What tunes did they play and how did they sound? A serious-looking band from c. 1885 at the Glasgow Arms Hotel in Carrington, NSW. Concertina, accordion, tin whistle, triangle and banjo (without a head?).
They probably whipped up a pretty good night at the pub, at that time run by Jane Hardy. Jane was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in England, as were many of the people working in the coal industry in those days. It’s likely that the band played ‘Geordie’ music, maybe including ‘Byker Hill’? Jane and the rest of her siblings were baptised at All Saints in Byker, Newcastle upon Tyne. She migrated with her husband in the 1850s.
The pic was taken by Ralph Snowball and is part of the Norm Barney Photographic Collection, held by Cultural Collections at the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia.
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