 THE
BAGMAN'S GAZZETTE: Alan Musgrove
A Collection of Australian
Folksongs
CD Released 2006
The Bagman's Gazzette comes complete
with a superb set of notes. Here is one example:
The Capture of the Kelly Gang
Learnt from the Bennetts of Gunnedah, NSW. Rob
Willis writes in Verandah Music (Fremantle
Arts Centre Press 2003) that the Bennett brothers,
Jim (1881-1978) and George (1878-1966) were bushmen
in the Gunnedah area who played Anglo concertinas
and sang. Jim was a shearer, George was a timber
worker, and both brothers played music for local
dances. George also, for a time, worked at the
Gunnedah coalmine where he had an accident which
cost him a leg. His nephew, Evan Palmer remembers
him making his own wooden legs. The song tells,
in some detail, the story of the Kelly Gang's
last showdown with the police in Glenrowan, Victoria
in 1880. The tune sung by the Bennetts is practically
the same as that collected by John Meredith from
Galdys Scrivener in 1956. Mrs Scrivener's version
consisted of only four verses whereas the Bennetts'
runs to sixteen. Their text, with a few variations,
is the same as that printed in Six Authentic
Songs From the Kelly Country (Sydney Bush
Music Club 1955) as Ye Sons of Australia.
The source is given as Mr J. K. Moir of Melbourne
and was first published by The Bulletin in the
series Old Bush Songs in the early 1900s.
This is the probable source of the Bennett text.
Alan Musgrove: Vocals, Guitar, 5-string
banjo, Dobro, Mandolin
Bob McInnes: Fiddle
Jim Moir: Button Accordion
Stuart Leslie: Anglo Concertina
Michael Fox: Harmonica
Anthony McGloin: Tenor Banjo
Julia Arnold: Double Bass
 
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