The Australian Folklore Conference is a one-day annual conference held at the National Library of Australia as a prelude to the National Folk Festival. It is facilitated by the Australian Folklore Network, the National Library of Australia, the National Folk Festival and the Centre for Advanced Studies in Australia, Asia and the Pacific, Curtin University.

The conference brings together academics, collectors & musicians from all over Australia to take part in a day of panels, discussions and presentations examining various aspects of Australian Folklore.

There are always a wide variety of topics being presented by some distinguished people from within, and outside of, the folklore community. The 2008 program contains some terrific links to the National Folk Festival's theme of Australia at Play. This alone makes it well worth attending and to make it more enticing it is absolutely free!

Where and When

The 4th National Folklore Conference
National Library of Australia
Thursday March 20, 2008
9am to 5pm.

Registration Information

Registration and attendance are free. You can pre-register by sending an email to g.seal(at)curtin.edu.au

The Program

Childhood, Tradition and Change
Presented by Gwenda Davey AM and June Factor

Cultural Threads: tradition and transition in Australian children's string figures.
Presented by Judy McKinty

Crossing the line: The need for a permanent home for Australian Railway History and Folklore.
Presented by Barry Blair

Sing Us Anotheree, Dirty as Buggery
Presented by Warren Fahey

'Dog's Eye': The Language and Culture of the Pie
Presented by Robert Smith

The Creation of Waltzing Matilda: Australia’s unofficial national anthem and international Australian icon.
Presented by Dennis O'Keeffe

Roast Pork the Jack Lang: Rhyming Slang in Australian Folk Speech
Presented by Graham Seal

Two National Folk Festivals: Some Significant Differences, Some Significant Similarities, Some Significant Opportunities?
Presented by Mark Cranfield

Lunchtime concert of Children’s traditional songs
Presented by Rob & Olya Willis

The Presenters

	Gwenda Davey was made a Member in the Order of Australia (AM) for her services to the protection and preservation of folklore and folklife in Australia. She is currently a principal researcher for the Childhood, Tradition and Change project funded by the Australian Research Council.
	June Factor is a writer and folklorist. Her many publications include Captain Cook Chased a Chook: Children's Folklore in Australia, and six books of playground rhymes beginning with the famous, and essential, Far Out Brussel Sprout!. She is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Centre, University of Melbourne.
	Judy McKinty is an independent cultural heritage interpreter with a special interest in children's play. She has been closely involved with the Australian Children's Folklore Collection for many years, and has been researching and collecting children's folklore for almost two decades. Her work includes an oral history project on Aboriginal Children's Play with Dr. June Factor and string games workshops in Bunjilaka Aboriginal Gallery, Melbourne Museum.
	With a broad and life-long interest in local, oral, and railway history, Barry Blair is currently the Public Relations Director, for the nationally acclaimed Australian Railway Monument/Rail Journeys Museum at the railway town of Werris Creek, NSW.
	Warren Fahey has been collecting, performing, writing about and recording Australian bush songs and folklore for nigh on 40 years. In 1969 he founded the pioneering group The Larrikins and, in 1974, the Larrikin Record label. In 1989 he was honored with the Order of Australia. Warren has written 14 books and is currently working on a major DVD series on Australia's social history and folklore plus a book surveying Australian bawdy songs and recitations. His latest book is The Big Fat Book of Aussie Jokes (A study of humour on the Internet. Harper Collins 2007). His Australian Folklore Unit is at www.warrenfahey.com
	Robert Smith is from Southern Cross University, in the Rainbow Region of north coast NSW. He lectures in English Education, which he grounds upon a passion for folkloristics. He was one of the first to publish on the topic of Roadside Memorials, has a major interest in Regionalism, and is now pursing an interest in Foodways. He is one of the two editors of the annual journal Australian Folklore.
	Dennis O'Keeffe holds a Post Graduate Degree of Australian Folklife and has been performing songs from the Australian tradition at folk festivals throughout Australia for over twenty years.
	Graham Seal is Professor of Folklore and teaches at Curtin University through the Australian Studies program and the Graduate Diploma in Australian Folklife. He is director of the Centre for Advanced Studies in Australia, Asia and the Pacific, director of the Australian Folklore Research Unit and deputy director of the interdisciplinary Australian Regional Research Unit.
	Mark Cranfield is a graduate of the ANU and the UNSW, with extensive experience in the fields of Australian history , folklore and archives administration. From 1981-2005 he was Curator of Oral History at the National Library of Australia. During his years at the Library, Mark was known as an advocate for regular, on-going co-operation between the national collecting institutions and the National Folk Festival. This remains a firm interest, now that he has joined the Festival's Board of Directors.
	Rob Willis is a renowned collector of Australian folk music for the Oral History Collection at the National Library of Australia. He is also a performer,musician and a previous beneficiary of the National Folk Fellowship.