UKULELES, GUITARS OR GUMLEAVES?

Hula Dancing and Southeastern Australian Aboriginal Performers in the 1920s and 1930s

Abstract

Before the so-called 'Golden Age' which Hawaiian music experienced internationally from the 1930s-1950s, various visiting and locally based Australian troupes featured hula dancing as part of their acts• This short article serves as a postscript to the comprehensive studies of Hawaiian music and hula dancing in Australia previously published in this journal by Bambrick and Miller (1994) and Coyle and Coyle (1995) and documents the recruitment of renowned Yuin elder Gaboo Ted Thomas to a Hawaiian-oriented performance troupe in the 1920s.