As was pointed out earlier, in Oz, Teachers' Colleges played a major part in the formation of folk festivals. From 1967 to 1992 the National was peripatetic between major cities (usually capitals) and the usual venue was some sort of educational institution.

While I've been a teacher for many years I'd have to say my singing/dancing/etc started well before I became a teacher. From earlier posting it's clear there are lots of quite different vocations represented amongst folkies, which reminds me of an event at Nariel in (from memory) 1980.

The local forestry officer got his knickers in a knot about the fact that all these disreputable folkies skinnydipped in the creek; an amendment to the Health Act gave him absolute powers over camping within the metric equivalent of half a mile of any watercourse so he started throwing his weight around. He commented to a very cleancut member of our group (a lawyer in the Army Reserve) that folkies were

"just a mob of unemployed layabout yobbos, and the further up the creek you go the worse they get!"

Well, we were the most upstream group, the ones who kept the locals from swimming in the town's water supply during the festival and were most offended. That evening, around the fire, we did a headcount of the 30 odd campers around our fire. I can't remember them all (there were people from Victoria, Adelaide, Sydney and Canberra) but here's what I can remember.

Victoria's only forensic toxicologist, two solicitors, two accountants, one of Victoria's three permanent school camp directors (me), a couple of nurses, two of the east coast's 20 elctronics technical writers, a few teachers, two physiotherapists; it went on and on like this and the least 'formally qualified' was a skilled cabinet maker. There was very little nonsense talked thereafter about the working class being a dominant force in current folk music.

The Victorian Premier was deluged with mail from all over Australia about this threat to Australia's longest running folk festival (I don't think he knew what had hit him; he wasn't even aware of the festival) and it's still running. But the forestry officer was moved on.

Cheers, Rowan