Folk music and bush music [videos]

Folk music has been described as music which has been passed around by word of mouth, being music which has survived by being embedded in the heart of the people. To this we could add what has been described as “contemporary folk music”, being music of a similar style to traditional folk music. Both of these folk music types have been included herein.

This list mainly consists of traditional home-grown productions, although it also includes two early Australia-related British songs which embedded themselves in the Australia folk music scene, i.e. “(Bound for) Botany Bay” and “(Bound for) South Australia”. Also included are some modern productions, e.g. “Give Me a Home Among the Gum Trees” and “True Blue”.

Songs

Botany Bay (also known as “Bound For Botany Bay”) [videos]
Botany Bay [lyrics]

Clancy of the Overflow [videos]
Clancy of the Overflow [lyrics]

Click Go the Shears [videos]
Click Go the Shears [lyrics]

The Dying Stockman [videos]
Lyrics: 1) The Dying Stockman (Banjo Paterson version, 1905)
2) The Dying Stockman, G. Doyle version (1894)
3) The Dying Stockman, F. Harrison version (1894)

Flash Jack from Gundagai [videos]
Flash Jack from Gundagai [lyrics]

Give Me a Home Among the Gumtrees (also known as “Home Among the Gumtrees”) [videos]
Home Among the Gumtrees [lyrics] (external link)

Kookaburra (also known as “Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree”) (children’s song) [videos]
Kookaburra [lyrics] (external link)

Lime-Juice Tub [videos]
Lime-Juice Tub [lyrics]

The Old Bark Hut [videos]
The Old Bark Hut [lyrics]

The Old Bullock Dray [videos]
Lyrics: 1) The The Old Bullock Dray (Banjo Paterson version, 1905)
2) The Old Bullock Dray (The North Melbourne Advertiser version, 14 March 1890)

A Pub With No Beer [videos]
A Pub With No Beer [lyrics] (external link)

South Australia (also known as “Bound for South Australia”) [videos]
South Australia [lyrics]

True Blue [videos]
True Blue [lyrics] (external link)

Waltzing Matilda [videos]
Waltzing Matilda [lyrics]

The Wild Colonial Boy [videos]
The Wild Colonial Boy [lyrics]

With My Swag All On My Shoulder (also known as “With My Swag Upon My Shoulder”) [videos]
With My Swag All On My Shoulder [lyrics]

See also:
Banjo Paterson (editor), The Old Bush Songs (1905) [1st edition]
Banjo Paterson (editor), Old Bush Songs (1932) [8th edition, which included twenty additional songs]

Singers
[Years given are those of active performing or of prominent activity]

The Bushwackers [folk music band, 1971 to present]

Slim Dusty [country music singer and songwriter, 1956 to 2003]

Marian Henderson [folk music singer, 1960s to 1970s]

Melinda Schneider [country music singer, 1990s to present]

Wallis and Matilda [folk music band, 1980 to present]

[Updated 21 March 2022]