Doctored for Dancing

Bathurst’s Busiest Businessman, Jack Stanley

It was likely one evening in the 1890s that William Pymont Brook (1865-1938), a Cobb & Co clerk, first sat down with this two-row hexagonal concertina on his lap. With his fingers resting gently on its buttons, William pulled apart its bellows, then squeezed them together, and the instrument threw out some forceful notes. It was perfect for playing lively tunes at a social dance or even for his family in the sitting room of his house on Keppel Street, Bathurst. Jack Stanley was right – this concertina was extra loud.

The secret to the sound wasn’t all due to the craftsmanship of its English maker (probably George Jones). Rather, it was thanks to the clever man who sold William the instrument at his music shop on William Street, Bathurst.

John George Stanley (1834-1913), known as Jack, had a sign hanging outside his home from the 1860s, which read ‘J. Stanley, Concertina Doctor.’ His business was not so much about repairing ‘sick’ instruments, but ‘doctoring’ or altering new concertinas.

Jack Stanley was born in Lancashire, England and at age 18, he emigrated to NSW, likely lured by the chance of striking it rich on the colonial gold fields. A Jack of many trades, he worked as a barman, a drover, bailiff to the Bathurst small debts court, acting Town Clerk, writer for the Bathurst Sentinel, shopkeeper, and musician. In his time, Jack was known as one of the ‘smartest and busiest of men in Bathurst.’

In the 1880s, Stanley advertised the imported English concertinas that he ‘made extra loud for dancing.’ His ingenious trick was to swap out the brass reeds for steel ones and make other alterations that prolonged their life in Australia’s hot climate. Staking his claim, Stanley rebranded this concertina by adding his own nameplate, while on others he carved his name and the purchaser’s name into the fretwork.