Pearly Watling

Pearly (Pearlie) Watling, (1905-1996) Goulburn, NSW provided details of some of the Australian tunes in this archive.

The National Library of Australia holds aural recordings of interviews conducted with Pearlie Watling. She was interviewed by:

• Bill Scott and Don Brian in June 1978, [1], Ron Travis and Pearlie Watling interviewed by Bill Scott in Goulburn CAE folklore field recordings collection.

• John Meredith in 1983, [2], Fred Collins interviewed by John Meredith and Chris Sullivan ; Fred Collins and his sister Pearlie Watling play for a bush dance at Wingello.

• John Meredith in 1983, [3], Pearlie Watling plays accordion. Also available online [4]

The Australian Dictionary of Biography names her as: "Pearl Amelia Irene Watling" (1905-1996), shale miner and musician, but subsequently refers to her as "Pearlie". The following text is an extract from her biography: "Watling came from a long line of folk musicians without formal training. They learned to play by ear, with her grandfather having learned songs from pub musicians while he waited outside the local inn to help his drunken father home. Building on her early aptitude for the piano accordion, she later taught herself on a small button accordion that her father gifted her as a wedding present. Her younger brother and his wife were also musicians, and she would join them and other members of the family to play at dances at Wingello, a small village east of Goulburn. Her Old Time Band played for many years at the Goulburn Railway Bowling Club. They also often played at the Goulburn Soldiers' Club."

John Meredith refers to her as "Pearly" - "Pearly Watling was born Collins in 1904 ... She was introduced to the accordion by her father Bill, who took up that instrument after he lost a finger in an accident at a local wood-cut one day ... Pearly had two uncles Frank Collins and Lynn Collins ... A remarkable woman for her eighty years, Pearly handled her big double-row button accordion with ease, and since she was used to playing for dances, prefaced each item with an introductory lead-in." -- (adapted from) J Meredith, R Covell, P Brown, Folk Songs of Australia Vol 2, UNSW Press, 1987, p74-6.

Articles on "Pearly Watling" can be found on Trove at the National Library Of Australia. Go to Trove and search for "Pearly Watling". One such article is [5].

Pearly Watling was a niece to Frank Collins, another notable musician who lived in and around Goulburn, NSW and grand daughter of Frank Collins Snr who encouraged her to play fiddle and accordion.

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