recordings Hood began to record traditional music, folklore and oral histories when he was touring in rural New South Wales in 1968. In 1972 he recorded Aboriginal children of Arnhem Land singing and chanting while on an Arts Council tour of the Northern Territory. These recordings became part of the Alex and Annette Hood Collection now held at the National Library of Australia, which consists of about 200 recordings made between 1968 and 2006. The early recordings contain folk music and folklore, but most of the later recordings are oral histories including interviews with miners, drovers, bullock drivers, farmers, folk singers and dancers, as well as a cattle dealer, a photographer, a town planner, a jockey, a conservationist, a coach builder and a doctor, mostly recorded in New South Wales with some forays into Queensland. Included in the interviewees are politicians (Doug Anthony), photographers (Robert Walker), writers (Merv Lilley and Roger Milliss), singers (Marian Henderson) and the dancer Garry Lester. Australian Folk Theatre (Alex and Annette Hood) In 1982 Alex met Annette James (b. 1948 in Sydney), who had trained as a dancer, and together they created their "Alex and Annette Hood's Australian Folk Theatre". Subsequently married to Hood, she accompanied him on his country tours and in particular was responsible for the puppets, costumes and backdrops for the Folk Theatre show, which toured Australia for 24 years performing songs, dances, stories and yarns to audiences of children, having completed over 7,500 shows by 2012. The show often featured humanitarian and environmental themes and toured constantly, filling out its busy schools schedule with additional shows for adults and performances at Australian folk festivals. Later career Hood kept up a busy schedule as entertainer, recording musician, playwright and actor for many years and was featured in 2014 (aged 78–79) at Sydney's still-operational Bush Music Club, as well as the 2017 Illawarra Folk Festival. Together with his wife Annette, he eventually retired to the Kiama district of New South Wales, where he continues to perform in public on an occasional basis. Meanwhile, Alex and Annette continue to make oral history recordings for the National Library of Australia; by late 2019 there were 63 such sessions added to the relevant collection dated 2010 and later. Alex and Annette Hood received the 2020 National Folk Festival Lifetime Achievement Award for "significant commitment and contribution to enriching folk music and culture in Australia". Discography With