July 2007: Tom Walsh (Vol.3 No.7)
Interview recorded by S.Kenan on 13/05/07

The prospectors living in large mining camps around Victoria's gold fields in the 1860's needed to be fed and Tom Walsh's forbears were one group of many Irish immigrants who set up potato farms to supply this need. Railway Farm lies just outside the small town of Trentham alongside the old railway track, and has been the home to generations of the Walsh family. Tom recently turned eighty and he still farms the land. Fiddle playing has been in the Walsh family for as long as Tom can remember and today his children keep the tradition going. Caroline, Dennis and Matt play the fiddle, Pat plays concertina and Madeline is a tin-whistle player.

I visited Tom at Railway Farm on 13/5/07 and after picked up a bag of Tom's potatoes from the stall at the front of the property, Tom's wife Mary greeted me as I arrived . I entered through the back door of the house, the front door isn't used at all. Tom was sitting in front of the fire, set in an enormous open fireplace with the old crane mechanism still in place. The crane allows pots to be suspended on hooks which are then swung into place on top of the flames. The walls are lined with old photos of the Walsh ancestors and Mary brought us in a pot of tea with china cups and homemade biscuits. Tom had his fiddle by his side. There was no television or computer in sight and I felt I was in a comfortable, friendly warm space. Tom had written the following piece to accompany the interview for this issue of the Fiddle News.

Thinking About the Fiddle by Tom Walsh.

My grandfather had an old fiddle, And couldn't he make the melodies flow, And often my cradle was rocked to the tune of Rollicking 'Rosin the Beau'.” So goes that old song; well my grandfather did play the fiddle but I hardly remember it much as he died when I was just seven years old, but I heard a lot about him from my grandmother, as he was my maternal grandfather. My mother played the piano and button accordian and at times when playing would recall another of her father's tunes. He obviously had an extensive repertoire. I learned them from her in my earliest years. Some of them were 'Rosin the Beau' which had the words 'Catalpa' put to it in Australia and 'The Year we Cut the Corn in Killiloo' which became 'The Drover's Dream.' 'Ring the Bell Watchman' had words of 'Click go the Shears' now a days. He considered music important and made sure his family were taught music lessons despite living 12 miles from town and unmade roads around c.1900.

He had that gift which so many Irish people had and he handed it on. I remember my mother on the piano and her sister playing the violin together, the most wonderful music and as long as a boy listening and wondering could anything as good as this ever happen again. My parents made my three sisters and myself learn music and I had lessons for eight years but as music was being played every night in our home I would be joining in our favourite numbers instead of practising studies and scales. Anyhow, when I heard the studies once I think I memorised them and didn't have to read them again. As a result I never became much good at sight reading music. Our parents wouldn't let us have a wireless. They said we would be listening to them instead of learning to play ourselves. I know they were right. We had the ability to quickly pick up tunes in our head and then be able to play them by ear. I learned Classical pieces but although I liked them, I just wanted to play by ear. After leaving school in 1943 I was invited by a group here to join them in playing for the local dances. The instruments played were button accordian, banjo, mandolin and sometimes piano. From playing at home I already knew all the tunes they played so that was easy and as it was all played by ear, I don't think I looked at sheet music again.”

“I would have a hard job reading now. This went on for fifteen years, sometimes we changed instruments. I would play accordian. They were great times, I have so many memories, the Saturday night dances in the Mechanics Halls, in the bush Schools and the barns where the latter would be lit with hurricane lanterns, the wonderful suppers supplied by the ladies and the excellent dancing skills of the people then. You didn't have to have a fancy musician then to play for the dances, just simple well known tunes that everyone knew and would sing along to while dancing was all that was needed. It was important to know how to dance yourself and to play good dance rhythm – playing good time is everything. My four grandparents came from Ireland in the 1850's and 1860's. My paternal grandfather built the house where we live in about 1870, it was all forest around here then. My father and his siblings were born in the house and he lived here all his life as I have done also. Potato farming was the main industry. Until recently every farmer grew potatoes and you only needed a small acreage to make a living then but with cheap imports of processed potatoes now the industry has just about died and farmer's descendants have gone to the cities to work. My wife Mary came from Roscommon Ireland as a nurse.

We had nine children and all have had lessons in music and some in singing. Four are able to play the fiddle but play other instruments as well. I didn't try to teach them myself as I felt I had acquired too many bad habits and a lot of time was spent taking them for years for lessons elsewhere but now I wonder what was the point as they seem to want to play my style now and I feel uplifted when I might come into the house and find them sitting around the fire playing my old tunes, I have always endeavoured to teach them good tunes. The fiddle can be daunting for the beginner to start to learn with both hands doing different things at the same time but perseverance is the key. If you want to play the fiddle and try hard enough, you will succeed and eventually get much satisfaction and joy from it. Always remember rhythm is so important, it's like the backbone of music – in the beginning was rhythm, melody was added later.”

“About 1980 I joined a colonial bush band at Castlemaine (Vic) and played with them about twenty years around the gold fields averaging a gig about every two or three weeks. I enjoyed that, it was a great diversion from the daily work at home, to go and play music I felt as though I would be mentally refreshed by it. But to quote the words of the poet John O'Brien, “The years have turned the rusted key and time is on the jog.” The ones I played longest with have unfortunately gone to that 'Big Session in the Sky' and I miss them. That colonial dance music was played at a quicker pace than our old time dances and I enjoyed it, but now somehow, the wheel has turned the full circle and now I find myself playing more of the old time and Australian folk tunes that we did at the old time dances. They bring back memories that I treasure as I do my fiddle.

I never tried to write any music myself. I always seemed too busy and if I asked I would say “There's plenty of tunes out there without me adding any more,” but I think I could if I put my mind to it. I love all fiddle music and all styles and the old time dance tunes, the popular tunes in my younger days when I started, then to the Celtic numbers and the nostalgic numbers of the 1950's then after being inspired by hearing The Chieftains playing, took an interest in traditional Irish in the 1960's and 1970's and there was always the magic of Classical music. When playing, try to imagine its like an interesting story you are reading or experiencing. Every tune seems to have a personality or life of its own. Become part of that life, forget everything else that is happening and if you like that tune you are playing and know it well enough it will sound like it is truly coming from your heart.” Tom Walsh 13/5/07

Old Time Dances around Trentham 1940/50
The Saturday night dances played a vital role in the community around this time. Alcohol was banned and good manners were expected from everyone. The dances ended sharp on midnight and all music was played on acoustic instruments with no microphones and amplification. Over the years Tom has derived great satisfaction watching people dance to his music.

Q. Tell us about the dances.

The forties and fifties were great years for dancing. There would be one hundred or so there every Saturday night.

Q. What ages attended?

All ages. The young ones would be dancing and the old ones would play Euchre in another room. My father used to run it, he used to organise it all his life, then at about 10pm or half past, the card party would be finished and they would all come out into the dance room and then supper would be turned on. There would be trestles pulled out into the centre of the room and the whole community would be there enjoying themselves.

Q. What time did these dances finish?

Twelve o'clock sharp. By law it had to be closed at twelve o'clock.

Q. Was alcohol permitted?

Never ever. Not allowed and it was policed. No alcohol within 300 yards of the hall, and they were wonderful dances. The Balls were the same. Girls would go to the Ball and they wouldn't have to have a partner. They would sit around the room and the boys would be free to ask any girl to dance whereas when they go as couples it becomes cliques. The Cabaret Balls came in around the 1970's and you would be a bit reluctant if another man brought a girl you might like you would be reluctant to go across and ask her in case you were intruding. Of course she would be sitting with him at a table or something like that. Then alcohol came in but of course it never had the atmosphere any more.

Did the Police keep an eye on things?

Sure did, they were always on patrol. A couple of times a night they would go around and anyone caught, they'd be fined and there would be a court case. But there was always a great atmosphere, a wholesome atmosphere in the dance halls. There was good manners. You wouldn't leave a girl sitting on her own. A girl would get up and dance with a chap and she might think he was a terrible dancer and she mightn't like him but with courtesy, would dance with him.

Q. There weren't any sound systems then were there?

No, it was all acoustic.

Q. It sounded good did it?

Absolutely, the M.C. never had a microphone, never heard of it. I never struck one until I joined the Colonial band a bit after 1980.