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Amy Sherwin’s Welcome Return To Tasmania
by James Marten
Words: Dr. Amy Jackett, Hadley’s Art Prize curator and Amy Sherwin Fund Committee member
Opera singers were the Taylor Swifts of the nineteenth century. You may remember the character of Jenny Lind from the film, The Greatest Showman. Jenny Lind was an opera singer, known as the ‘Swedish Nightingale’.
We also had a nightingale, a highly acclaimed singer of the late 1880s, nicknamed ‘The Tasmanian Nightingale’. Her name was Amy Sherwin, and she even met and became friends with her idol, Jenny Lind.
Like her Swedish counterpart, our Nightingale also toured the world, singing in all the grand theatres in America, Europe, India, China, Japan, South Africa and Australia. She was the first Australian to achieve international success in the arts. Crowds amassed everywhere she went. People shouted themselves hoarse. People burst their gloves clapping! 3,000 people threw their hats in the air at Covent Garden!
She was also reported to be an exceptionally kind and generous person. She made time to meet and thank her admirers, one by one, long after she had finished a performance. She also put her family first on several occasions, returning to Tasmania to care for her parents, and caring for her daughter who eventually succumbed to tuberculosis.
She never forgot Tasmania. She named one of the homes she bought in the UK, ‘Huonville’, and always included Tasmania on her world tours. She also performed for many fundraising concerts, especially those in aid of communities affected by bush fire, since her childhood home had been lost to fire.
While she was living in London, she taught several homeless girls to sing, a simple but profound gift which changed their lives dramatically.
Our Nightingale has not been as well remembered as Jenny Lind, but a group of Tasmanians are determined to change that. A committee of volunteers, led by Dr Bob Brown, are raising $200,000 to for a full-length marble statue of Amy Sherwin being made by acclaimed Australian sculptor Peter Schipperheyn. It’s an ambitious project, but Bob Brown is no stranger to ambitious projects.
To support the cause, visit amysherwinfund.au, and save the date of 15 February 2026 to join in the unveiling celebrations in Murray Street and Hadley’s Orient Hotel.
