Phil Garland: INHERITORS OF A DREAM

INHERITORS OF A DREAM -
The Development of A New Zealand Folk Music Heritage

Phil Garland

ARTICLE | SONG REFERENCES | BIBLIOGRAPHY | INTERVIEW | SONGS

removing the first fatalities - Weekly Press, 16.4.1896, pg 17

Coal mining

Coal took over from gold on the West Coast and it was during that time the country's worst mining disaster occurred at the Brunner Mine 21 March 1896. All 85 miners working below the ground perished and they are buried in a mass grave not far from the site, which is still visible today. The tragedy gave rise to a song “Down In The Brunner Mine.”

“They work in the heat and the coal black dust,
Sticks to the skin like a burned pie-crust,
We curse each day that the miner must,
Go down in the Brunner Mine….”

“A Sound that'll creep through the miner's soul,
Is the shake and rattle and down she'll roll,
A hundred feet of rubble and coal,
Down in the Brunner Mine.”

Swaggers

portrait of Henry Lawson by Sir David Low

Swaggers continued to dominate the New Zealand landscape and this is probably the most influential period in the growth of our folk heritage. This was due in no small way to the advent of Australian shearers, who arrived primarily to work the high country station runs on contract basis, exposing the locals to their songs and the poetry of Banjo Paterson and Henry Lawson. These writers provided inspiration to the many rhymsters and balladists of the day, so much so that Lawson's influence can still be seen today, particularly in the work of Naseby poet, Ross McMillan.

The man most affected by all this was David McKee Wright, who has been called New Zealand's 'Outdoor Laureate' on more then one occasion. His ballads capture the mood and sentiment of the times as they were taken up by farm labourer and swagger alike, to be recited around camp-fires from one end of the country to the other.

“There's a sound of many voices in the camp and on the track,
And letters coming up in shoals to stations at the back.
And every boat that crosses from the sunny other side,
Is bringing waves of shearers for the swelling of the tide.”

“For the shearing's coming round boys, the shearing's coming round,
And the stations of the mountains have begun to hear the sound.”

This is but one of many extremely fine songs emanating from a very productive era and unfortunately time and space precludes me from mentioning them all here.