New England folk takes its place on the stage

International renown: Work done by Chris Sullivan and others in recording 19th Century New England music means the Tablelands has its own place on the UNESCO global folk music site. This is the fifth and last in this short series on the New England folk tradition

In my last column I spoke of the work of Chris Sullivan, Barry McDonald, Mark Rummery and others in recording and documenting the folk music tradition in New England and beyond.

One result of their work is that the New England Tablelands has its own small section in Folkways, the UNESCO site on global traditional music. However, that’s only part of New England’s often unrecognized role in the preservation and promotion of the Australian and New England folk traditions.

Our story begins with the local newspapers who not only published local stories, writing and sometimes song, but from the 1890s began to promote local history. This was followed by the formation of local historical societies beginning with Clarence River Historical Society in 1931.

With time, this led to the creation of local museums including the Armidale Folk Museum in 1958. This replaced the Armidale Museum, originally formed in 1933 as the first municipal museum in NSW.

Staff from the Teachers’ College and University played important roles in these development.

We have already discussed the role played by Russel Ward in the promotion of interest in Australia folk songs, including his influence on students.

Armidale Teachers’ College lecturer Eric Dunlop played a key role in the formation of the Armidale Folk Museum and in the broader museum movement. He believed in museums as an education tool and had developed a particular interest in folk museums while in Europe in 1953.

Ward and Dunlop were joined by others, including John Ryan. John played a significant role in the promotion of Australian folklore, editing the journal Australian Folklore from 1992. He also began the process of documenting folk traditions across the broader New England with a special focus on the literary tradition.

Meanwhile, the music continued. Both Gary Shearston and Mike McLellan became prominent national folk music performers, refreshing old songs and writing new ones. Their songs added to the specific New England tradition.

Shearston’s “Shopping on a Saturday” and “Tenterfield” paint evocative pictures drawn from his early life in Tenterfield, contrasting with the sadness of Peter Allen’s “Tenterfield Saddler.”

While Shearston’s songs draw from his Tenterfield childhood, Mike McLellan’s songs are influenced by his time at the Armidale Teachers’ College. “Saturday Night Dance” and “There is a Place” remain Armidale favourites.

Note to readers: This post appeared as a column in the Armidale Express Extra on 19 December 2018. I am repeating the columns here with a lag because they are not all on line outside subscription. You can see all the Belshaw World and History Revisited/History Matters columns by clicking here for 2009, here for 2010, here for 2011, here for 2012, here for 2013, here for 2014, here for 2015, here for 2016, here  2017, here 2018 .