70th Anniversary - Informal get-together @ Tritton Hall, from 11am Saturday 13th July, 2024

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BMC is the second oldest Folk Club in the English Speaking world

The Bush Music Club turns 70 this year!  history 

BMC turns 70 this year & we have plans! - Dance & lunch @Petersham Town Hall, Sunday 27th October

Duke's youngest daughter May, & grandson Don,
son of Duke's youngest son, also named Don, 
visited the Hut in 2018

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BMC gathering Saturday 13th July, from 11 to early evening

Another activity has been added to our 70th Anniversary celebrations.

It will be an informal event where attendees can share memories, song, tunes, recitations, yarns - bring a plate & share a meal, check out some interesting books & archival material

We're hoping to also show off some interesting blogs 
https://blog.bushmusic.org.au/   https://blog.bushmusic.org.au/p/guide-to-blog.html

Tritton Hall, Hut 44, Addison Road Centre, 142 Addison Road, Marrickville. There's plenty of parking & the 428 bus from Canterbury to CBD stops outside the Centre, walk to the right of the Hall - the Hut is across the grass, decorated with dancers & musicians. Trip planner https://transportnsw.info/trip#/

Sandra Nixon - BMC's Archivist & Blogger, 
enquiries   <bushmusicclub@gmail.com>  

Banner made by Dale Dengate in 1968 with sashes from 1968 & 1969 Tuena Gold Rush  Silver badge on the right is BMC's first badge, designed in 1961 by Foundation Member Pam Loughlin. Badge below is our current badge. Badges to the left are our 50th, 60th & 70th Anniversary badges. 

50th Badges are no longer available, while 60th & 70th Badges are available from our Secretary

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From the Archives - Review by Shirley Andrews of 'A Waltz with Matilda' by Oscar Mendelsohn.

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Review by Shirley Andrews of 'A Waltz with Matilda' by Oscar Mendelsohn. 
Australian Tradition, September 1968

Extract from Mendelsohn's biography in Australian Dictionary of Biography ... His book, A Waltz with Matilda (Melbourne, 1966), advanced the now discounted theory that Australia's alternative anthem was written not by A.B. Paterson but by Harry Nathan, organist at the Anglican Cathedral, Townsville, Queensland ...

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From the Archives - Home-made musical instruments from Reverse Garbage

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Reverse Garbage 

About us - The organisation was established in 1975 by a group of teachers and community workers determined to ease pressure on the environment. Their plan was to divert industrial discards from landfill and reuse those materials in their classrooms.

More than four decades since it began, Reverse Garbage is now an internationally recognised environmental co-operative committed to promoting sustainability through the reuse of waste materials.

In recent time Reverse Garbage moved from the Addison Road Centre to 30 Carrington Rd Marrickville  

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Obit - Joy Durst, co-founder of the Billabong Band & founder member of the Victorian Bush Music Club

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Third edition of Joy Durst Memorial Song Collection is available from Victorian Folk Music Club as a free download

Early Bush bands - The Billabong Band, Melbourne, 1955

From the Archives - Memories and Accounts of Bush Music Club and its Origins, by Dale Dengate ... To return to the 50s Merro had moved to a double fronted brick house opposite Waverley Cemetery near Coogee. The tenants then started to enjoy music together, Joy Durst ...

Obituary published in Australian Tradition, no. 3, 1964

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From the Archives - The Merro Scrapbooks - a very incomplete collection of articles by John Meredith found in other publications

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As far as anyone knows, there is no definitive list of everything John Meredith wrote.

Some of the articles in the Scrapbooks were found in our Archives, others have been collected from magazines in our Library or from TROVE.

We currently have 2 Scrapbooks in the Library & articles will be added as located.

The Merro scrapbook, copies of articles in other magazines - Vol 1 - Accession no. 839

The Merro scrapbook, copies of articles in other magazines - Vol 1

PAGE	ARTICLE details	citation
1-2	Martin Mc Adoo - When Grandmother was just a girl (pic of Meredith sisters)	Lansdowne, 1983
3	letter - re poem coll. by Merv Lilley Ode to Ben Chifley	S&G, 6(2), p.2
4	letter - Fragment - What's the use of talking ...	S&G, 2(5), p.3
5-6	article - Jackson's - Wally Wildsmith	S&G, 6(2), pp.12-13
7-12	article - John Meredith Speaks for Himself, interview by Bob Campbell	S&G, 6(2), pp.4-9
13	portrait of John Meredith	S&G, 6(2), back cover
14	Review - Frank the Poet (Lester Grace)	S&G, 1(4)
15-16	Primitive Rhyme	AusTrad 1(5), pp10-11
17	Letter - Attempted Robbery of the Rabbiter's Gift (or as John Meredith puts it) Those Thieving Kiwis	Monaro Musings, p.2-citation cut off
18	Article - Some more THEMATIC FOLK TALES	S&G, 6(1), p.29. 1986?
19-20	letters- from Merro & Bob Bolton re ID of pic & letter from Merro re Ben Chifley	S&G, 6(1), 2 pages, un-numbered
21-23	article - On the track of the SHED REP part 1. Part 2 by Rob Willis	Speewah, no.1, Mar97, pp12-14
24	article - The death of Les Darcy	S&G, 2(4), p.4
25-31	article - Ballads from Bearbong - Some songs of Harry Dicks, music transcribed by Peter Parkhill	S&G, 6(1), 1986? 22-28
32	Portrait of Harry Dicks	S&G, 6(1), back cover
33	letter - Go Home Yankee by John Hasted, parody of Tramp, Tramp	S&G, 5(3), p.2
34	letter re Zulu War song collected by Chris Sullivan	S&G, 5(3), p.1
35-36	article - Ballad of the Breelong Blacks	S&G 5(3), pp.6-7
37-38	article - Isandhlwana Revisited - The Blessed Zulu War	S&G, 5(3), pp14-15
39	letter - A Garland for Sally Sloane made without permission	S&G, 5(2) p.3, May 1984
40	article - Ned Kelly - A Century of Deification - 6 new books & 7 reprints	S&G, 3(2), p. 8
41	article - The Foggy Dew	S&G, 5(2), 22-23, May 84
43	letter - re collecting for 2nd vol of Folk Songs of Australia.	S&G, 4(3), p.1
44	article - A Tale of Two Fingers	S&G, 5(2), p.25, May 84
45	letters - re Shirley Andrews article	S&G, 4(2), p.1
46	article - Will the real Starlight please stand up	S&G, 4(2), p.13
47-50	article - Stringy Bark, the continuing Mudgee tradition	S&G, 4(2), pp. 1-0
51	article - Death of Sally Sloane	S&G, 4(3), p. 2
52	article - The Case of the Missing Ballads	S&G, 4(3), p. 27
53	letter - re Douglas Park	S&G, 4(1), p. 1
54	Review - The Coo-ee March, reviewed by Lester Grace	S&G, 3(3), p. 29
55	letter - re Ron Edwards' Big Book of Australian Folk Song	S&G, 5(4), p.1
56-60	article - Song of Warsaw. The Varsovienne in Australia	S&G, 3(4), pp.6-10
61	letter - Ye sons of Australia	S&G, 3(1), p.1
62-64	article - Three Songs of Sally Sloane - Young Pat Maguire, The Maid of Gauteen, Squire Scroble or The Old Oak Tree	S&G, 3(1), pp,7-9
65-67	cover & 2 pages from Ned Kelly - After a century of Acrimony, Kelly's Green Silk Sash, lyrics & dots
68-73	Songs of our land	Walkabout's Australia, 1968
74	John Stanley's squeeze-boxes called the tune at a thousand bush dances	People, Dec 9 1959 , 99. 4-5
75	The recording of Ma Seal	NLA News June 1994, p.5
76	Meandering with Meredith by Rob Willis	Trad&Now, No.1, Spring 2002
77	The Aboriginal Rock Carvigs of Eastern N.S.W by John Meredith & Brian Loughlin	undated clipping from Walkabout Magazine - 17(2), 1951
78	The Lore of the Billy - from unknown title Vol 1, no 5, Sept 65-	also Monaro Folk Music Society newsletter, July 1980

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The Merro scrapbook, copies of articles in other magazines - Vol 2

The Merro Scrapbook, Copies of articles in other magazines - Vol 2

PAGE	ARTICLE DETAILS	Citation
1	When Skillicorn Rode - A rare broadside	Australian Tradition, Sept 1968. pp. 24-26
2	Along the Road to Gundagai - but how many miles?	Australian Tradition, Jan 1967, pp. 6-9
3	Old Bush songs	The Bulletin, March - May 1955
4	Original field Notes - Tales from the Upper Murray	1955
5	Final copy - Tales from the Upper Murray	1955
6	Tales from the Upper Murray (extract)	Australian Tradition, Dec 1967, pp. 5,17,21,24,26
7	Bury the Dead Horse (sailors songs) - blurry copy, made by Keith McKenry from a folder in NLA Meredith collection.	Challenge, Wed March16,1955
8.	The Old Rabbiter's Gift (undated typescript) written 16/1/97 & originaly publ. in Transmissions 9, Aug 2003
9.	Mailbag - letter from John Meredith	Aus.Tradition,issue 3, 1964

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Note regarding item 7 - Challenge newspaper is held in the Carl Weber Collection at Wollongong University Archives - a Collection of publications from the archives of the Communist Party of Australia. Includes both local and overseas items   https://documents.uow.edu.au/content/groups/public/@web/@lib/documents/doc/uow256808.pdf   but is not digitised.

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