Sobering-up rooms, early hotel morgues, death in colonial australia

SOURCE:Written by Duke Tritton and quoted in his book Time Means Tucker. SITE SOURCE: Bush Life Shearing in the Bar My shearing days are over, though I never was a ‘gun’, I could always count my twenty at the end of every run; I used the old “Trade Union” shears, and the blades were bogging […]

SOURCE:Written by Duke Tritton and quoted in his book Time Means Tucker. SITE SOURCE: Bush Life Shearing in the Bar My shearing days are over, though I never was a ‘gun’, I could always count my twenty at the end of every run; I used the old “Trade Union” shears, and the blades were bogging […]

2004-2005 ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS JOHN DENGATE Collector’s note: John Dengate is well-known in the Australian folk revival however his songs have travelled further than most poets would dream. He is a fascinating character – erudite, passionate and always ready to sing or recite a poem. He talks frankly about his family history, inspiration as a […]

2004-2005 ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS JOHN DENGATE Collector’s note: John Dengate is well-known in the Australian folk revival however his songs have travelled further than most poets would dream. He is a fascinating character – erudite, passionate and always ready to sing or recite a poem. He talks frankly about his family history, inspiration as a […]

Lambing Down   Duke Tritton sings ‘The Gooseneck Spurs’. Meredith Collection NLA. This is a classic lambing down song where the besozzled bushman discovers all his personal belongings, including his horse, bridle and dog, have ‘jumped the bar’ – in other words, have gone to pay for his endless drinking spree. It was a familiar […]

CLASSIC BUSH VERSE – HARD YAKKA Shearing in the Bar H P DUKE TRITTON ‘Duke’ Tritton was a bushman, shearer and boxing champ. He was of the ‘old school’ and he loved poems and songs that told the Australian story. Tritton was the man who, in the 1950s, recalled the long-lost words and tune to […]

SHEARING The following bush ballad is a wonderful journey through the life of an old time shearer. Duke Tritton shore in many of these sheds and is the person who carried the words of the anonymous bush song ‘Goorianawa’ into the mid-1950s.   Shearing in the Bar Written by Duke Tritton View Words   This […]

KEY PLAYERS ON THE SYDNEY COFFEE LOUNGE SCENE   Malcolm J. Turnbull   PART 2         DON HENDERSON (1937 – 1991), who bought a guitar after hearing recordings of blues singers like Blind Lemon Jefferson and Josh White and spent some time playing  with a Melbourne rock’n’roll ensemble called the Thunderbirds, had recently […]