Some aspects of the popular arts in Australia, 1880-1915

Abstract

I began the work which led to the writing of this thesis with the intention of studying bush songs: the extent to which they represented the survival and adaptation of the folk song traditions of the British Isles, and - more especially the nature and extent of their relationship to the songs of the urban popular stage. I discovered without surprise that little of value had been written on the history of the popular stage in Australia, and began to pursue my own investigations of the primary sources. These investigations led me to wonder why, after the gold rush days, the Australian popular theatre had produced so few songs on Australian themes.