message from Anne Infante, of Brisbane :

" The Moreton Bay Folk Festival, i.e. the Third National Folk Festival, was held in Brisbane, mainly in and around the University of Queensland, over Easter 1969. It (arguably) represented the peak of folk music activity in Queensland during the period under review, bringing together members of the BFC, the University Folk Club, North Queensland performers and enthusiasts, and local freelancers. Harry Robertson chaired the Festival committee, Don Henderson hosted the focal Saturday evening concert at the Brisbane Town Hall, and students Andy Kruger, Phil Cook, Lyn Mathieson and Chris Nicholson provided publicity and general organisational services. Festival programmer Evan Mathieson was adamant that the festival aim for "hands-on open interaction and exchange of material and techniques, rather than theoretical pontifications of 'experts' from their 'ivory towers'". Workshop leaders included John Manifold (demonstrating and describing bush instruments), Brad Tate (leading a workshop on bawdy songs), Declan Affley (on ballads), Bill Scott and Dave de Hugard on bush yarns and Australian traditional music respectively, Glen Foster (on bluegrass) and Danny Spooner (on sea shanties). Noting the large number of interstate participants - mainly from other university campuses (100 from Sydney, 60 from Melbourne, 25 from Newcastle, 6 New Zealanders, and various sized groups from Wollongong, Armadale, Canberra and Hobart), Australian Tradition [Aug 1969] echoed a general sentiment in declaring Moreton Bay the most successful national event to date - both musically and financially: "Brisbane 1969 will be remembered as the festival which achieved a truly national status". Evan Mathieson recalls that "the concluding session in the Royal Exchange beer garden took good care of the fiscal surplus whilst the roof was raised by the surges of instruments and voices in song". [Folk Rag, Aug 1997] "

Cheers, R-J