Mobil Quest

The Mobil Quest was an Australian competition for operatic vocalists which ran from 1949 to 1957, sponsored by the Vacuum Oil Company and broadcast by Melbourne radio station 3DB and relayed to affiliates throughout Australia. It is remembered with wry amusement for judging Ronal Jackson the 1949 winner ahead of Joan Sutherland.

History

The quest was founded in 1949 with the stated aim of "bringing to the attention of the public the best vocal talent available in the Commonwealth"^[1] The Vacuum Oil Company had an honorable association with classical music in Australia, having supported Opera for the People concerts and broadcasts since 1946.^[2]

The contest was run Australia-wide, with contestants first passing an audition conducted by a participating radio station, which then conducted a series of heats to select that station's candidates for the semi-finals. Eighteen winners, three from each State, then competed in Melbourne to select the six who competed for the £1,000 prize at a grand final at the Melbourne Town Hall. The heats were broadcast in the relevant State capitals, and the finals broadcast through all participating stations. Lesser prizes for finalists were, respectively, £300, £100, £50, £25, and £15,^[3] later £300, £150, and £50 each for the other three finalists.^[a] Each singer who appeared on air received a broadcasting fee and all semi-finalists received an all-expenses trip to Melbourne.^[4]

The Mobil Quest radio broadcasts between 1949–1956, and the 1957 semifinals, are held in Australia's National Film and Sound Archive.^[5]

Winners

Year	Winner	2nd	3rd	Equal 3rd
1949	Ronal Jackson[6][7]	Trudy Daunt[8][6]	William Smith[6]
1950	Joan Sutherland[9][10]	David Allen[10]	William Smith[10]
1951	Margaret Nisbett[11][12]	Clifford Powell[12]	June Bronhill[11]
1952	Donald Smith[13]	Eric Mitchelson[14]	Elizabeth Allen[14][15][16]	Marjorie Conley[15][16]
1953	Elizabeth Allen[17][18]	Robert Allman[17]	Raymond McDonald[17][19][20][21]
1954	Ronald Austron[22]	John Shaw[22]	Raymond McDonald[20][22]
1955	Marjorie Conley	Margreta Elkins[23]	Heather Begg	Conrad Berensen
1956	Noel Melville	Heather Begg	Lance Lloyd
1957	Nance Grant	Robert Bickerstaff	Richard Bromley	Peter Campbell

Heats and finals

Year	Queensland	New South Wales	Victoria	Tasmania	South Australia and Northern Territory	West Australia	unknown
1949
1950
1951	Ernest Knight[24]	Betty Prentice[24]	Joan Aird[24]				Eric Mitchelson,[11] Maureen Boyce,[11] Loris Sutton,[11] Edwin Liddle[11]
1952	Ernest Knight[25]	Audrey Worrad[25]	Dorothea Deegan[25]
1953
1954			Valerie Collins[19][26]	Dorothy O'Donahoo[26]		Molly McGurk[26]	Lance Ingram,[27] Neil Warren-Smith,[27] Edwin Liddle,[27] Ronald Neill[27]
1955
1956
1957

Musicians (finals and recital tours)

Year	Conductor	Orchestra	Pianist	Compere
1949		Australian Symphony Orchestra[8]	Christine Whyte[28]
1950			Christine Whyte[29]
1951	Hector Crawford[13][24]	Australian Symphony Orchestra[24]	Christine Whyte[30]	John Curtis[24]
1952	Hector Crawford[25]	Australian Symphony Orchestra[25]	Henri Penn[14]
1953			Margaret Schofield[18][17]
1954			Marie van Hove[27][26]
1955
1956
1957

See also

• Shell Aria contest
• Melbourne Sun Aria
• South Street Society

Notes

1. To give some idea of the value of the prizes, a skilled worker's weekly wage at the time might have been £20, a new car £1000, and a house £5000.