Frank Thompson
Frank Thompson, Manangatang, Vic provided details of some of the Australian tunes in this archive.
Portrait [1]. "Looking like an Australian version of the Magi, Stan Laity, Oscar Wilde and Frank Thompson swap songs over a couple (?) of bottles."
The National Library of Australia holds aural recordings of interviews conducted with Frank Thompson.
He was interviewed by:
- John Meredith and Peter Ellis in April 1987 [2]. "Oscar Wilde (1896- ) plays accordion, chimes and mouth organ, talks and recites. Frank Thompson plays accordion and Stan Laity plays banjo-mandolin and sings"
"A special mention goes to Frank Thompson of Manangatang, and his brothers, who handed on their father's tunes. Frank endorsed the Old-Timers' philosophy of playing acoustic music, even to large crowds and had much information to hand on. He recalled that most of the musicians in the bush played for nothing (Frank himself had never accepted money for a dance). This is distinct from bands, who even so, received only a nominal fee. Frank's point was that in a bush community certain people provided supper, others helped with the floor, door, or decorations or maintenance and MC'ing. The musicians role was a gift to take a turn in playing for some dances. Some would specialise in waltzes and play for these, others might be better at sets oe polkas and so on. Very much a community effort." -- from Peter Ellis in "Collector's Choice vol.1", page on acknowledgements.
