Composer, musician, music director, poet.
The son of an English surgeon and accomplished litterateur, Francis Hart was educated at Queen Elizabeth's School at Ipswich, England. As a student, he distinguished himself by his work ethic and, at age sixteen, secured a position as prefect. After leaving school, Hart undertook private tuition to prepare for his entry into medicine. His plans changed, however, after a severe accident during a football match. In an interview with Table Talk in 1894, he records that while recuperating at Sydenham, he began attending music concerts and theatre productions on a regular basis and was soon 'stagestruck' (Table Talk 20 July1894, p.3). After leaving hospital, Hart decided that Australia might offer him the best opportunity to pursue his interest in the theatre.
Hart arrived in Western Australia in 1880, aged twenty-one, and soon afterwards secured employment as a journalist with the Fremantle Herald. His earliest articles were given the by-line 'Telephone Papers'. He later took up a position editing The Victorian Express, which was published out of Geraldton. During his four years there, he met and married an Englishwoman who had previously written for the West Australian, and together the pair invested a good deal of time in the local community. The musical society they established eventually boasted a membership of over a hundred people, a huge number for the size of the town. Although well respected by many within the community, Hart's radical tendencies in favour of overturning the political order of things and substituting a free constitution also saw him make some enemies.
Around 1884, he returned to Perth, becoming assistant editor of the West Australian. A disagreement with the paper's policies, however, forced him to move to Fremantle, and it was here that he revived the Fremantle Herald. Shortly after, Hart once again found himself embroiled in political debate, and as editor of this new voice of the people, he spoke his mind. In one particularly sensitive power struggle, Hart championed the side of Chief Justice Onslow over the then governor, Sir Frederick Broome. The heated battle, for which Hart fought strenuously, also left him in the position of being 'for a time, the best hated man in the community' (op.cit.). Fortunately for Hart, Broome eventually left the west and was replaced by Sir William Robinson, who shared Hart's passion for music and the arts, and the two became friends.
The good relationship between Hart and the new governor allowed Hart to once again make Perth his home, becoming a leading member of the community, both as a journalist and as arts patron during Robinson's final term (1890-1895). It was during this period that the two collaborated on The Handsome Ransom (later Predatoras). Hart established the Perth Amateur Operatic Society, where he played many leading roles. He also wrote countless editorial articles, conducted a press agency, and compiled the gazette Western Australia in 1891 (1892), which was sponsored by the government. Although little more is known about Francis Hart's life or career, according to a West Australian review of The Handsome Ransom, it was 'not [his] first attempt at libretto writing' (12 Jan. 1894, p.3). It is believed that Hart previously provided the words for a cantata performed at the Perth Exhibition.
The extent to which Hart and Sir William Robinson collaborated is similarly unclear, although it is known that they wrote popular songs together. Their most successful collaboration was the patriotic song 'Unfurl the Flag', which was incorporated into a number of theatrical productions over the next decade or so, and sold well as a published score. It is with the The Handsome Ransom/Predatoras, however, that Hart's name is most prominently linked with Robinson's. Writing of the librettist's contribution, one critic noted, 'we think he has never produced so sustained a character as that of Mr Potts [indeed] the libretto throughout shows most careful preparation, accompanied by a just recognition of the exigencies of the lighter operatic stage' (p.3).
The only clues found concerning Hart's possible later movements are contained in the Table Talk article, which suggests that Hart, whose 'tastes and proclivities are distinctly cosmopolitan and metropolitan' (p.3) was contemplating a permanent move to Melbourne. It also indicates that he may have been planning to return to London to carry out some business on behalf of Western Australia.
According to the research of Brendan Kelly (published in Early Days), he spent a brief period in London before returning to Western Australia: he spent some times as editor of the Colonial Goldfield's Gazette, but his personal life was troubled and, after a sucession of affairs and threatened suicide, his wife was granted a decree of divorce in 1905 (Kelly, p.36).
Sources include:
Kelly, Brendan. 'Francies Jerome Ernest Hart.' Early Days, 102 (2018): 25-37.
