Ada Crossley

Ada Jemima Crossley (3 March 1874 – 17 October 1929) was an Australian singer. Born at Tarraville, Gippsland, Victoria, she was the daughter of Edward Wallis Crossley, ironmonger, and Harriette, née Morris, both from Northamptonshire, England. Ada was the sixth surviving child in a family of twelve children. Crossley's singing in the country met with so much appreciation that she was sent to Melbourne to be trained, where Sir Frederic Cowen, (who had come from London to conduct the orchestra at the Melbourne International Exhibition of 1888–9), heard her sing and gave her advice. She studied under Madame Fanny Simonsen for singing, and under Alberto Zelman the elder for piano and harmony. Her first appearance was with the Philharmonic Society at Melbourne in 1889. She sang frequently in Melbourne at concerts and in oratorio, and was the principal contralto in the choir of Charles Strong's[2] Australian Church. She made her début performance in Sydney in January 1892, and also became well known there, too.