Phillips, Thea.

Dame Nellie Melba was born Helen Porter Mitchell on 19 May 1861 in Richmond, Victoria. She lived with her parents, Isabella and David Mitchell, and seven younger brothers and sisters, and attended the Presbyterian Ladies College in Melbourne for her schooling.

Melba moved to Mackay with her father after the death of her mother and one of her sisters in 1881. In 1882 she married Charles Armstrong in Brisbane, and they had a son, George, the following year. It was at this stage she started preparing seriously for a singing career. Melba left for London with her father, son and husband in 1886, traveling to London and then Paris where her talent was recognized. She trained under Madame Marchesi, who persuaded Helen Armstrong, as she was then, to adopt a suitable stage name - Melba was chosen, as it was a common contraction for Melbourne, her birthplace. Melba went on to make her operatic debut in Brussels, playing Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto, and later sang in London, Paris, Milan, New York and other major cities.

Melba divorced her husband in 1900, and returned to Australia in 1902 with a series of concerts in all Australian states and New Zealand. She went backwards and forwards between Europe and Australia for several years, but spent the war years in Australia, raising funds for war charities. Between 1904 and 1926, Melba made almost 200 recordings. She performed for the last time at Covent Garden, where she had her own dressing room, in 1926, and her final Australian concerts were held in 1928. She returned to Europe before finally returning to Australia, where she died in February 1931.