Kiama Sea Shanty Club

Ahoy me hearties!

Welcome aboard the Kiama Sea Shanty Club! We get together during school terms on Wednesdays 7:45-9:00pm at the Kiama Inn Hotel ( Tory's Pub ) in Terralong Street near the harbour and railway bridge.

A Brief History of Kiama Sea Shanty Club -

On the 23 September 2022 Ian and Deirdre Backhouse attended Folk By-the-Sea their local Kiama Folk Festival. Redfern Shanty Singers were performing in their engagng and energetic style. On being invited to contribute a verse to their version of 'A Drop of Nelsons Blood', Ian volunteered and sang "A Kiama shanty club wouldnt do us any harm". At the end of the set the Redfern Shanty singers invited their audience to talk to Ian if they were interested in starting Kiama Shanty Club. Many people came forward over the course of the festival including John and Jane Littrich, Alan Ford and Judy Cork. By the end of January 2023 we were singing regularly at Kiama Inn Hotel (Tory's Pub). By the end of 2023 we had over 300 followers on Facebook and 20-30 weekly regular attendees. It has been a really wonderful set of circumstances that allowed us all to enjoy simgimg in unison whilst having heaps of fun! We all really love our Wednesday night gatherings.

Since those early beginnings we have performed at Illawarra Folk Festival, Folk by-the-Sea, Kangaroo Valley Folk Festival, aboard the James Craig in a Sea Shanty Spectacular cruise of Sydney Harbour and at the Great Shanty Off 2 at the Australian Maritime Museum.

Pages

Shantys

Contributing

Links

Facebook Group

Shanty Google Drive

Spotify Playlist

T-Shirts

We are excited to have Kiama Sea Shanty Club T-shirts for sale! The cost is $35 per T-shirt which includes the cost of the artwork. Deirdre and Ian will collect cash after shantys on Wednesday nights, please provide the exact amount to save us doing change.

Order T-Shirt

Acknowledgement of Country

Kiama Shanty Club meet on the land of the Wodi Wodi people, the traditional owners and custodians of this beautiful land. On behalf of all club members I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land and pay my respects to the elders of the Wodi Wodi people of the past in the present and those that are emerging.

The Wodi Wodi people have met and sung their songs in this place for tens of thousands of years in the spirit of shared community and connection with and responsibility to this land.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to celebrate and sing the songs of the sea and keep them alive for the next generation. These songs are connected to the sailors of the oceans from many different cultures over many centuries. They are songs usually connected with the work that sailors did on board the ships which they sailed or some other element of sea faring life.

The history of the culture of the ships and seamen and exploration and trade routes of the seas is fascinating and we will include stories and explanations of songs in context where possible. We may include other working songs and some others that vary from the genre of sea shanties simply because there are other wonderful songs that we love to sing at times.

As members of Kiama Shanty Club we acknowledge that some of the songs that we will sing come from the era of the colonization of this land and are for the most part eurocentric. Let us as a group make it clear that in no way are we celebrating the colonization of these lands, nor the effects that colonization has had on the Wodi Wodi people or First Nations peoples in other parts the world. We just want to sing the songs of the sea which are part of our collective heritage.

We are an inclusive organization and we welcome all people regardless of their gender, religious beliefs, ethnicity, sexuality or age. There are no minimum levels of ability or performance considerations either. We encourage everyone to simply join in and have fun.

We recognize the importance of understanding that often the language used in previous eras such as references to enslaved peoples and patriarchal references to women may be deemed to be offensive in present times. For these reasons some shanty lyrics may be modified to avoid offence. Members are encouraged to point out any source of offence and we can change our lyrics where necessary.

Venue - We are fortunate that Tory's Pub ( The Kiama Inn Hotel ) has embraced us and allow us to perform there regularly. We meet every Wednesday during school term at 7.45pm and have time off during school holidays.

Aaaaargh lets get on with it and sing our lungs out….

Ian Backhouse

Captain