If I remember correctly, I came to Khancoban to work on Murray 2 Dam in early 1967 (well, I was ostensibly there as site clerk/paymaster for a specialised engineering contractor: Cementation Co. of UK - but I was also there to investigate a lot of missing scaffolding, &c).
I got involved in photography, around about then, and used to knock off early enough on Saturdays to get in a bit of black & white printing in Albert (?) Mildren's darkroom behind Mildren & Coysh's Engineering works ... then I would get some take-away food ... and saunter off to the dance.
I remember talking with box-player Ian Simpson, who now runs the Nariel Creek Band, and mentioning that I used to see the Nariel Creek Junior Band practicing on someone's verandah as I drove past ... half a dozen kids with one-row Hohner melodions - and one kid with a bass drum! Ian reckoned he must have been one of those ... until we worked out the years involved - and he discovered he would not have been playing yet ... he was a bit too young!
BTW: Have you got a copy of their CD Tickets Please! - lots of classic old Nariel Band dance music. I haven't seen it on sale anywhere - and I had to order it directly from Ian (ringing up fairly late at night, so he wasn't too likely to be out fighting bushfires). If you like, I can PM the text of my review from Mulga Wire (~ December 2002 or February 2003) ... that included details and contact addresses.