Letty Katts

Violet Katts (3 January 1919 – 19 September 2007 ), was an Australian songwriter who published under the name Letty Katts, often spelled Lettie. She is best known for her songs “A Town Like Alice” (1956) and “Never Never” (1945), frequently referred to as “Riding to the Never Never”. History Katts was born in 1919, the only daughter of Anton Katts (22 January 1888 – March 1952) and Lucretia Katts, née Pimblett, who married on 11 June 1921. (perhaps Ostrog, Šentjernej) and in 1912 left as a refugee for Australia, and founded a radiator repair and sheet metal fabrication shop “King & Katts” at 623 Wickham Street, Fortitude Valley, Queensland. Around 1925 they built a large house, “Roseneath”, in Enoggera where Letty grew up. Both parents were musicians: Anton played balalaika and mandolin; Lucretia was a pianist, and Katts had private piano tuition, initially with Constance Hartshorn, organist for the Enoggera Presbyterian church, then from around 1930 with John Ellis, who took out a newspaper advertisement when Kitts graduated ATCL and LTCL in 1939. Katts married John Stanton Davis Mellick (born 22 February 1920), on 8 December 1941. Katts worked as a music teacher while her husband