Black and white photograph of the Maldon Brass Band at the South Street Contest in 1905, showing a group of children and adults with band instruments, outdoors with a fence and trees in the background.

Celebrating 163 Years!

Maldon Brass Band formed in 1863 by Richard Cowling.

Since its formation, the Band has had an extensive history of playing around the town and performing at almost all of Maldon’s major events some of which include ;

  • The opening of Cairn Curran Reservoir, and again at its 50th anniversary

  • Leading the Procession on Easter Monday for the past 149 years - with only 3 exceptions; the war and then more recently due to the COVID-19 Pandemic

  • Many occasions tripping out to Laanecoorie each year for Hospital Sunday, a fund raiser for Maldon Hospital. This started well before cars and in those days, the band would travel out by horse and dray.

  • During the mining days on Saturday nights, the band would play in Main St for late night shopping.

  • The Band also travelled to Melbourne to perform on many occasions. Most notably, in 1901 the band had a week-long engagement to celebrate the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York.

In the earlier days, most towns had a Brass Band including Baringhup, Chewton and Newstead, but over the years they have gradually dwindled in numbers. It’s remarkable that for such a small town, Maldon Brass Band has been playing continously to entertain both our locals and visitors for over one and a half centuries.

Maldon Brass Band have a very proud history and we look forward to a proud future.