We went searching for the songs of women surviving in the bush — those tough farming women who mustered horses and lived through fire, flood and snakes.

In a dusty op shop, we picked up a book called Folk Songs of Australia and the Men and Women Who Sang Them compiled by folklorist John Meredith.

We listened through these recordings until we heard this one voice, Sally Sloane and she stopped us in our tracks. She played accordion and fiddle for the old-time dances and knew hundreds of songs and fragments of melodies learned from her Irish convict grandmother.  

Here is our first Folk from the Archive. We don't want these old songs to be lost.