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| Tails from the Past |
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| A Poem from the Past by John Meredith |
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| The Sandy Hollow Line, by Duke Tritton |
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| Too Many Songs About Shearers by far, Vol. 1 by Chloe & Jason Roweth |
The Bush Music Club was founded in 1954 to collect, publish and popularise Australia’s traditional songs, dances, music, yarns, recitations and folklore and to encourage the composition of a new kind of song - one that was traditional in style but contemporary in theme.
Articles © Bush Music Club Inc unless stated otherwise, photographs © individual photographer.
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| Tails from the Past |
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| A Poem from the Past by John Meredith |
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| The Sandy Hollow Line, by Duke Tritton |
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| Too Many Songs About Shearers by far, Vol. 1 by Chloe & Jason Roweth |
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From The Sydney Stock and Station Journal, Friday 18 April, 1902 & 27th May 1902
Paying a debt - Francis McNamara
~~
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Bush Music Festivals from 1979 to 1993 included Song, Tune, Verse & Dance competitions. Categories changed over the years, & not all winning entires were published, sometimes winning entries were not even named!
1980
The winner of the Dance competition was the New Parliament House Jig by John Coleville, & was published in MW 23, Feb 1981.
The first Songwriters competition was held this year with three categories - Original words & music, New words, old tune & New tune, old words, but results were not published. (MW 27, Oct 81)
The Song Competition was won by Denis Kevans who put music to John O'Brien's Riderless horse. This was the only prize awarded. (MW 34, Dec 82)
BMC's Ruby Jubilee was celebrated at Australian Pioneer Village & included Competitions according to this poster, but there was no mention of any competitions in the Festival reports.
2004 Golden Jubilee
Poetry competition winner - Blue Ocean True by Penelope Grace, Mulga Wire 166, Dec 2004
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2005 Dance competition
on a railway theme - winner was Railway Polka by John Short.
Highly commended - John Short's Railway Waltz created to accompany the arrangement of Paling's tune published MW no.167, Feb 2005
| Mulga Wire no. 168, April 2005 |
Hi Sandra
I'm absolutely delighted. I really appreciate the BMC running this project. For me it was a great catalyst for reflecting on the Australian folk music tradition and folk revival and what it means in our culture as well as in my life.I'm really pleased with the song I wrote, which I have now dipped into the that flowing Reedy River, hopefully adding to that tradition, keeping it strong and, like a river, constantly renewing.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tune - Yabby Catcher by Maggie Somerville.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dance competition winners (MW 226, Dec 2014)
General Bush Dance - Bimsey Flyer by John Short
Dancer's dance - Harbour Bridge Quadrille by Keith Wood
Highly commended - Duke's Jig by John Short
Multi figure quadrille - The Mulga Quadrille by John Short
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Spirit of Thunderbolt, Ben Hall and Other Bushrangers by Colin Newsome.
A letter and review copy brings to our notice the work of a Bush Balladist of the old school and definitely of the old leanings. Colin Newsome was born in 1916 and worked around the bush in most of the itinerant bush jobs as well as a spell as fighter and wrestler with travelling boxing troupes. He has apparently published two books of Bush Ballads The Green Tree Snake and Dingo Howlers but he sent to us a copy of a slim volume on a subject dear to his heart.
~
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From John Warner, master of Parody, about the Grand Master of Parody
In its time this Parker must have cost a well earned quid,
And spare me days, it’s come to me without its bleedin’ lid.
The master must have took it off the day that it was bought,
And put it somewhere on the desk without a moment’s thought.
With inspiration flowing, our John began to write,
And soon the ink was steaming hot, full speed by day and night.
Perhaps the Dengate needed sleep and dropped it in its case,
And just forgot the poor old lid a-lying round the place.
There’s probably some lost graveyard where bits and pieces go,
And there the the lid has wandered off, no doubt we’ll never know,
For the lid was never needed, it was never used again,
This old Parker kept on writing, for it was John Dengate’s pen.
Many, many thanks Dale, for your words and for this memorial of a great bloke. Hey, and I’m not dropping any hints about the lid.
John Warner. 19/10/2014
Poem by Doug Jenner, recited by Doug's brother Pete at John's wake, & first published by an anonymous Guest in John's memorial thread on Mudcat Cafe
Guest - At the funeral, John's son Sean delivered a brilliant eulogy which summed the man up to a tee. One of Sean's abiding observations of his father was his ability to keep it all simple: "Don't get distracted from doing the things you love, with the people you love. And according to John Dengate, that's all you need to do to have a good life."
I found myself going down a similar path in my own tribute to him:
Schooners of Coopers
and a golden afternoon before us,
aglow with beer and banter,
Dengate and I share cricket yarns,
and evidence in broken fingers.
In beery mind’s eye I picture the wiry John,
head in Kokoda with the Aussie militiamen,
blocking wooden answers
to questions fired down 22 yards,
organised for survival,
And sure of the ball to leave.
Now, in the pub
When he’s in free flow,
Timing strokes, punching lines
onto the comic sweet spot,
Middling them Mark Waugh-like
to the boundary fence,
He’s not just the life and soul,
He’s a whole party in one man,
And he sets the room aglow.
Even so, even then, he knows
Whether to play, or whether to let it go.
Sometimes, many schooners on,
adrift in poetry and song,
you think, quite suddenly,
like that bird that sits on water
and instantly isn’t there, he’s gone.
then quick, like the diving bird, he’s back,
In the beak a rhyme, a limerick,
a new-spun funny line.
And along with warmth, with humour that you feel,
You also sense a discipline
As strong as Kembla steel
Today, across the continents
came news that he was gone,
so comrades line those schooners up,
Australia toast your son!
For the gifts and the heart of Dengate
make that ceilidh roar,
Sing loud for one of our ‘valiant men
That we never shall see more.’
And when in quiet moments, you open your hearts to grieve,
Remember how much of his genius
Was knowing the one to leave.
Doug visited Australia in August 2016, and recited it at the Memorial Get Together
| Pete reciting Doug's poem at John's Wake, (Sandra Nixon photo) |
| Doug at 2016 memorial (Sandra Nixon photo) |
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1. Singabout, Volume 6(2), 1967
2. Singabout, Volume 6(2), 1967 - EDITORIAL by Harry Glendinning. CONTENTS