Interviewers and folklorists Rob and Ollie Willis, from Forbes, NSW, have been capturing the stories and soundtrack of Australia for more than 40 years.
Story Amanda Burdon Photo Jeanette Gash
Like many enduring affairs, it all started on the dancefloor for Rob Willis, with Australian folk music and dances handed down from one generation to another. He could see that these aural traditions – including the bush ballads and laments inspired by distant homelands – spoke volumes of Australia’s rich culture, identity and past. And that they were at risk of disappearing.
“So, I got out my trusty tape recorder and started recording them,” Rob says. “Not just the long-forgotten music and songs, but the stories associated with them. And, from there, it sent me down a lot of other rabbit holes, to preserve material from everyday Australians around the country, first for the National Film and Sound Archive and then the National Library of Australia (NLA). I was privileged to spend a lot of time on the track recording with Australia’s pioneer folklore collector and my mentor, John Meredith [1920–2001].”
Today, the collection of oral histories, music and soundscapes that Rob and his wife Olya (Ollie) have assembled runs to 2,780 hours of audio, plus still photography and video, making it Australia’s largest and most diverse repository of its kind. “It embraces bush lore, migrant stories, Indigenous traditions, rural and urban life, occupations, trades and crafts, life histories, social history and much more,” says Dr Graham Seal AM, an emeritus professor of folklore at Curtin University. “Because of its chronological depth, effectively to the late 19th century, its range of topics and its variety of contributors, many of whom would not have otherwise been documented, the collection is already a national treasure.”
This story excerpt is from Issue #157
Outback Magazine: October/November 2024
