Rita Baker
Rita Baker (1906-1990), Gulgong, NSW provided details of some of the Australian tunes in this archive.
Portrait: [1]
The National Library of Australia holds aural recordings of interviews conducted with Rita Baker. He was interviewed by
- John Meredith in Sewptember 1981, [2], Also available online [3]
- John Meredith in June 1982, [4], Baker speaks of her personal background; her family; family friend musician Billy Coglan; family memories; learning tunes, learning to play violin. Baker speaks of her great uncle Andy Coyen and his violin. Also available online [5]
- John Meredith in April 1983, [6], Rita Baker interviewed
- Chris Sullivan and John Meredith in 1983, [7], Rita Baker, Merv Cross and Ernie Goodman interviewed
"Rita was born Rita Adams in Gulgong in 1906, her mother was of Irish descent and her father, Samuel, English. Both parents were musical and played fiddle for local dances. They later lived at Bundella in the Liverpool ranges, in country so rough they had to take the buggy apart to get to their land. Rita could play a fiddle at the age of seven and throughout her life was passionately fond of music. In later years arthritis prevented her from playing her violin and she would sing or whistle her tunes to herself as she carried out her tasks. Rita learned many of her tunes from her parents." -- (adapted from) J Meredith, R Covell, & P Brown, Folk Songs of Australia Vol 2, UNSW Press, 1987, p17-28
