Octavius Beale

Who was Octavius Beale?

Octavius Beale, was a piano manufacturer and a philanthropist.

Beale formed a company to import sewing machines and pianos in 1879, after which he established Australia's first piano factory in Annandale, 1893. The factory ceased production in 1975.

He was also president of the New South Wales Chamber of Commerce and a trustee of the Australian Museum, and the Bank of New South Wales.

In 1903, Beale was appointed one of twelve members of a Royal Commission into the decline of the birth rate in New South Wales. He later conducted, at his own expense, a Royal Commission of Inquiry into Secret Drugs, 1905-1910. The two-volume report records the criminal unscrupulousness of manufacturers and advertisers.