Goulburn Gold 2006
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I only recently became aware of the existence of Bradley Grange, aka The Old Goulburn Brewery, and when I left Dickson at 3pm on the last Saturday in September to go there I had no idea what to expect. Less than an hour later I was discovering that:-

• the Grange was built as a brewery, flour mill and tobacco factory (all of the life essentials!);
• the buildings were designed by Francis Greenway (the document forger whose death sentence was commuted in 1814 to life imprisonment, who was then transported to Sydney where he resumed his true career as an architect and was responsible for many public and private buildings, and who was commemorated in 1966 on our first $10 note);
• the brewery is still living, and produces the full-strength Fine Sparkling Ale and Goulburn Stout as well as the Goulburn Gold light ale; and
• the Grange also operates as a functions centre and B&B, hosting weddings, birthdays, conferences and weekends away-from-it-all.

I also discovered that The Grange was the perfect venue for possibly the friendliest gathering of folky types I have ever attended.

As I walked in, at the side of the courtyard I noticed an impromptu session with fiddle and accordion, a little further in local lad Keith Brown was fascinating his listeners with yarns about the old days (1950s) on the NSW railroads, in The Cooperage Alan Musgrove had just finished a performance and Dave de Hugard was starting one, and in The Mill the dance workshops were well under way for footloose types like myself, with contributions over the weekend from Pauline Cambourne, Lance Green, Arthur Kingsland, Don Richmond, and a whole flock of musicians, from Crooked Corner band to composites featuring people from Argyle County, Paddy’s River, Stringfiddle and others.

In fact, at the “big dance” on the Saturday and Sunday nights, at times there were more musicians playing than dancers dancing! Everyone was very enthusiastic, but I did notice one couple who were really "dancing with conviction".

There was poetry too, delivered by the poets. Original material. In the entire weekend I heard not one item of Patterson or Lawson or O’Brien or Mackellar, but I’m sure they would all have found something there to write about. And good mates to yarn with, too.

My first impressions were confirmed again and again over the whole weekend. Some 60 to 80 people spent 72 hours sharing their love and knowledge of Australian Bush Traditions - music, dancing, poetry and yarns. They came from north Queensland, the Blue Mountains, Victoria, and “from Canberra to the coast”. There was a lot of local support, with a large contingent from Goulburn, Crookwell, Marulan and elsewhere in the area. I met a lot of people new to me, and I got closer to many others I had seen out and about but didn’t really know, and there are still some whose names I didn’t really learn or remember. Next time.

It was more a “gathering” than a “festival”. Yes, there were sit-and-listen concerts, but the main emphasis was on participation, and I heard someone say the music side was comparable with Maitland’s Sessionfest. It was not “multicultural” as the term is generally understood, and was not at all any kind of front for the false “Aussie values” position we have heard about lately, it was simply people remembering that there are many kinds of cultural roots. The venue was great, Michael the site manager was most welcoming, and $20 for the weekend was DGV (darn good value).

The organisers - Bill Arnett, Dave Johnson, Graeme McDonald, Ray Mulligan - must be congratulated on getting this event up and running. And in the review workshops on the Sunday evening (dance) and Monday morning (everything) it was obvious that future development of the event will be responsive to the needs and desires of participants. Unless the sky falls, I’ll be there again next year.

John Carroll