Bush Music Club

Lore & Background

The club was founded in October 1954 by John Meredith and colleagues from The Bushwhackers, Australia's first revivalist bush band. An announcement leaflet explained that the band was refusing engagements due to limited size and time, and proposed forming a club where for a nominal fee they would teach accordion, harmonica, bones, bush bass, lagerphone, and more. The inaugural meeting was held at the Realist Theatrette, 188 George Street, on October 14, 1954, at 7 p.m. Initial office bearers were all original Bushwhackers: Brian Loughlin as chair, Alan Scott as secretary/treasurer, Harry Kay as master of ceremonies, and Meredith as publicity officer and future editor of club publications.

The club's journal 'Singabout' began in 1956 as a route to publish and promote Australian folksongs and newly composed songs on Australian themes. A club newsletter with song transcriptions had started in 1955. Meredith and colleagues had Australian Communist Party affiliations, which manifested as sympathy to working-class concerns rather than specific party objectives, though American folklorist John Greenway lamented in 1958 that folksong collecting in Australia was 'in the hands of the Communists'. Meredith served as president in 1961, vice president in 1966, and assistant editor until at least 1968. Life members included traditional singers Sally Sloane and Duke Tritton, as well as founder members and original Bushwhackers.

Reader's Guide

The Bush Music Club played a central role in the revival and preservation of Australian bush music and folklore. Its Concert Party, active from the mid-1950s to 1960s, performed at festivals and public gatherings, including as 'The Shearer's Band' for David Jones' Wool Week in 1959, and released multiple recordings. Proceeds from performances supported the club. From the 1970s onward, many musicians trained in the Concert Party formed their own bands, such as The Rouseabouts, Ryebuck, Pinchgut, Selectors, Southern Cross, Sydney Coves, Currawong, and Barangaroo. The club survived the downturn in folk music interest in the 1980s and 1990s; a 1987 review noted over 400 members. It celebrated its 60th birthday in 2014 with concerts, publications, and festival performances, and as of 2020 still offered bush dances, workshops, and sessions at Sydney venues. Similar clubs emerged in other Australian states, notably the Victorian Bush Music Club (1959) and the Queensland Bush Music Club, with the Sydney club acting as a catalyst for bush band formation elsewhere.

Did You Know?

• Its magazine 'Singabout' ran from 1956 to 1967 and continues as a section within 'Mulga Wire' (1977–current).
• Life members included traditional singers Sally Sloane and Duke Tritton, as well as founder John Meredith and original Bushwhackers.
• In 1959 the club's Concert Party performed as 'The Shearer's Band' for David Jones' Wool Week.

A Packed Rehearsal Room and a New Idea

The Bush Music Club traces its origins to a practical bottleneck faced by Australia's first revivalist bush band, The Bushwhackers. By 1954 the six-member ensemble was declining three or four engagements a week—not from disinterest, but because the musicians needed rehearsal time, held day jobs, and, as their own founding leaflet wryly observed, occasionally required sleep. Tired of disappointing eager singers and instrumentalists who wanted to join the group, founder John Meredith and his bandmates chose to widen the circle. In October 1954 they established the club as a social and teaching body, offering to pass on their knowledge of accordion, harmonica, bones, bush bass, and lagerphone for a nominal membership fee. The inaugural meeting took place at the Realist Theatrette on George Street, Sydney. Initial office bearers all came from the Bushwhackers: Brian Loughlin as chair, Alan Scott as secretary and treasurer, Harry Kay as master of ceremonies, and Meredith as publicity officer and future editor of the club's planned publications.

Printing a Living Folklore

From its earliest years the club treated the written word as central to its mission. A newsletter carrying song transcriptions appeared in 1955, and in 1956 the journal Singabout launched, running until 1967. Meredith, whose deep commitment to collecting Australian folksongs animated much of the club's intellectual life, used Singabout both to publish gathered traditional songs for wider singing and to give a platform to newly composed works on Australian themes. The Bushwhackers also issued a series of broadsides between 1954 and 1956, covering pieces from 'The Black Velvet Band' to 'Stringybark Creek.' Meredith's Communist Party affiliations, shared by several colleagues, shaped the club's sympathies toward working-class concerns, though it did not operate as a party organ. The political context drew international attention: American folklorist John Greenway, reviewing Singabout in 1958, lamented that Australian folksong collecting was 'in the hands of the Communists.' The publication lineage endured when Singabout's content folded into Mulga Wire, which has continued from 1977 to the present.

The Concert Party and the Bands It Grew

Beyond the teaching room, the club fielded a performing ensemble called the Bush Music Club Concert Party. In its early years the group drew on Meredith and other original Bushwhackers, playing festivals and public gatherings and cutting a number of records between the mid-1950s and 1960s. For David Jones's 'Wool Week' in 1959 they rebranded as The Shearer's Band. Every member was an amateur performing for love of the music, with proceeds flowing back to support the club's activities. This apprenticeship model proved extraordinarily fertile. From the 1970s onward, musicians who had trained under the Concert Party went on to form their own bands, including The Rouseabouts, Ryebuck, Pinchgut, Selectors, Southern Cross, Sydney Coves, Currawong, and Barangaroo. The club also counted among its life members prominent traditional singers Sally Sloane and Duke Tritton, the latter of whom assisted Meredith with song collecting and served multiple terms as vice president. Other life members included the original Bushwhackers—Meredith, Jack Barrie, Alan Scott, Brian Loughlin, and Harry Kay—as well as resident topical and humorous songwriter John Dengate.

Six Decades and a National Ripple

The club's endurance stands out in a genre that has cycled through repeated waves of popularity and neglect. It weathered the pronounced downturn in public interest in folk music during the 1980s and 1990s; a 1987 review noted the membership still exceeded four hundred. In 2014 the organisation marked its sixtieth anniversary with a programme of concerts, new publications, and festival appearances, and by 2020 it was still offering regular bush dances, music and dance workshops, and sessions in Irish traditional music, singing, and poetry across a range of Sydney venues. Its influence radiated well beyond the city. Similar bodies sprang up in other states, including the Victorian Bush Music Club in 1959 and the Queensland Bush Music Club, which also formed the Queensland Federation of Bush Music groups. In its early decades the Sydney club served as a catalyst for bush bands in towns and cities across Australia. It is regarded as the oldest and longest-running folk music performance and education body in the country, and is believed to be the second-oldest such club still active in the English-speaking world.

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