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" 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-Sun and the contest became the Melbourne Sun Aria, perhaps to differentiate it from the Geelong, Bendigo, and Sydney Sun Arias, listed below.
Comunn-na-Feinne is a Scots Gaelic association, founded in Geelong in 1856 The Sun-Pictorial sponsored an Aria Prize in conjunction with Geelong's festival in 1925 and subsequently. The last contest was in 1933.
The newspaper offered similar prizes for the Bendigo musical, literary, and elocutionary competitions held in May 1925 and every year thereafter to 1936. Results 1925âÂÂ1930 have not been found, despite looking everywhere .
The newspaper offered two prizes (female and male) from 1933 to 1941, none held 1942âÂÂ1945 and a single prize thereafter. The contest became a section of the Sydney Eisteddfod in 1949. Notable prizewinners include Joan Sutherland in 1949 and June Gough, better known as June Bronhill, in 1950.