Musical genes

Olive May Hood was born on November 21 1907, in Perth Western Australia, to Andrew William Percival Hood and Eliza Clace Cummings. 'Ollie' as she was always called, was the youngest child. She had a big  brother and sister, Leslie Raymond (born 1902) and Doris Muriel, 'Dorrie' (born 1904.) 

Olive May Hood with her big sister Doris Muriel Hood
ca 1919

By day, their father Percy was the chief accountant for Perth Gas and Electricity, but in every spare moment away from work, he spent time nurturing one of his greatest passions - gardening. He had a huge garden where many fruits and vegetables were grown, but his prized plantings were his dahlias which won him numerous state awards over many years. Eliza Clace was a dressmaker by trade and a great cook - the children would gather the freshly grown vegetables from their garden and their Mum Eliza would cook up a feast. 

 Apart from gardening and cooking, a very important part of the children's lives was music.

L-R: Standing: Percy Hood, Dorrie Hood, Ollie Hood, Leslie Hood
Sitting: Eliza Clace Hood, Gertrude Cummings (Eliza's youngest sister)
Blue Mountains 1917. Photo in private collection of author.

Music had been very much established in the DNA of the Hood family for many generations.

Ollie and her siblings all learned to play the piano from a young age.  Their father Percy too was said to be a beautiful pianist as well as a trumpet player, who played in a small band during his youth.

 Percy's father, Robert Hood had many connections within the musical industry from the time of his arrival in Australia in the late 1860's. He ran stationery and book store businesses in both South Australia and New South Wales up till the late 1880s. These stores, or 'Depots' as he called them, grew bigger with each new establishment and soon they were selling every possible variety of musical instrument from pianos and organs, to concertinas, violins and flutes.

 He also sold the latest in sheet music from around the world. As can be seen in one of the newspaper ads below, he was also involved in promoting entertainment shows and selling tickets to the public from his stationary and music depots in Narracoorte and Mt Gambier, South Australia and Broken Hill, New South Wales. 

One of Robert's daughter's Dora, and her husband Hal Andrews were celebrated vaudeville artists known as "The Gilberts" who were successful in England, Asia and all around Australia during the early 1920s.

The Two Gilberts -(Dora was Ollie's maternal aunt)
The Avon Gazette and York Times WA:1916-1930, 21 Nov 1924.

The children's grandfather Robert had emigrated from Quebec, Canada in 1869 where music was also central to his own childhood. He would have also been influenced heavily by his own uncle, Thomas Hood, who was an eminent piano manufacturer in Quebec from the 1860s to the 1890s. 

Thomas D Hood ca 1891               Thomas D Hood pianoforte

With so many generations of the family having such an interest in music, there was very little doubt, that Ollie too, would inherit the genes that would provide her with a life-long love of music. But Ollie also had another important interest - she had a desire to be a nurse. 

So, after completing school Ollie decided to become a nurse, training under the supervision of Nurse Ash who managed a private hospital for women in Wasley Street North Perth. 

 Nurse Ollie Hood outside Nurse Ash's Hospital for Women in Wasley Street North Perth.
ca 1924

It wasn't far from where the Hood family lived in Vine Street, however as part of her training Ollie was expected to live in residence at the hospital. She indeed loved her work as a nurse. After several years working with Nurse Ash, Ollie wanted to continue her training so that she could become a midwife. 

She was required to sit for an examination at the Nurses' Registration Board which she did on 18th September 1926. A little less than two weeks later, on 1st October 1926, Ollie received a letter  indicating that she had scored a pass in both English and Arithmetic. This meant that she could now apply to a training school to undertake a course in both the theory and practice of midwifery.

Ollie decided to apply for a position to train at King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women in Perth. On May 23 1928, at age 20, after 12 months residence at King Edward Memorial Hospital for Women Olive Hood graduated from the course of training for Midwifery. 

Certificate of Training awarded to Olive May Hood on 22 May 1928

                                 qualifying her as a Midwife.

Now qualified as a midwife, Ollie returned to Nurse Ash's Hospital in North Perth and continued to work as a midwife for the next thirty years.

Newly graduated midwife, Ollie Hood October 1928.

Even throughout Ollie's time as a nurse, she found occasions where her love of music was able to be fulfilled. The following photograph demonstrates Ollie and some of her nursing colleagues together with some of her family getting together in a musical performance. Given the nurses, it's likely the performance was for the hospital patients or some other hospital fund raising event.

Ollie Hood (far right) with nursing colleagues and others in providing musical entertainment.
ca. 1928

Ollie's love of all things musical didn't end when she finished her nursing career, In fact, it was at this time that Ollie began her second career when she opened a Music shop in Perth. It was here that Ollie found herself in her element.

Ollie's store, Hood's Record Centre, was located at 762 Hay Street Perth, in the vicinity of what is today the Wesley Quarter Shopping Mall. The store was a large and inviting store, housing musical instruments, radios, vinyl records and sheet music. 

Hood's Record Centre ca 1972 at 762 Hay St Perth, prior to being demolished to make way for the development of the Wesleyan Quarter Shopping Mall

I'm told by a cousin who frequented the store in his university days, that it was one of the best music stores in Perth at the time, as every possible record or piece of sheet music that anyone desired could be procured, if it wasn't already available. Often, on entering the store, the shopper would be entertained by a pianist or a violinist playing all the latest melodies.

It was in this store, that Ollie had the opportunity to welcome the very talented and best known "honky-tonk" pianist of all time, the 'amazing Miss A!" That's correct- Winifred Atwell. I'm sure Ollie would have been absolutely thrilled and honoured to have had such an opportunity. In the photo below it can be seen there are a number of  promotional posters advertising Winifred Atwell's latest shows, "Magic" of 1956 and her records such as "Winifred Atwell- Winifred Atwell" EP a 7" vinyl single produced in 1958.

Winifred Atwell visits Ollie Hood's Music Store in Perth, Western Australia ca. 1959

Through her association with the music industry, Ollie also had the opportunity to cross paths with other artists - both famous and perhaps also infamous.

Rolf Harris and others including Ollie Hood (second from right) ca. 1960

Ollie certainly lived a very fulfilled life with her careers in both nursing and the music industry. 

Her father Percy died quite suddenly in 1941, so Ollie and her sister Dorrie continued to live in their family home in Webster Street Nedlands, caring for their mother Eliza Clace until her death in 1956.

Ollie Hood with her mother Eliza Clace Hood (nee Cummings)
 at 3 Webster St Nedlands, Western Australia.

They also spent many hours tending the garden that their father had loved and enjoyed throughout his life. In the final years of her life Ollie and her sister moved into Craigmont Convalescent Hospital in Maylands. Dorrie passed away on 19 April 1990 and just six months later, on 25 October 1990, Ollie too passed away quietly aged 82 years.