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2023 Obit: Vale Chris Sullivan (folklorist - Oz)

30 Jun 23 - 06:20 AM (#4175848)
Subject: Obit: Chris Sullivan
From: Waddon Pete

Guest Tony in Darwin passed on the news that Chris Sullivan had died recently. During his lifetime he collected Australian folk music, folk-songs and stories, particularly in rural areas. He also played and promoted traditional Australian music and songs. It sounds like he has a lot to share with the folk world, but I have no more information on him at present. Rest in Peace Chris.

30 Jun 23 - 07:01 AM (#4175849)
Subject: RE: Obit: Chris Sullivan
From: GUEST,Malcolm Storey

I usually do not respond to Obit notices but feel moved to add my personal recollections of Chris.

A truly remarkable character and a sad loss.

Chris was a straight talking person with a difficult relationship with the academia which seems to control the collection of material in Oz.

He had/has some truly amazing stuff, a lot of it gathered from the indigenous population.

I feel privileged to have met and spent proper time with the man both at events and in his home.

Hopefully his archive will be properly preserved and safeguarded.

30 Jun 23 - 10:49 AM (#4175867)
Subject: RE: Obit: Chris Sullivan
From: Stilly River Sage

Vale Chris Sullivan obituary from Folk Federation of NSW, dated June 17, 2023.
Our folk community was saddened this week to hear of the passing of Chris Sullivan, one of Australia’s most prolific and influential folklore collectors. I had an opportunity in 2016 when I was Director of the National Folk Festival to work with Chris when he was awarded the prestigious National Folk Fellowship. Chris had been collecting and documenting Australia’s folk music since the late 1970s and, while I certainly knew of him and his work, it wasn’t until my involvement with him during his Folk Fellowship that I gained a greater insight into the man and the scope and importance of his work.

Chris Sullivan was part of a new generation of folklorists following on from early pre-sound recording era practitioners such as A B Paterson and Stewart and Keesing and the pioneer fieldworkers of the 1950s and 60s. Based in northern NSW the major focus of Chris’s work was on rural Australia and indigenous traditions. At the time of his Folk Fellowship Chris was a PhD research scholar at Southern Cross University working on his thesis, "The Case for an Australian Folk Music Tradition".

A passionate advocate for greater recognition of Australia’s rich folk music traditions Chris’s Folk Fellowship titled "The good old concertina: Australia’s national instrument", focused on the repertoire and playing styles of the concertina which Chris described as, "the guitar of the 19th century and the period up to the 1950s, but especially before the First World War."

Chris Sullivan’s legacy includes major research collections in The National Library of Australia, The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, and The National Film and Sound Archive. He was also a Member of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies.

No doubt others who knew Chris better than I will write more extensively about and celebrate his life over the coming days and weeks. Our champions of Australian folklore and music are growing ever thinner on the ground and we are the richer for the work carried out over 40 plus years by Chris.

Vale Chris Sullivan

Below are some links to Chris’s work:

Listen to Chris’s Folk Fellowship presentation, The good old concertina : Australia’s national instrument.

The Chris Sullivan collection held by the NLA consists of 758 items and some 344 hours of recordings relating to Australian folk music. Chris Sullivan Collection NLA


(The links from the obit are included here, though I don't know if they work worldwide.)

And an article from The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) in 2016.

The pioneering folk fan who resurrected a lost Australian legacy.

11 Sep 23 - 07:08 AM (#4181311)
Subject: RE: 2023 Obit: Vale Chris Sullivan (folklorist - Oz)
From: GUEST

Thanks for the info.

18 Sep 23 - 02:36 AM (#4181867)
Subject: RE: 2023 Obit: Vale Chris Sullivan (folklorist - Oz)
From: GUEST,Dave Hanson

What does ' vale ' mean ?

Dave H

18 Sep 23 - 04:11 AM (#4181868)
Subject: RE: 2023 Obit: Vale Chris Sullivan (folklorist - Oz)
From: Hagman

Latin for "Goodbye"....

18 Sep 23 - 10:01 PM (#4181921)
Subject: RE: 2023 Obit: Vale Chris Sullivan (folklorist - Oz)
From: GerryM

Pronounced with two syllables, VAH-lay.

20 Sep 23 - 03:54 AM (#4182047)
Subject: RE: 2023 Obit: Vale Chris Sullivan (folklorist - Oz)
From: GUEST,Dave Hanson

Thanks Hagman and Gerry M

Dave H