Australian Folk Music

Australian folk music covers the ballad and revival traditions of Australia, from the convict and bush songs of the colonial period to the politically engaged folk rock of the revival. Its core repertoire, songs such as "Waltzing Matilda" and "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda", is carried by voice, guitar, fiddle, accordion, harmonica and the lagerphone, with texts chronicling shearers, drovers, bushrangers, wars and industrial disputes. Performers from *The Bushwackers* and *Redgum* to *Archie Roach* and *Kev Carmody* extended the tradition to Indigenous dispossession and modern protest.