36th Numeralla Folk Festival

Australia Day long weekend, January 22nd - 25th 2010

'The little festival with the big heart' -highlights are the Bush Dances on Saturday and Sunday night and Sunday afternoon's  Blackboard Concert. Web Site. Program.

Bundanoon Bush Dancing Weekend

Queen's Birthday Long Weekend June 11th - 14th 2010

Well how could we do anything else but make sure that this event is repeated in 2010. So write it into your calendar. Accommodation options have been expanded to include the Bundanoon YHA (the whole hostel has been reserved for us) and the Bundanoon Pony Club will make their camping facilities available (with their newly built amenities).

Confirmed callers so far:
Don Richmond, Paul Carr, Tony Northey, Julie Bishop,...... More soon.

Keen musicians so far:
Alex Bishop.....

Goulburn Gathering 2009

Labour Day Long Weekend October 2nd - 5th 2009

What a beauty!
Dave de Hugard with his inimitable laconic style - truly a national treasure,
Lyell Sayer powered into the bush songs and his own beaut topical compositions,
Alan Musgrove gave us some delightful fiddle tunes with Tom Walsh and then some more from Frank Forde,
Peter Ellis - his knowledge of traditional Australian social dancing is unsurpassed and he plays his concertina with great dance drive,
Margaret Walters as always a mainstay of the weekend singing and with Christina Mimmocchi aired some fine songs about women in Australia,
John Warner - a powerful singer and a powerful songwriter and with Jenny Cole gave some great songs about living in the country,
Harry Gardner's puppetry presentation of Waltzing Matilda was just incredible,
Sally Leslie's dance calling coupled with Stuart Leslie's concertina made a great combination for workshop and dance,
Carole Helmann again put forward her wonderful concertina style,
Bill Montgomery played his heart out in sessions and even led a tune or two,
Yvonne and Kath O'Grady both good value in sessions and dance bands,
Stuart Simms gave the dance music the traditional thump (especially in the minor keys),
Gary Lovejoy showing his unique concertina style that embraces that of Clem O'Neal,
Jim Moir ably played for Sandra Martens' stylish quadrille workshop,
Alan Swift - well researched and presented family hisotory with song,
Toby Eccles raised the bar with a well-researched treatise on marchen (fairy stories) in Australia and their overseas counterparts,
Helen and Tony Romeo threw themselves into enjoying themselves in sessions and singalongs,
Keith Brown, Peter McLaren, Peter Perry, Marilyn Buckley and Ian Baxter led a singalong session and enjoyed all the other sessions too,
Sandra Nixon took the money with such a lovely smile it didn't hurt and she kept singing sessions flowing without resort to a whip,
as well as organisers Dave Johnson and Ray Mulligan, who both just enjoyed a very special weekend with friends sharing the unique Australian culture we love.

It isn't about numbers but this year just over 120 enjoyed the Gathering despite the rather dampened camping conditions.

Huge thanks to Michael and Den who kept us in prog and grog all weekend and made us welcome at Bradley Grange for our fourth Gathering.

If you missed it the programme is here, so you can read it and make a point of coming next year!

Some Feedback

G’day Ray and Dave
Thank you both for your great effort and congratulations on running a most enjoyable weekend. I am eagerly looking forward to the next one.
John Harpley

Dear Ray and Dave,
Thanks yet again for all your efforts towards a great Bush Traditions gathering.  It was fun sharing music and dance with all those folk.
Carole Helman

Bundanoon Bush Dancing Weekend

Queen's Birthday Long Weekend June 5th - 8th 2009

For those who missed this first Bundanoon weekend, the programme featured Bush Dancing from Colonial time to the Present and there was a wide variety of other dance styles including Irish, Scottish, English, Contra, European, Ballroom, and Morris. With two concurrent workshops (three on Saturday afternoon) there was ample variety and challenge for all comers. The evening dances in the Bundanoon Hall featured dances from the workshops.

Volunteer musicians from Canberra, Sydney, Illawarra, and Goulburn made the "totally live music" objective possible. Their contribution to the success of the weekend is appreciated.

Photos from the weekend can be seen and added to here.

The Programme, the information about the Callers and the Music Sets are still available.

The Feedback

The 2008 Gathering

What a weekend! It actually rained in Goulburn! But spirits were not dampened, and with onsite camping and forty hardy campers, the Gathering had a convivial community atmosphere. Music, song and dance were celebrated with gusto and finesse.

A huge thanks to:
Dave de Hugard, Peter Ellis, Carole Helman, Alan Musgrove, Gary Lovejoy, Sue and Pete McMahon, Martin Chatfield, Harry Gardiner, Richard Ayling, Denise Hibbs, Margaret Walters, Chris Woodland, Ross West, Sally and Stuart Leslie, Helen and Tony Romeo, Sandra Nixon, Alan Johnson, as well as organisers Ray Mulligan, Dave Johnson, Don Brian and Bill Arnett.

Some Feedback:

• Many thanks to your good selves and all others who put in the hard yards to make a great weekend. The sense of community - no 'celebrities'  - no egos - plenty of sharing - all made it a unique 'gathering'. Well done ! Rob Willis
• Thanks for a great weekend. Stuart and Sally Leslie
• Just a short note to say thank you to you and the other organisers of the "Bush Traditions Gathering", it was great. Bob Murray 
• Hi, another good festival. Thought it might even have been a bit better than last one. Bill Montgomery
• A great time was had by all here.  Many thanks for including us.  Would love to do it all again. Yvonne O’Grady
• Had a fantastic time at Goulburn, well done to all the organizers. Martin Chatfield
• What a great weekend of friendship and wonderful music, thanks so much for
  the organising such a " little gem" of a Festival. We will be back again next
  year. Barbara and Lance Court
• I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed the bush gathering at Goulburn.  Thanks so much for inviting me to do the workshops. It’s definitely a special experience sharing music, song and dance like that. I know you did huge amounts of work to make it all happen, and I very much appreciate your efforts.  It was especially good to be able to camp on site. Carole Helman.  
• Linda and I both enjoyed the weekend. The on-site camping was much better than being off-site. We both felt more part of things than last year - coming back may have contributed but being on site was a big part of it. Alan and Linda Swift

Information Needed
Make sure your regular local music session is listed on the free listing under Resources. Send details to Dave Johnson.
NB: Any email addresses shown on this site are protected from spam harvesters.

Music for Bundanoon
The dots for some of the Workshops and Dances are up. Click here!

Music for the NFF Tea Dance
The music sets for those who want to join in at the National are available now. The tunes are mostly derived from the booklets from the NFF Australian Music Sessions.
Click here.

Music for the NFF Fiddle Orchestra
The draft sets for those who want to join National Fiddle Orchestra are available here.

Anglo Concertina Tutor
A set of bush tunes arranged with fingering and all for Anglo Concertina players.
Click here to see it

Folkus
For community, live performance & folk music in the ACT.
Check it out.

Kelly Homestead
Ray and Dave recently visited the Kelly Homestead at Greta.

Website
This website is maintained and developed by David Johnson.
Suggestions for inclusion welcome