"He had his collection of antique furniture shipped out to Australia," says Swarbrick friend, bass player Dave Pegg. "By the time it arrived, the marriage was over and he had to ship it back."

"She was an heiress to a fortune that was made in plugs, tiles and mines," Swarbrick said in an interview in 2013. "And I'd say the money had something to do with the break-up. It made the arguments a touch more intense."

For Swarbrick, a graduate of the intensely socialist British folk scene of the '60s, money was a byproduct of ceaseless gigging and recording, an exchange for the roof over his head, three meals a day and change for tobacco and whisky. He remained in the Blue Mountains after his marriage ended, searching for kindred souls in the folk scene. Impressed by the fervour of Scottish migrant folk singer Alistair Hulett, he asked a mutual friend, John Penhallow, for an introduction.

"That began an immediate musical/political relationship," Penhallow says. "They made three left-of-centre albums but I can't recall that anyone's ever written a right-wing folk song."

Dave Swarbrick was born in New Malden, Surrey, near London, on April 5, 1941. He learned to play the fiddle as a child but switched to guitar during Britain's skiffle craze of the late '50s. Pianist Beryl Marriott, an influential figure of the folk scene, persuaded him to return to the fiddle, mentoring his rise to British folk's top fiddler; first with the Ian Campbell Folk Group then with guitarist Martin Carthy.

The intuitive interplay between Carthy's guitar and Swarbrick's fiddle caused a sensation.

"No one came near them for innovation," says Pegg who had played with Swarbrick in the Ian Campbell Group.

"Their records changed lives," music commentator Stuart Coupe says.

Swarbrick was the first in British folk to play the electric fiddle.

"Once you make a fiddle electric, you can do nearly anything with it," he said. "If there's something enchanting, that requires you to be off-the-wall, spooky and mysterious you can really do it."

"He adapted to rock amplification very quickly," Pegg says. "He soon had a huge effects board – phase, delay, wah-wah pedal… "

At the same time, members of the band Fairport Convention were considering how to reinvigorate British folk. An electric fiddle player interested them.

"Really, they were a just a bunch of Muswell Hill kids," says Penhallow, who helped the band find gigs beyond the local church hall.

Initially, the band covered American singer-songwriters, with 17-year-old guitarist Richard Thompson's versatility the key to their sound. Singer Sandy Denny joined in 1968 and suggested the band rework traditional songs. In 1969, recording the album, Unhalfbricking, Fairport asked Swarbrick to let loose his electric fiddle on the folk lament, A Sailor's Tale. The epic, 11-minute result turned English folk on its head, with spontaneous solos from Thompson and Swarbrick heralding the future of folk rock as adrenalin-driven musicianship. Fairport asked Swarbrick to join the band. Fairport's next album, Liege & Lief, consolidated the genre of electric folk .

Fairport was very much an extended family, with members leaving and returning so regularly it became a tradition that no two consecutive albums featured the same line-up. Denny left Fairport after Liege & Lief, forming Fotheringay with her soon-to-be husband, Australian guitarist/songwriter Trevor Lucas. Thompson left in 1971 after Full House, the only Fairport album to chart in Australia – No. 16 in 1970.

Pegg joined in 1970. Swarbrick stayed, upping his contribution of songwriting and vocals, replacing Thompson as Fairport's key player.

He cut a dashing figure on stage; "a small, dynamic, charismatic figure, cigarette perched precariously on his bottom lip, unruly hair flapping over his face, pint of beer ever at hand, who could electrify an audience with a single frenzied sweep of his bow".

Fairport Convention's first Australian tours, in 1973 and 1974, puzzled and delighted fans. In 1973, the band was advertised 'With Sandy Denny'. It turned out Lucas, now Denny's husband was on stage but Sandy was not. In 1994 Fairport played Melbourne and Sydney, with Denny as an unannounced "special guest".

The advertising of Denny in 1973 still mystifies Pegg but he can explain her presence in 1974. "We'd toured Japan and Sandy tagged along with Trevor," Pegg says. "Seeing us play made her long to be on stage. When we got to Australia, we said, 'Let's just do it'."

"I grew up on a heavy diet of traditional and contemporary English, Scottish and Irish folk – and loved when it melded with my other passion of rock'n'roll," Coupe says. "When my parents asked what I wanted for my 18th birthday in 1974, I asked for an air ticket to fly from Launceston to Melbourne to see Fairport Convention's two concerts. I especially wanted to see the astonishing, thrilling playing of Dave Swarbrick. Sandy Denny rejoining the band for this tour was an added bonus."

The band's Sydney Opera House shows were recorded for the band's first live album, Fairport Live Convention.

Denny and Lucas featured on Fairport's 1975 album Rising for the Moon then split with the band. In 1977 Denny gave birth to their daughter Georgia. In 1978, concerned with his wife's erratic behaviour, Lucas flew with Georgia to Australia. Denny died a few weeks later from a brain haemorrhage, the result of falling downstairs after heavy drinking. "I have never got over her dying," Swarbrick said in the interview.

Swarbrick left Fairport in 1979, a decade and 10 studio albums later.

"They were the happiest years I have spent on the planet," he said. "We were all each other's best pals. We were creating wonderful music. And none of us took any prisoners when it came to having a good time."

Back in Australia, Lucas remarried and produced records, including Goanna's Solid Rock. He died in his sleep of a heart attack in 1989.

"Swarb came out for the wake," Penhallow says. "He was very concerned for Georgia. He was always concerned for everyone. 'How are you?' he'd ask. 'You all right?' He hid any concern for his own state of health."

As a child, Swarbrick had suffered hearing difficulties. "During my stint with Fairport the volume damaged what hearing was left and there is no cure for damaged ears."

He eventually adapted to tinnitus and was able to play the electric violin again for short sessions. The cigarette constantly on his bottom lip was more problematic. Pegg, visiting during Swarbrick's time in the Blue Mountains and noticed his friend's gasps for breath while they walked in the mountains. "He had emphysema then," Pegg says.

In 2004 Swarbrick underwent a double lung transplant and then confounded the medical profession by returning to recording and performing. He appeared with Fairport Convention on several reunions and recorded a solo album in 2010.

In 2014 he undertook a 17-venue tour of Britain, supported by folk trio Said the Maiden, and a gathering of young folk artists.

He died on June 3, 2016, survived by his wife, the painter Jill Swarbrick-Banks, a son and two daughters.

Anthony O'Grady