G'day Cats,

You raise a good point about "Australian" carols: apart from consciously composed modern carols that set out to place the biblical nativity story into an Australian landscape, rather than a northern European / northern American landscape, liberally littered with the hastily buried remnants of older, pre-christian beliefs and rites - there must be several bodies of "carols from the old country".

Your Cornish miners would be a fine example of the sort of tight-knit group that preserved their old customs in a new country. Another that immediately comes to mind is the "Barossa Deutsch" - the descendants of (~) 1830s religious refugees from the area that is now modern Germany. Within their own community (much of it around that fine wine-growing area of South Australia, the Barossa Valley) I understand that they maintain a large body of old music - mostly religious.

I would assume that includes "carols" - or analogous Christmas songs. I have seen a short video of film coverage of their religious songs by the late Australian folklorist John Meredith. I must ask younger collectors of the Australian "Germanic" traditions, such as Mark Schuster and Maria Zann, whether they have explored that area (in between chasing their real interest in the dance music!).

Regards,

Bob Bolton