Mooni Creek Family Band
Mooni Creek hail from the foothills of a mountain on Wangerriburra Country, singing songs both original and old — songs that carry story, memory, and the echo of where we come from, where we are now, and where we are going.
Blending folk and country with Celtic and Colonial roots, our family band plays with sweet harmonies and a mix of guitar, fiddle, trumpet, bass, percussion, and the lagaphone. We sing and play to remember, to gather, to tell a good story, to create new threads and keep the old ones alive in the place we love.
Down in Ya Bones was born in the stillness of the early 2020s, when isolation slowed everything and made space to feel what truly mattered. With family time abundant and the land asking to be tended, a small tune began running through me as I worked — a tune I soon realised was rising from my ancestors, carried in my bones.
That tune unfurled into a whole story, a folk‑opera of sorts — a sequence of songs remembering how my Scottish roots found their way to the land of Australia. The making of this album took us on a journey of grief, love, and gratitude. The story goes something like this……
Come gather around,
We will tell you of a town,
Family founded,
Australian bush surrounded.
A journey we will take,
To see how it ended,
Folklores befriended,
Homestead defended,
Come Gather Around..
My story comes from long lines of strong, resilient, and hard working men and women, of Polish, Swiss, English, Scottish and Irish heritage. I have always been drawn to the questions, Where have I come from? Where do my roots lie? What are my blood and bones made up of, and where have they been?
One day, these tunes came through me. One after the after. Bubbling up to the surface, with such heat and urgency to be told. They came from a place deep down in my bones. It wasn’t long before I knew, a story was emerging. The melodies of my ancestral lineage of my father, The Mitchell family…
This story begins in 1858, when my great great great grand parents Andrew and Martha Mitchell, packed up their life in Fife, Scotland and voyaged the seas to Victoria, Australia in search of a New Great Promise. The promise of opportunity for those who dare, the potential of a better life to raise a family, the promise of Ballarat gold for those willing….
The promise was short-lived, and the goldrush concluded. Opportunity for the Mitchells took a new form; the regional land grab. The government of the day opened up pastoral settlement lands to the west of Melbourne for logging and farming. Around 1868, Andrew and Martha, with now five young children in toe, moved from Joyces Creek, south of Ballarat and settled in the area of Boho, outside of Violet Town, 88 miles from Melbourne.
However, this new opportunity for my family, this new life, was built on a largely unspoken part of our history, the slaughter of the aboriginal people.
Between 1838 -1842, the aboriginal people of this area Taungurung nation were killed and chased from their lands shattering their long history, the deep spiritual union with their lands, their traditions, customs and their homes. 20 years later, this would be the place where my family moved in…on stolen land.
Such a complex time, pioneering, the Mitchell family would have been on the outer edges of the extreme mistreatment and violence towards of the aboriginal people. Caught up in the advancement of this new society. Legends and folklores were forming and being played-out. White settlers were adapting to the new harsh climate conditions of Australia. At the same time, Andrew and Martha, were addressing their own immediate survival and laying down the foundations for their growing family.
Their son Robert, my great great grandfather, became a well-respected member of the community of Violet Town, a hard working businessman, becoming the local Stock and Station agent, and entrepreneur, bringing the first steam engine to the district. Known for his generosity and a Ned Kelly sympathizer, Robert Mitchell from what I know, was a man with a heart and vision. He married Mary Grogan, a girl with similar Scottish roots, a devoted school teacher and leader in the community also.
This story, these songs are a depiction of what we imagine life to be like during this time, for Robert and Mary, life on the land, putting down their new roots, and founding their new family.
This is my story, now part of my family’s story, and so on….
It’s down in our bones.
Buy our album here of listen here