She was born
June Mary Gough in the inland
Australian city of
Broken Hill in
New South Wales. Her
stage name Bronhill, which she used from
1952, was an abbreviation of Broken Hill, which was her way of thanking her home town for its support in raising money to send her overseas for professional training as a singer — in the same way that Helen Porter Mitchell chose the stage name of
Nellie Melba (after
Melbourne), and that Florence Mary Wilson chose the stage name of
Florence Austral and Elsie Mary Fischer chose the stage name
Elsa Stralia (after Australia).
She trained in
London and gained early exposure with the
Sadler's Wells company in
Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. Her roles in
Offenbach's operas, with the Sadler's Wells company, included "Eurydice" in
Orpheus in the Underworld and "Gabrielle" in
La Vie Parisienne.
She was perhaps best known for title role of "Hanna Glawari" in
Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow, which she sang with the Sadler's Wells Opera (now known as
English National Opera), with
Thomas Round (as "Danilo"). She also created
Maria von Trapp in
Rodgers and
Hammerstein's The Sound of Music on the Australian stage. Bronhill was well known in the
London West End theatres as well as on the opera stage.
Over the years she made frequent visits back to her homeland, singing in operas such as
The Merry Widow,
Orpheus In the Underworld,
Die Fledermaus and
Rigoletto at the
Sydney Opera House in
1975. In
1976 she decided to move back to Australia permanently.
In
Australia she appeared in operas such as
Il Seraglio and
Maria Stuarda. She played operetta roles such as Josephine (
HMS Pinafore), Phyllis (
Iolanthe) and Ruth (
The Pirates Of Penzance). She also essayed roles in
The Maid Of the Mountains,
Call Me Madam,
A Little Night Music,
Nunsense,
My Fair Lady and
How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, and starred in the straight plays
Arsenic And Old Lace and
Straight and Narrow.
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