Meredith, John, 1920-2001

Folk musician and folklorist. A self-taught musician, Meredith formed the original Bushwhackers band in 1952 and was a founding member of the Bush Music Club (1954) and early editor of its magazine Singabout. In 1954 he also became secretary of the new Australian Folklore Society. Meredith spent many years collecting and recording hundreds of traditional Australian folk-songs and bush-dance music. With the aid of a government fellowship and together with Hugh Anderson, he collected material for and published Folksongs of Australia Vol. 1 in 1967. Vol. 2 was published in 1987. Meredith went on to publish a number of books relating to the Australian folk music scene and to write many of his own songs including two ballad operas, The wild colonial boy and How many miles from Gundagai?

J. Meredith has collected and edited Australian bush songs.