To rise to stardom, our OG diva needed a rebrand, so she trades
her given name - Helen (not exactly giving superstar, no offence
to all the Helens) - and takes on Nellie Melba.
In the second part of her story, Nellie becomes the Kylie Minogue
of her time, charming the masses in London's best theatres and
touring the world drumming up support for the war effort (with
some suspicious accidents along the way).
But beneath the glamour, Nellie is in a domestic war of her own.
Leigh and Alecia try to make sense of how she faced her own
battles, and then how she came to her own sudden, somewhat
peculiar death.
Warning: This episode discusses intimate partner violence.
SOURCES
Melba, Nellie. Melodies and Memories. London: Thornton
Butterworth, 1925.
“Melba Remembers—An Interview with Dame Nellie Melba.” The Home:
An Australian Quarterly 3, no. 2 (June 1, 1922)
“Coombe Cottage: Dame Nellie Melba’s Home—Third of a Series of
Studies of Notable Australian Homes.” The Australian Home
Beautiful: A Journal for the Home Builder 6, no. 6 (June 1,
1928)
“In Dame Nellie Melba’s Paris Home.” The Home: An Australian
Quarterly 11, no. 7 (July 1, 1930)
Campbell, Rachel M. “Dame Nellie Melba: Celebrity and the
Portrait.” Context: A Journal of Music Research, no. 40 (January
2015): 69–79.
Modjeska, Drusilla, Susan Dermody, and John Docker, eds. Nellie
Melba, Ginger Meggs and Friends: Essays in Australian Cultural
History. Malmsbury: Kibble Books, 1982.
Blainey, Ann. I Am Melba: A Biography. Melbourne: Black Inc.,
2008.
Wainwright, Robert. Nellie: The life and loves of Dame Nellie
Melba. Allen and Unwin: Sydney, 2021
Davis, Richard. Nellie Melba: The legend lives. Mile End:
Wakefield Press, 2025
Hosted by Alecia Simmonds and Leigh Boucher
Supervising Producer: Hannah Reich
Producer: Hannah Jose
Video producer: Christian Harimanow
Executive Producers: Clare Rawlinson and Eric George
Head of ABC Audio on Demand: Jessica Radburn
Theme: Martin Peralta
Artwork: Gabriel Virata-Alves
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