Australian Bush Music and Dance, Wongawilli Style
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Australian Bush Percussion Instruments

by Peter Ellis

Lagerphone

The Lagerphone is a percussive instrument with a rhythmic effect allied to that of the tambourine. It is generally made from an old broom handle with beer bottle tops loosely nailed onto part of the shaft and broom head.

The instrument is played by striking it with a serrated stick to the beat of the tune it is accompanying alternated by thumping the pole on the floor on the off beat. Drawing the serrated edge of the stick across the broom-handle at intervals creates interesting sound and rhythmic effects, whilst shaking the instrument makes the bottle tops rattle further. More sophisticated models have a cow bell or car light reflector added so that 'glock' sounds are created when struck. The band's logo is often lettered in coloured bottle tops on a signboard or the broom head.

Forerunners of the lagerphone are those such as the Napoleonic Jingling Johnny, a marching stick covered in bells and used like a staff to beat time and keep marchers in step; and rhythm sticks covered in shells and used by the Torres Straight Islanders and Cape York aboriginals. Similar instruments may have been around with the British skiffle bands. There is an account of a lagerphone style instrument used by a makeshift band near Darwin in 1943. A picture of a kettle holding stones on a pole for keeping time is illustrated in Collector's Choice volume 33.

The Lagerphone as such originated in its modern form from a 1950's country talent quest and concert. This was in the Australian town of Holbrook in which a rabbit poisoner submitted and won first prize with the instrument. A local, Mr Claude Meredith, was impressed and constructed his own model made with beer bottle tops. He presented it to his brother John, a founder of the Bushwhackers Band of 1952, who then introduced and dubbed it 'Lagerphone'. This original instrument is held by the Holbrook museum. Later the lagerphone acquired other names such as Boozaphone and Murrumbidgee Rattler.

Pictured is John Meredith playing the original lagerphone constructed by his brother Claude in the early 1950s. It is now in the Holbrook Museum.

The Bushwhackers were active in collecting and performing 'bush songs' from rural Australia to button accordion and lagerphone accompaniment. They recorded some of this material onto Wattle brand records (78rpm) which in turn were widely broadcast over wireless. Likewise their performance in the popular play Reedy River of 1954 further raised lagerphone profile followed by publications such as in Australian Post magazine with 'how to make' pictures and instructions. This nation wide publicity triggered the formation of the ubiquitous ilk of 'bush band ranging all over Australia’. It set the mould or theme for any aspiring bush band that formed in the decades that followed, examples being the Cobbers, Bushwackers (Melbourne) and Mulga Bill's Bicycle Band. In contrast John Manifold in the Australian Tradition 33, September 1973 was quick to set the record straight that this instrumentation had never been typically used in the bush and was reminiscent of the Foo Foo or Skiffle groups on ships.

In the hands of a master, the lagerphone is an extremely interesting and effective rhythmic instrument and the original player with the Bushwhackers, Brian Loughlin, was an outstanding performer. His playing would be on the Wattle brand recordings of the Bushwhackers of the early to mid 1950's. Other very good performers were Barry Golding and Liz Eager of Mulga Bill's Bicycle Band of the 1970's. Mulga Bill's Bicycle Band In Concert Recording, 1973 Basket BBBS-002. More contemporary recordings would be of the Cobbers and Bushwackers (Melbourne).

1 Edwards, Ron. 1979. Skills of the Australian Bushman

2 Account from Mr Campbell Holmes, trombonist with the Wedderburn Oldtimers Orchestra. He was stationed at an army camp in the bush just outside Darwin and has recalled the mentioned event during World War 2.

3 Ellis, Peter. 1987. Collector's Choice vol 3, page 84 VFMC. Photograph of a Miners' Highland Band, Costerfield, 1925.

4 Gay Charmers Old Time Band, Lake Charm, 1950's

5 Atherton, Michael. 1990. 'Australian made .. Australian played'

Tea Chest Bass (Bush Bass)

The origin of the tea chest bass in Australia is unknown, suffice to say there is an equivalent in America made from a wash tub1 and used by the 'jug bands'. Likewise in New Guinea natives played a similar instrument made from oil drums. In a similar manner to the lagerphone, the tea chest bass is linked with makeshift bands, skiffle groups and the Australian Bush Band. It compares with a tradition of improvised bush instruments such as the cigar box fiddle.

The Bushwhackers Band of Sydney in the early 1950's first introduced the tea chest bass in a form that was quickly taken up by similar groups all over Australia, remaining popular today. John Meredith introduced the 'bush bass' to the band after a friend made a drawing from an instrument he had seen played on the Sydney wharf. It consisted of a ply tea chest with a strong cord attached to the centre of the base of the chest, knotted through a hole and strung to the top of a pole.

To play, the box was kept steady with one foot placed on it and the string plucked in rhythm to a tune while the cord was made taut by straining the pole sideways. This gave a varying run of the bass pitches required which 'boing' out with a range of at least one octave. The thin ply box of about 70cm cube is generally placed on the ground with the open top, face down, or sometimes side out and partly reinforced with a board. Sound holes similar to that of a violin can also be cut walls of the box. Usually the tea chest is cut down to about 50-cm height to suit the average person and the open end braced. Legs 2.5 cm x 2.5 cm can be fixed inside the corners and protruding about 5 cm at the front and 2.5 cm at the rear to raise the box off the floor and let the sound out. The pole is about 82 cm long with a nail at the bottom end to anchor it through a hole into the corner of the tea chest. A broom handle or tent pole is frequently used for this purpose.

Another version of the tea chest bass uses a metal ring to tension the string. Talented players can convincingly produce the rhythm of a string bass (bull fiddle) over a range of at least one octave. The tea chest bass is well represented on recordings of the day by the original Bushwhackers, the Melbourne Bushwackers, Cobbers, Mulga Bill's Bicycle Band and others.

1 Cline, Dallas. 1977. How To Play Nearly Everything.

2 Edwards, Ron. 1979. Skills of the Australian Bushman.

3 Pitt, Frank. November1965. How To Make A Bush Bass - Australian Tradition page 27.

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Last revised: April 07, 2002 by David De Santi