Australian Festival of Progressive Music, Myponga – Daddy Cool

Chris Löfvén’s experimental film Part One: 806 follows the life and times of a group of friends and musicians over the years of 1969, 1970 and 1971. Included in the visual diary is footage from the Australian Festival of Progressive Music held at Myponga in South Australia.

The festival took place on the last weekend of January 1971 and was promoted by the company Music Power, the main figure of which was Hamish Henry, a millionaire entrepreneur and band manager.

In this clip a bus full of friends arrive at the festival, and we see an ecstatic embrace between Adrian Rawlins and Lyne Helms. Rawlins, a poet, promoter and organiser, was the compere at Myponga, and also helped host Ourimbah in 1970, Odyssey Wallacia Pop Festival the same month as Myponga, and the first Sunbury in 1972.

Here he hugs Helms, a producer of Part One: 806 who went on to work with Löfvén on the film Oz – A Rock 'n' Roll Road Movie (1976). Beside the bus and draped in starry robes is the ‘Wizard of New Zealand’, Ian Channell, who also performed at the 1971 Aquarius Festival in Canberra.

Myponga was a key event for the band Daddy Cool, who had only been performing together for a few months and were relatively unknown at the time. Daddy Cool had played the weekend before Myponga at Wallacia, and their performances were highlights of both festivals.

The band are shown both on and off-stage among the collage of people and happenings spliced together in Löfvén’s film. In the tent we see Daddy Cool’s frontman Ross Wilson sitting next to his pregnant wife Pat Wilson, a singer and journalist who sometimes wrote under the pen name ‘Mummy Cool’.

Löfvén’s footage of Daddy Cool on stage at Myponga was also used in his groundbreaking film clip of the band’s hit song 'Eagle Rock'.