The Sun Aria singing contest began in 1924 as a new segment of the annual contests conducted since 1891 by the South Street Society of Ballarat, Victoria. The prize, initially of 23 guineas, was for "an aria from Grand Opera, to be sung in English"[1] presented by The Sun News-Pictorial, a Melbourne newspaper.The South Street Society became The Royal South Street Society in 1962,the sponsor became the Herald-Sunand the contest became the Melbourne Sun Aria, perhaps to differentiate it from the Geelong, Bendigo, and Sydney Sun Arias, listed below.
| Year | Winner | 2nd or Reserve Award | 3rd or Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1924 | Lawrence Power | Morva Davies | ||
| 1925 | Pauline Gallagher | |||
| 1926 | Edward Hocking | |||
| 1927 | Arnold Matters | |||
| 1928 | Nance Marley | Florence Erikson | Sydney Holmes | |
| 1929 | May Craven | |||
| 1930 | Norman Menzies | |||
| 1931 | Adele McKay | |||
| 1932 | Emilie Hooke | Nancy Studley | Etta Bernard Jeanne Teychenne | |
| 1933 | Newstead Rush | Beatrice Oakley | Joan Jones William Laird | |
| 1934 | Dennis Dowling | Hinemoa Rosieur | Alan Coad | |
| 1935 | Nance Osborne | |||
| 1936 | Sylvia Fisher | |||
| 1937 | Joan Jones | |||
| 1938 | Alfredo Luizzi | Mavis Webster | Vera Hickenbotham | |
| 1939 | Mavis Webster | |||
| 1940 | Joyce Ross | Frances Forbes | Vera Hickenbotham | |
| 1941 | Amelia Scarce | Kathleen Seabrook | Frank Lasslett Peggy Knibb | |
| 1942 –44 | not held | |||
| 1945 | John Lanigan | Jean Thompson | Patricia Howard | |
| 1946 | Maxwell Cohen | Morris Williams | Patricia Howard Robert Simmons | |
| 1947 | Charles Skase | Keith Neilson | Nita Maughan | |
| 1948 | Mary Miller | Joan Arnold | Robert Simmons | |
| 1949 | Betna Pontin | Joan Arnold | Halinka de Tarczynska | |
| 1950 | David Allen | Nina Foley | ||
| 1951 | Verona Cappadona | Joyce Simmons | ||
| 1952 | Violet Harper | Wilma Martin | ||
| 1953 | Lynette Kierce | Jenifer Eddy Robert Allman | ||
| 1954 | Cavell Armstrong | Loris Elms |
| |
| 1955 | Leonard Delany | Loris Sutton | ||
| 1956 | Loris Sutton | Brian Hansford | ||
| 1957 | Brian Hansford | June Barton | ||
| 1958 | Robert Bickerstaff | Diana Munn | ||
| 1959 | Tello Siciliano | June Barton | ||
| 1960 | June Barton | Roslyn Dunbar | ||
| 1961 | Janice Hearne | Patricia Connop | ||
| 1962 | Maureen Howard | Patricia Wooldridge | ||
| 1963 | Raymond Myers | Valerie Pennefather | ||
| 1964 | Malvina Major | Imelda Fitzgerald | ||
| 1965 | Robert Dawe | [2] | ||
| 1966 | ||||
| 1967 | ||||
| 1968 | ||||
| 1969 | ||||
| 1970 | ||||
| 1971 | ||||
| 1972 | Carolyn Vaugh | |||
| 1973 | ||||
| 1974 | ||||
| 1975 | ||||
| 1976 | Judith Henley | |||
| 1977 | ||||
| 1978 | ||||
| 1979 | ||||
| 1980 | ||||
| 1981 | ||||
| 1982 | Christine Ferraro | |||
| 1983 | ||||
| 1984 | Suzanne Ward | |||
| 1985 | Roger Lemke | |||
| 1986 | ||||
| 1987 | ||||
| 1988 | ||||
| 1989 | ||||
| 1990 | ||||
| 1991 | ||||
| 1992 | ||||
| 1993 | Jason Wasley | |||
| 1994 | ||||
| 1995 | ||||
| 1996 | ||||
| 1997 | ||||
| 1998 | ||||
| 1999 | ||||
| 2000 | Rachelle Durkin | |||
| 2001 | ||||
| 2002 | ||||
| 2003 | ||||
| 2004 | ||||
| 2005 | ||||
| 2006 | ||||
| 2007 | ||||
| 2008 | ||||
| 2009 | ||||
| 2010 | ||||
| 2011 | Barbara Zavros | |||
| 2012 | Brenton Spiteri | |||
| 2013 | ||||
| 2014 | Kathryn Radcliffe | |||
| 2015 | Fiona Jopson | |||
| 2016 | Panayiota Kalatzis | |||
| 2017 | ||||
| 2018 | Rebecca Rashleigh | |||
| 2019 | Georgia Wilkinson | |||
| 2020 | ||||
| 2021 | Naomi Flatman | |||
| 2022 | Austin Haynes | |||
| 2023 | Rachael Joyce | |||
| 2024 |
Comunn-na-Feinne is a Scots Gaelic association, founded in Geelong in 1856[3] The Sun-Pictorial sponsored an Aria Prize in conjunction with Geelong's festival in 1925[4] and subsequently. The last contest was in 1933.
| Year | Winner | 2nd | 3rd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1925 | Arnold Ashworth | William Cadzon | Olwer Marshall May Daley | |
| 1926 | William A. Bossence | Maisie Ramsay | Colin J. Thomson | |
| 1927 | Lorna Miller | May Daley | Florence Pryor | |
| 1928 | Marjorie Lawrence | Alice Wells | Ernest Wilson | |
| 1929 | Ernest Wilson | not | known | |
| 1930 | Florence Erikson | Norman Menzies | M. Cumming | |
| 1931 | Myra Hardenack | Eulalie Moore | Harold Murphy | |
| 1932 | Anne Harvey | Charles E. Lomas | Lola Edwards | |
| 1933 | Ailsa McKenzie | John Dudley | Rene Craig Mary Lilley |
The newspaper offered similar prizes for the Bendigo musical, literary, and elocutionary competitions held in May 1925 and every year thereafter to 1936. Results 1925–1930 have not been found, despite looking everywhere .
| Year | Winner | 2nd | 3rd | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1925 –30 | not | known | ||
| 1931 | Kathleen Carroll | Monica Miller | Godfrey Beckwith | |
| 1932 | Margaret Butler | Nance Osborne | Joan Jones Iris Turner | |
| 1933 | Jeanne Teychenne | Charles E. Lomas | William Howling | |
| 1934 | Margaret Black | Lena Worland Gladys Richards | ||
| 1935 | Freda Northcote | Molly Hislop | Marion Daniels William Laird Miss S Richards |
The newspaper offered two prizes (female and male) from 1933 to 1941, none held 1942–1945 and a single prize thereafter.The contest became a section of the Sydney Eisteddfod in 1949.[5] Notable prizewinners include Joan Sutherland in 1949 and June Gough, better known as June Bronhill, in 1950.
| Year | Winner | Male / Notes | Year | Winner | Male / Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1936 | Catherine Williams | Arthur Broadhurst | ||||
| 1937 | not | held | ||||
| 1933 | Ruby Zlotkowski | Norman Barnes | 1938 | Mildred Walker | Neville Beavis | |
| 1934 | Merle Ambler | Robert Nicholson | 1939 | Marie Ryan | Raymond Nilsson | |
| 1935 | Phyllis Thompson | Colin Chapman | 1940 | Nancy Buchanan | Hugh Godfrey | |
| 1941 | Edna McClelland | Allan Ferris | 1946 | Rosina Raisbeck | ||
| 1942 | not | held | 1947 | Eleanor Houston | ||
| 1943 | not | held | 1948 | Florence Taylor | ||
| 1944 | not | held | 1949 | |||
| 1945 | not | held | 1950 | June Gough | aka June Bronhill | |
| 1951 | Angelina Arena | 1956 | Russell Cooper | |||
| 1952 | Marjorie Conley | 1957 | Kevin Mills | |||
| 1953 | Tessa Schell | 1958 | Heather McMillan | |||
| 1954 | Jean Brunning | 1959 | Elaine Blight | |||
| 1955 | Heather Begg | 1960 | Roslyn Dunbar | |||
| 1961 | Robert Colman | 1966 | ||||
| 1962 | Valerie Morgan | 1967 | ||||
| 1963 | Jan Bartlett | 1968 | ||||
| 1964 | Pettine-Ann Croul | 1969 | ||||
| 1965 | Serge Baigildin | 1970 |