AustLit

Agnes Rahilly, later known as Agnes Rahilly-Brown, was mostly known within Queensland and Northern New South Wales during the 1920s and 1930s as the producer of a juvenile company called the Sunshine Kiddies. In addition to training the children and managing their tours, Rahilly-Brown also wrote most of the troupe's productions. The most popular shows were pantomimes, but the troupe also staged musical comedies, revues, revusicals, farces and vaudeville entertainments. Comedian Joe Lawman, who went on to become a major vaudeville and revue star of the 1930s and 1940s, and who also carved out a decade-long career in the United Kingdom after the Second World War, appeared with the Sunshine Kiddies between 1923 and 1928.

Agnew Rahilly was raised in the regional Victorian city of Ballarat, and undertook her education there in the late 1890s. She and her sister Maud entered in numerous elocution competitions at the turn of the century, annexing 'prize after prize in all the elocutionary events in which they competed' (Daily News 7 October 1911, p.5). In 1902 Agnes joined the Steel-Payne Bellringers, performing as a soprano, elocutionist, and a descriptive and coon artist Less than a month after the Centennial Hall concert Rahilly advertised her intention to begin taking students for instruction in all areas of the dramatic arts and elocution. Described at this time as a "society entertainer" (BC: 30 June 1905, 4), Rahilly continued to maintain a presence in Brisbane for several years, appearing in various concerts and theatricals.

Rahilly produced regular concerts and theatrical entertainments over the next few years, both with her students and her Dramatic Club. In 1910 she announced the opening of her new studios in Farish's Buildings, George Street. A year later, however, she was in Western Australia touring with another sister, Maude, and Riggs Miller as the Austral Trio. Their shows were presented in addition to a programme of moving pictures. In late September 1911 the Rahilly sisters opened a school of elocution, dramatic art and deportment in Perth. The studio, which also provided instruction in voice production and singing, operated juvenile pantomime, opera and adult comedy and dramatic clubs as well. It appears to that around this same time Rahilly married dance teacher George Brown. Both were known form then on as Rahilly-Brown.

By 1918 Agnes was back in Brisbane where she again established herself as a leading teacher of juvenile performers. It would seem that she returned home sometime after her husband's enlistment in the Australian Imperial Forces (A.I.F.) in 1916. Although little is  known about her school at that time, the Brisbane Courier records that the studio was located in Kelly's Building, Queen Street, Brisbane (12 July 1919, p.15). The following year she put together a juvenile troupe called the Little Patriots for shows around Brisbane.

1919 also saw the George Rahilly-Brown back in Brisbane after some three years with the A.I.F. During his time in London after the Armistice he had studied the latest dance crazes (Brisbane Courier 12 July 1919, p.15). and pair subsequently introduced a number of overseas dance crazes, including jazz, to the school's repertoire of styles. The new dances were first demonstrated to the public on 22 September when The Little Patriots staged another concert at Centennial Hall. On Thursday 4 December 1919, the Rahilly-Browns' juvenile students staged the musical play Cherry Blossom San at the Lyceum Theatre. One of the reported features of the production was an exhibition of ballroom dancing, produced under the supervision of George Rahilly-Brown. In January 1920 the Rahilly-Browns moved their studio to a new building opposite the General Post Office in Queen Street. The principals also appear to have maintained a presence within the wider Brisbane social and entertainment scenes around this time. Agnes is recorded, for example, as contributing monologues to the 41st and 42nd Battalion concerts at the Exhibition Hall in early March. She also produced an artistically-conceived tableau during the evening (Brisbane Courier 4 Mar. 1920, p.8). The previous year George had acted as co-organiser (with a Mr O'Sullivan) of the dance portion of a Bal Masque held at Centennial Hall (BC: 26 Sept. 1919, 11). Around this period, too, he occasionally travelled to nearby regional centres offering short seasons of dance instruction.

On 2 September 1921 the Rahilly Brown's staged a children's musical revue at the Centennial Hall in aid of the Children's Hospital. Although the authorship of Rich Girl, Poor Girl, has not yet been established, it was likely written by Agnes. Advertising records that the production contained 'catchy songs, recitations, pretty children, quaint movements and dances, the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet,' along with ballroom dancing displays, the new Tango dance and Perman's Brooklyn Cakewalk (Brisbane Courier 27 August 1921, p.2).

In November 1921 the Rahilly-Browns' debuted their juvenile troupe The Sunshine Kiddies at a series of open-air concerts and dance nights presented in the Brisbane suburb of Dutton Park. The Sunshine Kiddies initially performed regularly at social events, jazz nights and concerts, presenting a combination of variety acts, dramas, musical comedies and revues. In the mid-1920s the Kiddies also began presenting pantomimes - mostly staged at the Majestic Theatre as a supplement to the Union Pictures film screenings. Between Brisbane engagements Brown took the children on regular tours through regional Queensland, interspersed with occasional interstate visits. Although these annual regional tours were discontinued after 1931, the Sunshine Kiddies maintained a presence in Brisbane, both in the city and suburbs, up until at least 1941.