60 years of the Victorian Folk Music Club (est 1959 as the Victorian Bush Music Club) as recorded in Singabout.

Click on pictures for full-screen image

In 1964 Victorian Folk Music Club members Frank Pitt & Alf Cameron were at the celebration of  BMC's 10th birthday - see photos P020 & P021.

Jim Buchannan was guest at the 20th September 1970 Singabout night - see photos 13, 14 & 15.

ABC TV 1966 - Simmy (Simon McDonald) and the Lumsden Family  Simon McDonald (Simmy) was a traditional singer and storyteller from near Creswick, Victoria, and this short footage is from a 1966 ABC TV program which documented folk singers of the time. The second half of the program features David Lumsden, his parents and grandmother. (posted Feb 2023 by Neil Adams who received the video from David Lumsden)

 Singabout 1(1), p.18, Summer 1956 (January)

The first mention of bush musicians in Victoria, the birth of the Billabong Band.

Membership card, 1956-1960. (BMC archives)
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3(1), Summer 1958

p.9 -The  Billabong Band

p.20 - At last Singabout nights in Melbourne,
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3(2), Autumn 1959

p.2 - Phillip Island Sing-Songs (Billabongs, K.W. Vic)
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3(3), Winter/spring 1959

News & Views - p.2  - Victorian Bush Music Club formed
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3(4) n.d. (1959)


p. 2. Cover photo.

p.16 - Billabong band, F. Nickels, Vic
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4(1), 1960

p.2 - Interstate activity - a new publication - Victorian Bush Music Club monthly, issues 1+2, 
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4(2), 1961

p.2 - Victorian Bush Music Club & Folk Lore Society of Victoria publish a journal - Gumsuckers' Gazette

p.3 - The Lost Sailor by Simon McDonald


pp.4-5  Songs of Simon McDonald

p.6 The Old Man Kangaroo

p.7 The Rouseabout

p.8  New Discs - Songs of Early Victoria (Wattle),


pp. 10-11 When Jones's Ale was New - Simon McDonald,


pp.12-13 The Golden Vanity - Simon McDonald
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4(3) 1961

p. 20 - Pub with no Dike upsets, letter from N. O'Connor, Folk Lore Society of Victoria
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4(4), 1962

p. 4 - Some performers from Victoria, David Lumsden & Tom McNoy

p.5 - Our Fathers Cleared the Bush - sent by Joy Durst
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5(2), Oct 1964


pp.15-16 - (review) Australian Traditional Singers & Musicians of Victoria (Wattle) ## republished as a CD in 2004 - available here 
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6(1), 1966

p.17 - ad for Australian Tradition
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History of Reedy River with photos of the original production
New Theatre Melbourne, 50 Years of New Theatre. Melbourne N.T. 1936-86, Melbourne, 1986, 54 pp.

available for distribution by creative commons licence

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