with the sisters of St Joseph's Convent in O'Connor, achieving her A. Mus. A. diploma in 1972.  During this time she was an enthusiastic competitor in many Canberra Eisteddfods. 

After a short period of study with Mary Warneke, she began her degree studies with Alan Jenkins.  She began cello as a second instrument in 1969, primarily to become an enthusiastic member of the Canberra Youth Orchestra.  Katherine participated in the Canberra Youth Orchestra's first overseas tour in 1974.

In 1981, Katherine moved to Sydney to take up a position on the keyboard staff of Kambala Church of England Girls' School which was joined soon after by similar positions on the staff of the Scott College and Cranbrook School.

Concurrently she developed a strong reputation as a free lance accompanist working regularly with the Sydney University Musical Society (SUMS) and occasionally with the Sydney Philharmonia and the ABC. 

In 1990 she was appointed a piano examiner for the Australian Music Examinations Board.

On deposit of these records in 2004, Katherine was Head of Keyboard and resident accompanist at the Scots College, Sydney.

The letters in this collection were all written to her parents 1980 and 1989.  Katherine states that "These letters present an interesting picture of a young native Canberran's reactions to leaving Canberra to live in a big city.  In many respects I feel as though I suffered from severe culture shock for some years.  They are also a diary of life as a free lance musician reflecting many of the hights and lows of this way of life.  The letters were written as an almost daily diary to keep my parents in contact with what I was doing.  Gaps in dates would usually indicate their visits to Sydney, school holidays which I spent in Canberra or an extremely busy week with no time to write letters."

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