Australia's oldest folk club, the Bush Music Club is counting down to it's 60th birthday.

extract from Bush Music Club Inc - History The club was founded in 1954 by a mob of mostly bush types that found the jobs had all moved to the city. They missed the friendly, informal social life they remembered from the country towns where they grew up.

They formed a band, which they called the Heathcote Bushwhackers, sang some of the old songs, and played such simple instruments as the squeezebox (button accordion) and whistle. As a group they became involved with the New Theatre, supplying the musical side of Dick Diamond's new Australian musical play Reedy River.

Musically inclined theatricals joined the band (now just called the Bushwhackers) and membership rose to seven. The band now played accordion, guitar, banjo, mouth organ, tin whistle and those distinctive home-made instruments; bush bass, bones and particularly the lagerphone - which the Bushwhackers first introduced to the public.

When more and more people wanted to join the band they decided to form a social, teaching club, founded at a meeting on 14th October 1954, and called the Bush Music Club in honour of the survival in bush areas of that style of self reliant entertainment and sociability that seemed so scarce in the "big smoke". More history on History pages

BMC photo website

We were wondering about other clubs around the world of a similar age - maybe we can celebrate together!

Tell us something about your long-lived club.

sandra (BMC secretary)

Ozcatters who are BMC members -
Bob Bolton (Vice Pres & editor)
Allen in Oz
Bodgie