National Library folklorist Rob Willis named The Macleay Valley as one of the most significant areas in Australia for social history.

Mr Willis has been recording the musical history of Slim Dusty’s birthplace, Nulla Nulla, for over 20 years as part of his position with the National Library, which has seen him travel Australia for decades recording old songs and stories ‘before they disappear for good’.

“I have studied the Macleay more than any other area in Australia because it has a hell of a lot of social history,” he said. “It’s a very special area – an example of why is the introduction of bluegrass music to Australia by Nulla Nulla musicians.”

“Mike and Peter Hayes were among the founding fathers of bluegrass music in Australia. Without knowing it the Hayes brothers formulated their own brand of music that paralleled mainstream bluegrass players in America and set the path for later Australian players.”

“As a raconteur Mike Hayes was in a league of his own. He won the world yarn spinning championship in 1991 and introduced the words ‘prickle farmer’ into the Australian language.”

Mr Willis said the Macleay Valley’s significance is based on the relative isolation of the Nulla Nulla and Bellbrook.

“The Nulla Nulla area has experienced what we call a cultural lag, which means that it has a lack of cultural influence due to its isolation,” he said. “This has allowed the area to preserve its traditions – particularly musical.”

Mr Willis said the Nulla Nulla area was home to generations of ‘brilliant’ musicians who learned to play music the traditional way. 

“The majority of players recorded are ‘ear’ players who are unable to read music,” he said. “There was a strong tradition of fiddle playing ‘up river’ with the dominant influence being the Kyle family.”

“Slim Dusty had fond memories of Billy Kyle, mentioning him in at least two of his songs. The women of the Kyle family were also talented musicians.”

Mr Willis gave examples of the creativity and innovation of local musicians such as Fred and Cecil Chapman, who were two of the first musicians to be recorded in the area.

“We filmed Fred, known as ‘Fluff’ and his brother, Cecil Chapman, playing a variety of home made instruments, including a kerosene tin banjo, bottles filled with water and a vegemite jar.”

Mr Willis said the region had also preserved a strong dance tradition.

“Where you have a strong musical tradition it often follows that there are also dances and this was so around the Bellbrook, Nulla Nulla area,” he said.

“An interview with Dooley Waters went like this, ‘We only had to ride along and say ‘dance at George Fuller’s barn tonight. That’s all you had to say and she’d go right through the whole creek and the place’d be full that night, cause we were young, heaps of young fellas there, 30 farms and some with 12-14 families. We had three to four hundred at the dance’.”

Mr Willis’ personal interest in the Macleay Valley began when he was camping with his young family at Delicate Nobby campground in 1991.

“I had been recording and filming social history and folklore since the mid 1980’s for the National Film and Sound archive and the National Library of Australia and was told of the musical traditions of Slim Dusty’s birthplace.”

“Since then we’ve featured Macleay Valley musicians on Radio National and much has been written about them. Kempsey has had some brilliant musicians.”

Mr Willis said he particularly remembered the story of Kempsey’s Dr Ulf Stenback, who he recorded in 1996.

“After Ulf had been in Australia for a few years, he received a visit from his brother, who presented him with a nyckelharpa and two instruction books,” Mr Willis said. “The nyckelharpa is a traditional Swedish keyed fiddle that has been played, in one form or another, for more than six hundred years. It is bowed in the same way as the fiddle but has a keyboard to change the notes on the multiple strings.”

“Ulf knew of no other person in Australia who played the instrument and got bogged down trying to learn alone from the printed tutors. ‘It’s not that easy if you don’t have anyone to show you.’ Finally he noted the author’s name on the cover of the instruction books and rang him in Sweden to explain the situation.”

“‘I’m sitting here with one of your books on the nyckelharpa and I’m stuck. What do I do? He asked me to show him, so I put the receiver down on the table and played, and he explained what I was doing wrong’.”

“Ulf received professional tuition from Sweden over the telephone.”

Mr Willis has also extensively recorded the Nulla Nulla’s Indigenous history.

“There’s the Indigenous traditions of the area too, which we began studying as part of the ‘Bringing Them Home’ project at the Bellbrook school,” he said.

“Unfortunately we were too late to capture the early Indigenous songs. But there were still remaining memories of the crossover period when one was being lost and the later country music was starting to have an influence.”

“James ‘Goori’ Dungay explained the tradition of gum leaf playing, its relevance, and gave several examples of how leaf players can mimic bird calls and other bush sounds.”

Mr Willis said he believed the musical traditions of the Macleay remained strong.

“I haven’t been back to the Macleay for a while but I believe the traditions are still there,” he said. “I have friends in Kempsey who pass stories onto me.”