Wally Febey
Wally Febey (1918-), Devonport, Tasmania provided details of some of the Australian tunes in this archive.
The National Library of Australia holds aural recordings of interviews conducted with Wally Febey. He was interviewed by
- Rob Willis in May 1994, [1]. Conversation: Wally talks about his family; his experiences working at a saw mill; working during the Depression, clearing the road to Cradle Mountain; working on the hydro electric scheme and the pay and conditions; clearing the land at Britain's Swamp at Smithon, using bullocks; milling sassafras; time spent in the army, the 2nd 40th Tasmanian Battallion; working in the transport division moving trucks to Darwin; being chosen to go to with the Middle East reinforcements to Palestine; being sent to Ceylon when the Japanese invaded; time spent in New Guinea; working on the ambulance; his father playing the melodeon and his mother singing; going to dances at Claude Road at Sheffield; square dances, Schottische, Hesitation waltz, polka mazurka; his McCoy's melodeon; chocolate waltzes. Also available online [2]
Music: some untitled tunes; a Set tune; Reel tune; Ring the bell watchman; Silver bells; Polka mazurka; waltz tune; Hesitation waltz; Little brown jug; Run rabbit run; Schottische tune. 3. Conservation: Kath (Wally's wife) talks about her great uncles McCoy. 4. Music: mouth-organ tune. 5. Conservation: step dancing; reminiscences of tap dancing; playing the mouth organ reversed. 6. Music: waltz tune; Silent night; Redwing; Set tune.
Rob Willis notes "Claude Road (near Sheffield Tas) was a hotbed of players including the McCoys and other families. Most of the families were related in the area by the way - Dawson, McCoy and Powell, Febey all had connections". See Dawson family, Eileen McCoy & Gordon Powell.
