John Meegan

John Meegan (1890 – 1957) lived for most of his life on the LeFevre Peninsula in SA. His mother, Mary Ann, was a teacher whose family came from Alsace Lorraine and she had a strong influence on his career, and that of the other members of the family. He was educated for all of his school life by the Marist brothers at Sacred Heart College. Initially, he commenced his schooling in 3^rd class at Sacred Heart High School at Port Adelaide in 1901. He transferred to Semaphore when the high school became Sacred Heart College in 1902.  He took up music under the guidance of Rev Brother Stephen at an early age, performing two violin solos at the 1903 prize-giving, and appears on the Programme of the College Presentation of Prizes there in December 1904 as Master John Meegan playing a violin solo ’Spinnliedchen’by Carl Bohm. After he left school, he studied Music at the Conservatorium in Adelaide. By 1907, he was conducting the Sacred Heart Orchestra. While he was studying he was teaching music at Sacred Heart College which had again moved and was then in Largs Bay.

He gained his Associate of Music in 1909. He appears on a programme for a Concert at the Elder Hall in June 1910 playing the Andante from the Concerto in E Minor by Mendelssohn. Later that year, in November, he was awarded the Brookman Prize for best performer on a stringed instrument at a Students’Concert and distribution of Prizes at the Elder Hall. He completed his AMUA in 1911.

By 1913 he had his own Orchestra of 35 performers who performed at the Semaphore Town Hall. He had taught music to his own sisters, Mary, Alice & Kathleen by then, and they and his brother, Harry appear in the photograph on the programme of ‘Mr John Meegan’s Orchestra.  Mary taught music all her life, Kathleen (married Brigadier Murray Moten) went on to play in the ASO, and Alice (married Dr John O’Donnell) also had a brilliant career as a pianist, accompanist and teacher.

On the 14^th March 1915, Sacred Heart College was officially opened by the Governor, Sir Henry Galway KCMG at Glenelg. John Meegan appears on the programme of that opening playing a violin solo.

In November 1916, he married Grace Hilda Heath at St Mary’s Catholic Church in Port Adelaide. Grace was also an accomplished pianist and was still teaching piano late in her life to students at Loreto College. She sang with the Bach Society in Adelaide.

John and Grace lived in Wills St, Largs Bay where he kept a horse in a fenced off area of the property so that he could ride to teach at Sacred Heart College. Later he taught piano, organ and violin at Immanuel College both in North Adelaide and when it moved to Novar Gardens and conducted the college orchestra there, (photo attached taken in 1931) and appearing in a photo in their ‘The Echo’ college magazine as late as 1955, just two years before he died. He taught at Immanuel College for 32 years. (Immanuel orchestra photo 1931 & later orchestra photo) He was music master at Sacred Heart College for 50 years and at Rostrevor College for 35 years. He composed the Rostrevor Song and even had the joy of teaching his grandson there, my brother Paul,  the violin when he was young..  After teaching students at Colleges he would then return to his residence to teach pupils at home.

For the first half of the 20^th century, John Meegan was extremely prominent in music in South Australia. He was a member of the SA Orchestra and later of the ABC Adelaide Symphony Orchestra. He was choirmaster at Sacred Heart Catholic Church at Semaphore and also St Laurence’s Church at North Adelaide. Many of the services from St Laurence’s were broadcasted on Sunday mornings by the ABC on special feast days. On a number of occasions he conducted combined choirs at St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral.  

It is obvious that John Meegan was a gifted professional musician with a great deal of energy and enthusiasm to impart that gift to others. Sadly, this effort had a devastating effect on his health when he died suddenly of a heart attack on the 14^th October 1957 leaving a shocked wife and five children and fifteen grandchildren to grieve his passing.

-  Jill Wotton