A collection of dances from the early Australian colonial era 1770-1850. This site reveals the history of dance in the first half of the colonial period exploring 
significant social and historical links.
In the modern age of intense electronic social networking, these dances shine as genuine, warm, social pleasures. Words are unnecessary while dancing, other skills are required – a smile, a glance, a touch. Could it be more different to social media on your smart phone?
In an evening of country dance one may have a dozen partners and dance with every person in the room; a group of individuals synchronised in the pattern of the dance.
Dance rates as one of the most beneficial forms of recreation: it involves so many different aspects in such an enjoyable way. The exercise of moving through the dance, remembering the figures, listening and responding to the music, and above all, the myriad of friendly interactions.
Visit the latest updates:
Convict Research Press Release from Queensland University of Technology.
My doctoral research project into convict music and dance in the early colony. Database and videos of the research workshops to be made available. Museum exhibition in 2018
Detail showing dancing from Bradley’s View in Broken Bay.
People in the First Fleet hoped to have a peaceful relationship with the Indigenous population. Accounts describe the officers and convicts dancing with the locals.
Our Australia Day Dance looks at the types of dances they shared.
Harry Macklin Shaw, champion clog dancer of Australasia and great-great-grandfather of celebrity Craig Revel Horwood.
Featured on BBC TV Who Do You Think You Are?
To be screened on SBS in Australia 2018.
One night, one ball… dance like Jane Austen.
Celebrating Jane’s life in her 200th anniversary year.
21st October, 2017
Sandgate Town Hall, Brisbane
Recording Grant 2017
We’re thrilled to be awarded a grant from the Moreton Bay Arts Development Fund and Arts Queensland to record music for early colonial dance. Thanks to the Moreton Bay Council and Arts Queensland for supporting this unique project exploring our lost culture. http://www.colonialdance.com.au/music-grant-2017-2646.html
Heritage Festival Dance
12 May 2017
Celebrating Australian Heritage Festival.
This special event will feature our easiest dances to encourage beginners to try this most social of dance forms.
http://www.colonialdance.com.au/special-events-2432.html
Piano in the breakfast room, Elizabeth Bay House Photograph (c) Nicholas Watt, Sydney Living Museums
Sounds Heritage Seminar
Sounds Heritage Sydney: making music in historic places.
In late March, an international forum of invited experts will spend a day at Elizabeth Bay House sharing their knowledge about music making in historic houses.
I’ll be presenting some of the results of my current research: Dancing in Fetters: The Culture of Convict Dance
Australia Day 1808
Governor Bligh and the Rum Rebellion.
A dance for the uprising.
Friday nights* in Samford, Brisbane
January – no dance, 10th February, 10th March, 7th April,
12th May, 16th June, 14th July, 11th August, 8th September,
14th October, 10 November, 8 December.
*mostly the 2nd Friday of the month. Check the regular events page for more details.
A Dance for Shakespeare 2016
Commemorating 400 years since the death of Shakespeare. (Including some Australian history).
Farmers Hall, Main Street, Samford, Brisbane, 4520
Friday, November 4 at 7.30 – 9.30 pm
Traditional step dancing in Australia
The Australian bush tradition is rich in collected step dance tunes. Read more about reviving the step dance tradition.
The Grand Regency Ball commemorated the 200th anniversary of Governor Macquarie’s Waterloo ball in Sydney. Our ball was held in Old Government House, the most important heritage building in Brisbane.
Read also about the famous Duchess of Richmond’s Ball held on the eve of the battle of Waterloo.
Our ball was held in conjunction with the Redcliffe Museum’s exhibition The Redcoats of Moreton Bay tracing the history of British Regiments in the area, beginning with the first settlement in 1824.
The English country dance The Salamanca Castanets was published in Button and Whittaker’s Collection of Country Dances for the Year 1813 1. It is a captivating tune, which utilises country dance figures, whilst capturing and maintaining the Spanish exuberance. Its fascinating history still resonates in Tasmania.
“…the assemblage was brilliant, the punch superlative, and the dancing extremely active, if not elegant.” Discover the musical legacy of Sir John and Lady Jane Franklin in Tasmania.
1788 Collage – Dance, social life, fashion, celebrities and events.
A collage for Australia Day, 26th January, 2015.
‘The Last Jig or Adieu to Old England’.
Dance dates for 2015
The Farmers’ Hall, Samford, QLD.
Sundays 2.00-4.00pm
22 February, 26 April, 28 June, 23 August, 25 October, 4 November, 9 December
Check the events page for more details.
Port Jackson, a dance from 1796.
It is extraordinary that within eight years of the founding of the colony, a fashionable dance was devised in London to celebrate such an obscure place on the other side of the world.
Governor Phillip meets Jane Austen.
Did Arthur Phillip meet Jane Austen?
They both lived in the elegant city of Bath, joined the circulating library and attended balls and concerts. Could they have met? This article explores the possibilties.
Our August dance falls on the 200th anniversary of Governor Phillip’s death. See the events page.
Matthew Flinders and the Glorious First of June.
This year marks the 200th anniversary of Matthew Flinders’ death.
A highly significant event in Flinders’ life was the battle known as The Glorious First of June. Three dances were devised to celebrate the great naval battle. Here is one of them, along with the fascinating history of Matthew Flinders’ flute.
Captain Cook’s early life – Boscawen’s Frolick, the first in a series featuring music and dance associated with Captain James Cook.
Francis Girard,
the French convict who became Australia’s first dancing master.
Lasses of Portsmouth, a dance from 1780.
Happy dancing!
Heather Clarke. 28 October 2013.
John Benham’s piano, 1835.
Possibly the earliest surviving Australian made piano. Photo: Sotha Bourn.
Collection: Powerhouse Museum, Sydney.
Contents
history – dances – music
Colonial Dance Manuals
list of manuals in Australian libraries
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The information on this website www.colonialdance.com.au may be copied for personal use only, and must be acknowledged as from this website. It may not be reproduced for publication without prior permission from Heather Clarke.
What people are saying:
• Heather, the importance of what you are doing can scarcely be quantified. What a jewel for coming generations, and what unique insights into Australia’s spectacular history! May you and your Team be guided every step of the way!
Denise Puttock, Director of Studies at School of Dance Therapy. Torquay, United Kingdom
Thankyou for such diligent dedication to sourcing this material and sharing it. It is beautifully presented and engaging from start to finish. Congratulations Heather!
Magaret Winnett
Excellent work, Heather! Thanks so much for your inspired sleuthery!
Kate Van Winkle Keller
It looks fantastic – as always, you’ve done a very beautiful job of putting together interesting and informative resources.
Millie Weber
Hi Heather,
I am in the process of creating an authentic Georgian style parlour which is located in an historic building located in the grounds of the Hawkesbury Regional Museum in Windsor NSW.
We have a piano insitu and would like to have authentic sheet music of the period to go with this display. It has been reported that Windsor was the location of the first ever polka to be danced in the colony and it would be wonderful if you could assist me with finding sheet music from the 1820-1840 period.
Any advice or assistance would be greatly appreciated such as where to purchase or gain copies of sheet music from this particular time in Australian history.
Thanks very much,
Ruth
Hello Ruth,
I visited your museum last year and was impressed by the lovely displays – particularly the beautiful pub sign of the running horse from the very early 1800s, and Dr Arndell’s set of china.
Yes, there is certainly sheet music available for this era. The best place to start would be Graeme Skinner’s Austral Harmony site http://www.graemeskinner.id.au/australharmony.html
I would be interested to read the full account of the polka being first danced in Windsor. The polka came to Australia in the early 1840s – the latest dance craze and made popular by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.
Heather
Heather
I enjoyed your teaching of colonial dancing at Pennant Hills on Monday night for the Bush Music Club Heritage Ball …I am the bloke who answered you question regarding Lord Castlereagh
Best wishes and thanks
Allen
( Treasurer, Bush Music Club)
Thanks Allen, it was a great night and I thoroughly enjoyed teaching your dancers something new. Have a lovely time at the ball.
This is a fantastic site, really informative and interesting. It has a very broad range in this area, and covers a lot of different dances in lots of detail. It is really brilliant.
Well done, I appreciate having such a reliable source.
Well done, Heather. A simple, accessible and entertaining site. Keep it that way!
From my perspective as a circus historian, the importance of “dance” to circus cannot be overlooked. In the 18th and 19th centuries, young apprentice circus performers were taught to dance in order to “secure gracefulness”. Thus did the best bareback riders “dance” upon the backs of their horses, and the best tightrope and tightwire walkers “danced” on their ropes/wires.
Exhibitions of dancing had a legitimate place in early circus programs. My great-great-grandfather performed in Australia’s first circus, Radford’s Royal Circus, in Tasmania during 1847-48 as an equestrian, acrobat and tightrope walker, but he also gave solo exhibitions of dance: A Highland Fling and A Sailor’s Hornpipe.
To see how a wire walker “danced” on a tight wire, you can see my clips on You Tube of the great Con Colleano, at account “stleonm”.
All the best, Heather!
Mark St Leon
Author:
Circus: The Australian Story (Melbourne Books, 2011)
The Wizard of the Wire: The Story of Con Colleano (Aboriginal Studies Press, 1993)
I am delighted to meet Australians interested in musical heritage. I have synthesized a few works, like your quadrilles, posted on soundcloud and youtube in case they are of interest.
Hello Hamish, thanks for you interest. I would like to know more about your synthesized works – could you send the links?
I need find info on dance for a HPE assessment but there is none her the genres are Early European 1770-1850
Gold Rush 1850-1860
Pastoral period 1860-1950
Revival 1950-1960
Recent popularity 1970-1980
Can anyone help me with this?
There isn’t a great deal available online for the colonial era. This site is the only one which deals with early European dance. For the Gold rush and pastoral periods look at the Victorian Folk Music Club http://www.vfmc.org.au
There are various groups around Australia which perform the dances of these eras – Wongawilli http://www.wongawillicolonialdance.org.au/ and Queensland Colonial dancers http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/colonialdance and http://www.australian-heritage-dance.com/
It shouldn’t be difficult to find information about more modern forms of dance, though I’m not quite sure of what you’re looking for with Revival and Recent popular forms. Are you looking for Bush/folk dance? If so look at http://www.folkdanceaustralia.org.au/ and http://www.dancingtheweb.com/ausfolkdance/.