Obituaries Australia

It will be heard with great regret that Frederick Augustus Packer, formerly Clerk of the House of Assembly, Tasmania, died on the 1st inst, at Sydney, where he had resided for some years past. Mr. Packer was the fourth generation of a race of musicians, on the mother's side. His great grandfather was Mr. Neil Gow, a Scotch musician of some celebrity in his day, and his grandfather was Mr. Nathaniel Gow, the composer of the favourite Scotch song, Caller Herrin – in itself sufficient to give fame. Mr. Packer's mother was, in early life, a student at the Royal Academy of Music, where, among her masters, were the famous Moscheles, Cipriani Potter, and Sir Michael Costa. Miss Gow became the wife of Mr. Frederick Alexander Packer, R.A.M., of Reading, Berkshire, and died at the Military Barracks, Hobart, on the 23rd February, 1892, aged 77 years. Amongst her children, as well as the son who died on the 1st, were the late Mr. John Packer, Under-Treasurer; Mr. A. H. Packer, of the Customs Department, Mr. R. K. Packer, of the Queensland Telegraph Service; and Sir. H. E. Packer, now Secretary for Public Works. Mr. F. A. Packer, who has just died, was well-known as the composer of a number of admired songs, the best-known of which is I am listening. He will be long remembered in Hobart musical circles as an organist of much capability. He had been bad health for a long time past, and his death was hardly unexpected.