Tunes and Songs from around Australia

South Australia

Born to Play by Allye Sinclair from Adelaide, SA

Drinking Wine by Xueqian Zhang from Adelaide, SA

NSW

Built Like Us by Felicity Dowd from Bega, NSW

Gabi’s Tune by Kathleen Clarke from Morpeth, NSW

Glasgow Shipbuilder, The by Wayne Millar from Haywards Bay, NSW

Morning at Bamarang by Alison Foley from Albion Park, NSW

Pentatonic Waltz in Summer, A by Marg Sherringham from Coolangatta, NSW

Root, Leaf and Flower by Jo Pall from Wollongong, NSW

ACT

an iolair by Cal Clugston from Canberra, ACT

Flowers and Weeds by Lisa Richardson from Canberra, ACT

Piper’s Welcome to Canberra, The by Henry Ashworth and Philippa Clarke from Canberra, ACT

Illustration by Cameron Hibbs

About Melbourne Tune collection

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

Katherine Oleinikov. Photo © 2022 Adam Purcell – Melbourne Ceili Camera