Originally calling themselves the Original Bushwackers and Bullockies Bush Band, the three founding members were guitarist Dave Isom, tea-chest bass player Jan 'Yarn' Wositzky and lagerphonist Bert Kahanoff. The band was conceived at Latrobe University in Melbourne when the founding members, in order to qualify for a grant to travel to the Aquarius Arts Festival 1972 at the ANU in Canberra, had to register as a formal act, consequently taking their name from the title of an album by the English folk singer Martyn Wyndham-Read. They were later joined by various players, including accordion and concertina player Mick Slocum, and fiddlers Tony Hunt and Dave Kidd, and in 1974 the band went full-time with their first tour to the British Isles, and Kahanoff was replaced by lagerphone player Dobe Newton. With an ever-changing line-up, and adding tin whistle, harmonica, concertina, 5-string banjo, bodhrán, bones, spoons, electric bass and guitar and drums the band worked throughout Australia and Europe. By 1984, and no longer with Isom, Wositzky and Slocum in the line-up, the band moved its home from Melbourne to Sydney. joined the band in 1980 and remains the principal songwriter, producer and manager of the band. Other members have included Fred Kuhnl, David Brannigan, drummer Gregory Martin, Steve Groves, Pete Farndon, Dave Mattacks, Pat Drummond, Michael Harris, Louis McManus, Eddy van Roosendael, Freddie Strauks, drummer Pete Drummond and world-renowned Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel. Notable recordings include Faces in the Street, Beneath the Southern Cross, Bushfire, Murrumbidgee and The Shearers Dream – two of which were released through Australian record label Astor Records. The album And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda was released through EMI records in 1976 and is regarded as one of their finest recordings. 'Bushfire', recorded in 1979 and produced by British producer John Wood and the band, featured arguably their most creative work as the band sought a far more contemporary musical direction by recording songs such as Fannie Bay and Annie, and utilising drums and synthesiser. The album remains as fresh today as it was when recorded in 1979. Many of the band's songs are adaptations of poetry written by Australian bush poets including Henry Lawson and Banjo Paterson. The current lineup is Dobe Newton, Roger Corbett, Mark Oats, Clare O'Meara, Michael Vidale, Ben Corbett, and the drummer Andy Gatus. In 2011 Roger Corbett and Dobe Newton re-recorded the popular 1980 Dance Album as The Official Dance Album, in which they included the Dobe Newton co-written classic song I Am Australian and won a third Golden Guitar award.
Discography
The Shearer's Dream
And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda
Murrumbidgee
Bushfire
Dance Album
Faces in the Street
Beneath the Southern Cross
Down There for Dancing
The Bushwackers Collection
Warrigal Morning - music for the film Bush Christmas
