[2] She studied piano in Melbourne with Edward Goll (a pupil of Emil von Sauer and grand-pupil of Franz Liszt)[3] and Ada Corder (Freeman).

[5] A review of her concert performance in December 1929 noted, With all her latent power, and natural gift for artistic expression, Nancy played Schumann's Scenes from Childhood, the work in which she exhibited her rare talent at the Town Hall some time ago.

[7] Following this concert, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne set up a public subscription scheme for the young Weir to study with a great teacher in Europe.

The work became a great financial asset for her, as she could guarantee certain competition prize monies by playing it, frequently having spent the money before she luckily, and predictably, won.

She established a career as a performer In London during the period from 1936 until 1954, making her Proms debut with the Bach Concerto in A minor for 4 pianos, conducted by Sir Henry Wood.

In her description of the event her unique sense of humour shines forth: "I was to fly into Rome, but the Allies had destroyed the airfield, so I had to parachute in.

After the war she returned to performing in England, and she continued touring, making many appearances with famous conductors, including Willem van Otterloo, Alceo Galliera, Eugene Goossens, Arthur Fiedler and Nicolai Malko.

[10] As part of the Arts Festival for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics she performed the Schumann Piano Concerto[11] on 5 December, with the Victorian Symphony Orchestra under Sir Bernard Heinze.

Here, her students included Piers Lane,[4] Kevin Power, Bernadette Gorman, Norma Marshke, Robert Keane,[12] Geoffrey Cox, Regis Danillon, Keith Crellin, Christopher Wrench, Arthur Do Rozario and the comedian Gerry Connolly.

Subsequent moves were to Townsville and Pinnacle, west of Mackay, where she bought, restored and lived in a deconsecrated church she renamed "Einsiedeln".

In 1989, there was an archival exhibition at Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) of Weir's original concert programmes, war-time photographs and personal memorabilia.

Her funeral service began with a recording of her playing of Liszt's Bénédiction de Dieu dans la solitude from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses.

Amongst the commercial travellers there was also a group of internationally famous concert artists, such as the legendary pianist Ignaz Friedman, and the equally young Shura Cherkassky who at that time toured country Victoria as well as the larger metropolitan centres.

Several commented on the young Miss Weir's precocious talents, until, eventually, she was sent, aged 10 years, to study with Ada Corder (née Freeman).

The ruse worked, and the 13-year-old's performance on 6 July 1929, with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra conducted by Fritz Hart, caused astonishment amongst concert-goers and music critics alike.

After they had formed a significant collection up the left-hand side of the windscreen, she was pulled over by a policeman (presumably not the same one as in the U-turn anecdote) who informed her that they had to be removed.

Many happy years together ensued, during which Cully appeared on stage in Bach's Coffee Cantata, Bizet's Carmen (at Innisfail, on a Symphonic Safari) and at many a concert thereafter.

Cully was a part-time music critic, who regularly let students know if their performance was not up to standard by producing "the most outrageous howling", in her mistress's words.

At the end of her life, Cully, crippled and very weak, was warned by her adoring and saddened owner that she "might have to make that special trip to the vet".