Australian folklore refers to the folklore and urban legends that have evolved in Australia from Aboriginal Australian myths to colonial and contemporary folklore including people, places and events, that have played part in shaping the culture, image and traditions that are seen in contemporary Old Australia.

Definitions

Folklore:

1.      The traditional beliefs, myths, tales, and practices of a people, transmitted orally.

2.      The comparative study of folk knowledge and culture.

3.      A body of widely accepted but usually specious notions about a place, a group, or an institution.[1]

Intangible culture:

Traditions or living expressions inherited from our ancestors and passed on to our descendants, such as oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts.[2]

Traditional cultural expressions (TCEs or TECs), also called 'expressions of folklore':

may include music, dance, art, designs, names, signs and symbols, performances, ceremonies, architectural forms, handicrafts and narratives, or many other artistic or cultural expressions.[3]

Collections of Australian Folklore

Australian folklore is preserved as part of The Australian Register Unesco Memory of the World Program [4] and the Oral History and Folklore collection of the National Library of Australia.[5]

Playlore

Australian Children’s Folklore Collection in Museum Victoria, coordinated by Dr June Factor and Dr Gwenda Davey.[6][7]

Music

John Meredith Folklore Collection 1953-1994, held in the National Library of Australia.[8]

Rob and Olya Willis Folklore collection. [9]

O'Connor Collection.[10]

Scott Collection. [11]

Australian Traditional Music Archive.[12]

Australian Folk Songs [13]

Dance

Various books on folk dancing in Australia [14] [15]

Spoken word

Warren Fahey Collection.[16]

Australian Fairy Tale Society [17]

History of Australian folklore collection

1905 Old Bush Songs by Banjo Paterson

1952 Bush Music Club (Sydney)

1953 Victorian Folk Lore Society

1958 The Australian Legend by Russel Ward

1963-1975 Australian Tradition magazine edited by Wendy Lowenstein

1964 Folklore Council of Australia

1964 Who Wrote the Ballads? by John Manifold

1967 Folk Songs of Australia and the men and women who sang them by John Meredith

1969 Folklore of the Australian Railwaymen by Patsy Adam-Smith

1974-1996 Australian Folk Trust

1974 Take Your Partners by Shirley Andrews

1979 Australian Folklore Society

1987 A Dictionary of Australian Folklore: Lore, Legends, Myths and Traditions by Bill Wannan

1987 Folklife: Our Living Heritage report proposed the establishment of a National Folklife Centre. The Centre would ‘provide national focus for action to record, safeguard and promote awareness of Australia’s heritage of folklife’. None of the 51 recommendations were implemented.[19]

1987-2018 Australian Folklore journal

1993 The Oxford Companion to Australian Folklore edited by Graham Seal and Gwenda Bede Davey.

2002 Australian Folklore Network established by Professor Graham Seal

Ongoing research into Australian folklore

Universities teaching intangible culture –

The Australian Folklore Network holds an annual conference, the day before the National Folk Festival in Canberra each Easter.

The National Library of Australia sponsors an annual National Folk Fellowship.[22]

Australian Aboriginal mythology

Main article: Australian Aboriginal mythology

Bunyip (1935), artist unknown, from the National Library of Australia

Animals and creatures

Red Dog statue.

Historical events

A parade of tired-looking soldiers in a jungle setting
Soldiers of the 39th Battalion in 1942

Art, film, music and literature

Foo was here graffiti figure

People

John Batman
Don Bradman
Ned Kelly
Peter Lalor
John Longstaff's portrait of Banjo Paterson

Places and structures

Pine Gap in The Northern Territory
Port Arthur Penitentiary
The Opera House, backed by the Sydney Harbour Bridge, seen from the eastern Botanic Gardens

Socio-political events

Eureka Stockade battle by J. B. Henderson

Sport

Portrayal of Phar Lap winning the 1930 Melbourne Cup, from the 1983 movie "Phar Lap"

Other

A selection of Australia's big things
The Marree Man
Photograph of a swagman, 1901

Further reading

Davey, Gwenda Beed and Graham Seal (eds), The Oxford Companion to Australian Folklore, OUP, 1993.

Samuels, Brian. ‘The Australian Folk Revival: an historical chronology’, pp. 290ff. Antipodean Traditions: Australian Folklore in the Twenty-First Century edited by Graham Seal and Jennifer Gall. Black Swan Press, 2011.

Smith, Graeme. Singing Australian: A History of Folk and Country Music, Pluto Press, 2005.

See also

References

  1. ^ "folk-lore". The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  2. ^ "What is Intangible Cultural Heritage?". UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.
  3. ^ "Traditional Cultural Expressions". WIPO World Intellectual Property Organization. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  4. ^ Russell, Roslyn (2015). "The Australian Register Unesco Memory of the World Program". The Australian Register Unesco Memory of the World Program.
  5. ^ "Oral history and folklore". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  6. ^ "Australian Children's Folklore Collection". The Australian Register UNESCO MEMORY OF THE WORLD PROGRAM. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  7. ^ McFadzean, Moya (2004). "Australian Children's Folklore Collection (ACFC)". Museums Victoria.
  8. ^ "John Meredith Folklore Collection 1953-1994". The Australian Register UNESCO MEMORY OF THE WORLD PROGRAM. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  9. ^ Robinson, Shirleene (15 April 2020). "All Things Folk at the National Library". National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "O'Connor Collection". National Library of Australia. 2008.
  11. ^ "Scott Collection". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  12. ^ "Australian Traditional Music Archive". Bush Traditions. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  13. ^ "Australian Folk Songs". Australian Folk Songs. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  14. ^ "Books". Australian Folk Music. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  15. ^ "Colonial dance collections". Australian Historical Dance. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  16. ^ Fahey, Warren (2024). "The Collection". Warren Fahey.
  17. ^ Henwood, Jo (2022). "Database of Australian fairy tales". Australian Fairy Tale Society.
  18. ^ Seal, Graham (29 March 2018). "Fifty years of folk and lore presented by Graham Seal at the 13th National Folklore Conference held at the National Library of Australia". National Library of Australia.
  19. ^ Gallagher, Emily (20 December 2018). "What the folk? Whatever happened to Australia's national folklife centre?". The Conversation.
  20. ^ "Australian Folklore Research Unit". Curtin University. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  21. ^ "AIM709 - Intangible Cultural Heritage". Deakin University. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  22. ^ "National Folk Fellowship". National Library of Australia. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  23. ^ "Reference at www.nma.gov.au" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 November 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
  24. ^ "Reference at www.gympietimes.com.au".
  25. ^ "Big cat sightings and theories - smh.com.au". Archived from the original on 13 November 2007.
  26. ^ "Explore Red Dog's Pilbara | Australia's North West".
  27. ^ "Scientists Are Resuming Search for the Extinct Tasmanian Tiger | Observer". The New York Observer. 5 April 2017.
  28. ^ "James Porter and the capture of the Frederick - Hindsight - ABC Radio National (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 11 February 2009.
  29. ^ Reference at dspace.flinders.edu.au. National Library of Australia. 1989.
  30. ^ "Homepage – Waltzing Matilda Centre".
  31. ^ "Benjamin Hall and the Outlawed Bushrangers". Australian Government Culture and Recreation Portal. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  32. ^ "Family seeks justice for Bold Ben's demise" Archived 10 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine, – Meacham, Steve, The Age, 31 March 2007
  33. ^ "A dingo took baby Azaria Chamberlain: the case that shattered faith in the jury system". 13 January 2017.
  34. ^ Ey, Carol (4 December 2012). "Social security payments for the unemployed, the sick and those in special circumstances, 1942 to 2012: a chronology". Retrieved 19 January 2019.
  35. ^ "Reconciliation Australia" (PDF). 3 June 2020.
  36. ^ "Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies". 15 September 2021.
  37. ^ "Sydney Games: a lasting legacy? - ABC News". ABC News. 14 September 2010.
  38. ^ Whateley, Gerard (29 March 2013). "Geelong Cats got your tongue? No, but they've got your measure". News.com.au.
  39. ^ "Egyptologist debunks new claims about 'Gosford glyphs' - ABC News". ABC News. 14 December 2012.
  40. ^ "Jack the Ripper 'lived in Australia'". 13 April 2009.
  41. ^ "Marree Man restored as outback tourist attraction in far north SA". ABC Radio Adelaide. 20 August 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  42. ^ "Reference at www.news.com.au".
  43. ^ "Mystery HMAS Sydney sailor narrowed to one of 50 crew". 3 January 2014.

McKenry, Keith. ‘Origins of the Australian Folk Revival’. Australian Folk Songs. https://folkstream.com/reviews/revival/origin.html

Ryan, John S. 'Australian Follklore Yesterday and Today: Definitions and Practices.' https://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol8/austral.htm

Seal, Graham. Fifty years of folk and lore presented by Graham Seal at the 13th National Folklore Conference held at the National Library of Australia. https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/7754710