Conferences

2026 Australian Folklore  Network Conference

Following on from 2025's successful conference, we plan to run another in 2026. We expect it to be held at Canberra's Exhibition Park on Thursday 2 April, in association with the National Folk Festival held over Easter (2-6 April).  The conference is free.  We will be asking attendees to register, so we know the numbers to expect. When registrations open, those on our mailing list will be informed.

If you would like to have a presentation considered please send the following details to ausfolklore@gmail.com

Your Name and brief biography
Title of presentation
Summary of your presentation (presentations run for thirty minutes, including any questions/comments)

Previous conferences

The AFN conferences evolved from forums at the National Folk Festival and the National Library of Australia 2002-2003, with the first conference (called a ‘forum’) held at the NLA in 2004.

This section lists and provides links to details, and, where available, papers, Powerpoints and videos from previous conferences.

This historical collection is incomplete, so if you have any of the missing material, please contact  us at ausfolklore@gmail.com

2025 conference (17 April 2025)

Program: Summary of papers and presenter bio's

• O. Sheets: The Kermiss Conman — Erica Nielsen Okamura  Video    Powerpoint & script

• Artivism, Craftivism and Those Naughty Knitting Nannas  — Rob & Olya Willis

• Snow, Fire and Gold – the story of Bill Spargo and Evelyn Piper’s Life in the Australian Mountains  — Stephen Whiteside  Video    The Book

• Digging for Gold in the Trove Archive — Daniel Kelly  Video    Powerpoint

• The Only Australian folktale – and it’s Irish! — Jo Henwood  Video    Paper  Powerpoint  Elements of the Tale  Bibliography

• Islands in a River: the Political Genealogy of two Australian ballads — Bob Fagan  Video  Powerpoint

2024 conference (28 March 2024)

Program: Summary of papers and presenter bio's

• Historic Sources and Some Irish Music in Australia — Kevin Bradley

• Goodness, Gracious! Australia’s Hidden Connection to the Origins of the Educational Folk Dance Movement for Schools & Playgrounds — Erica Nielsen Okamura   Paper    Powerpoint    Video of songs performed    eBook: Grace McMillan & Swedish Recreative Exercises

• Dancing in Fetters: A Successful Museum Tour — Heather Blasdale Clarke

• The Man, the Woman & the Edison Phonograph: Folklore Collecting, Race, Technology and Song — Bruce Watson  Paper    Video of webinar on same topic

2023 conference (6 April 2023)

Program: Summary of papers and presenter bio's

• Searching for Ron Edwards — Keith McKenry

• A Factory Lad: The Songs of Colin Dryden — Daniel Kelly

• Giving Birth to ‘Waltzing Matilda’: A Forensic Analysis — W. Benjamin Lindner   Video   Paper

• Frances Freeman and the Forgotten Fulbrights of 1953 - Emily Gallagher

• The Pandemic Play Project: documenting kids' culture during COVID-19 — Ruth Hazleton & Judy McKinty

No conference in 2020, 2021 & 2022

2019 conference (18 April 2019)

Program: Summary of papers and presenter bio's 

2018 conference (29 March 2018)

Program: Summary of papers and presenter bio's

• The Jig Doll in Australian Folklore — Tony Smith  Paper

2017 conference (13 April 2017)

Program: Summary of papers and presenter bio's 

• Percy French Painting, Performance and Paddywhackery? — Gene Smith Paper

2016 conference (24 March 2016)

Program: Summary of papers and presenter bio's

• The Collector and the Songwriter: The interaction of tradition and creativity — Bruce Watson  Paper

• I Didn't Raise My Son to be A Soldier — Tony Smith - Paper

• The Early Days of the Bush Music Club as illustrated by Singabout - the Journal of Australian Folksong, 1956 to 1967 — Sandra Nixon. Paper

2015 conference (2 April 2015)

Program: Summary of papers and presenter bio's 

• I'm not a Toff, Just a Girl From the Bush — Peter Ellis  Paper

2014 conference (17 April 2014)

Program: Summary of papers and presenter bio's 

• Meeting the Very Friendly Giant: The American Folklore Society Conference, 2014 — Jeanette Mollenhauer Paper

• Click Go the Shears and the 1891 Shearers' Strike — Mark Gregory Paper

• We Were on the Cornwallis: An Exercise in Tracing the Provenance of Folk Tunes— Tony Smith Paper

2013 conference (28 March 2013)

Program: Summary of papers and presenter bio's

2012 conference (5 April 2012)

Program: Summary of papers and presenter bio's

• Cold Comfort: music and community in Antarctica — Bruce Watson  Paper

2011 conference (21 April 2011)

Program: Summary of papers and presenter bio's 

2010 conference (1 April 2010)

Program: Summary of papers and presenter bio's 

• Mr Vassillisis's Taksim — Peter Parkhill  Paper

• That Face on the Bar Room Floor: Kenny Goldstein and the Collection of Recitations in Australia — Hugh Anderson  Paper

2009 conference (9 April 2009)

Program: Summary of papers and presenter bio's 

• Substance and Style in Electronic Recording of Australian Children — Gwenda Beed Davey  Paper

• Collecting Children's Folklore — June Factor  Paper

• Click Go the Shears: The Making of an Australian Icon — Keith McKenry  Paper

• Indigenising the Documentation of Musical Cultural Practices: Torres Strait Islander Community CDs/DVDs — Karl Neuenfeldt  Paper

2008 conference (20 March 2008)

Program: Summary of papers and presenter bio's  

• String Games in Australia — Judy McKinty   Paper

• Dog's Eye: The Meat Pie in Australian Tradition — Robert Smith  Paper

• The Creation of Waltzing Matilda — Dennis O'Keeffe  Paper

• Roast Pork the Bill Lang: Rhyming Slang in Australian Folk Speech — Graham Seal  Paper

2007 conference (5 April 2007)

Program: Summary of papers and presenter bio's  

• Industrial Song and Poetry in Australia: An Introduction — Mark Gregory  Paper

• Leaving Makes Me Sorrowful: Songs of Early Scots Gaelic Migrants to Australia’— Ruth Lee Martin  Paper

2006 conference (13 April 2006)

Program: Summary of papers and presenter bio's  

• Australian Folk Music From Kitchen To Concert — Graeme Smith  Paper

• Where Did That Tune Come From?: Transmission of traditional music and song in Contemporary Australia — Ruth Hazleton  Paper

2005 conference (25 March 2005)

• Keep Him My Heart: Returning Music and Sense of Place to Top End Communities — Jeff Corfield  Paper

• Sydney: Brash, Bold and Beautiful: The Sydney Folklore Project — Warren Fahey  Paper

1st AFN Forum & Conference Programs and reviews from 2005-2011