Dan Tracey toured with Billy Emerson for some six years before arriving in Australia in 1885. He later worked for the
Cogill Brothers, Hugo's Buffalo Minstrels and
Harry Rickards before setting up his own minstrel company at the Sydney School of Arts (1890-92). During that time he also briefly joined forces with other managers, notably Rickards, Steve Adson and
Charlie Fanning.
In 1892 Tracey formed a second company to play Melbourne's Gaiety Theatre, and later the same year moved to Gaiety Theatre, Sydney. As with several other high profile entrepreneurs the depression forced him to close down his operations in the early 1890s and although he attempt to return to management in 1894 this was unsuccessful.
Tracey's last known appearance on the Australia stage was in 1897 when he appeared with Alf Lawton's All Nation's Company in Brisbane. While his entrepreneurial career in Australia was short, Tracey nevertheless provided opportunities for numerous local variety practitioners - many of whom went on to sustain long and high profile careers both at home and abroad.
[Source:
Australian Variety Theatre Archive]
