The Brush-tailed Phascogale is a beautiful, rat-sized marsupial, threatened by habitat destruction and predation by foxes and feral cats. Males of the species die before reaching one year of age, usually due to stress-related diseases brought on by the frantic mating season. The species can be found in Taradale in Central Victoria where I grew up. The name of the tune recalls a true event.
Composed in 2013.
Melbourne Tune Collection records and publishes original folk tunes and songs from around Australia.
I started this project after realising that I barely knew any Australian folk tunes, even though I’ve been playing the fiddle for almost two decades. It wasn’t that Australians weren’t writing tunes, it’s just that there was limited publishing opportunities for them.
I thought maybe if I collect these tunes and put them together, they would have a better chance of getting played. So in early 2019 I set off with my camera and recorder, first around Melbourne, then across Australia.
This site is the result of these travels. Its purpose is to make Australian folk music as accessible as possible and promote the incredible music that’s being written today. I genuinely believe that there’s something special happening in the Melbourne and Australian folk music scenes right now.
I hope you enjoy playing through these tunes as much as I have!
Katherine Oleinikov
Melbourne Tune Collection 
Leave a comment