Victorian Folk Music Club inc
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It seems that most people's memories of the past are not very sharp when required to go back some 35 years, so I have had to piece it together from many somewhat vague recollections and a few snippets of written records. The reel-to-reel tapes of the first recordings made of the Nariel musicians were finally obtained by the National Library in Canberra a few years ago, but unfortunately, without the excellent notes made by the late Maryjean Officer. So far, her family has not been able to trace these.
We have to thank Dr Edgar Waters and Kevin Bradley who, by their dogged persistence over a long period, finally persuaded Norm O'Connor to sell the tapes which recorded the Nariel musicians to the National Library. These recordings had been made in the name of the FolkLore Society of Victoria. Norm owned the tape recorder and, I believe, paid for the actual tapes used, but it had always been intended that this material would be placed in one of our major libraries. The Society became much less active in the late 1960s, and this didn't happen for many years.
Starting during the 1950s, a group of members of the FolkLore Society of Victoria spent much of their free time at weekends and holidays collecting music, mainly songs, from traditional singers and musicians. A notice in the newsletter of the Folklore Society in December, 1961 stated that 'The Society has planned a collecting trip to Dargo, Omeo and the upper Murray after Christmas.' It was reported later that they also visited Benambra and there recorded songs from two very good singers, Alf Dyer and his son Max. Alf Dyer had been a bullocky and Max a shearer, so they were also a good source of interesting stories. The Dyers told them that they should 'go up over the Gibb' (by way of a very rough road over the Gibb Range) to the Nariel Valley and the nearby town of Corryong where there was a wonderful group of musicians who played very good music for the local dances.
Official site of the Victorian Folk Music Club Incorporated (Reg No A2511Y)