Jack Heagney
Jack Heagney (1922-) & his sister Marie Allman, Newlyn, Vic provided details of some of the Australian tunes in this archive, collected by Alan Musgrove & Peter Ellis.
There is a recording of Jack Heagney interviewed by Alan Musgrove in the National Library of Australia in Canberra, from Nov 1997. In it "Jack Heagney, born 1922, in Castlemaine, Vic. talks about the three generations of the Heagneys; the family farm; moving to Port Arlington; his father playing the fiddle and his mother singing; his father's large horse team, carting wood; his fathers' style of play; learning to play classical violin, before he learnt the jigs etc.; the single row button accordions, concertina, they would play; being 16 years of age when he started to play the fiddle; bowing techniques; different teachers and techniques; his sisters learning the piano; starting to play in bands (1938); Bert Wallace and his influence; singing in the bands, having a voice; playing tunes and adapting them into his own style; losing his old fiddle in Bush fires (1969); being presented with his current fiddle after the fire by a woman from Castlemaine; the tune 'Hilarity'; joining the Allens Music Club, sheet music and playing; not playing the fiddle for approx. 20 years; Harry McQueen, reintroducing him to playing, starting a band and playing together for 8 years; bands he was in and the instruments played; the Jerry Atrix band; playing at Christmas and church functions; how dancing helps to understand the rhythm; playing with a new band and people, locally."
There are some photos of them in Peter Ellis, "The Waltz, The Polka and All Kinds of Dance Music", 2007.
See also Harry McQueen.
