William Neville Scott OAM (4 October 1923 – 22 December 2005) was an Australian author,

folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

, songwriter, poet, and collector of

bush ballads The bush ballad, bush song, or bush poem is a style of poetry and folk music that depicts the life, character and scenery of the Australian bush. The typical bush ballad employs a straightforward rhyme structure to narrate a story, often one of ...

and Australian folk history.Jam article He has published anthologies of Australian bush songs, including the best selling book ''The Complete Book of Australian Folklore'' published in 1976. He was awarded the Order of Australia in 1992 for his contributions to

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

, and

Australian literature Australian literature is the literature, written or literary work produced in the area or by the people of the Australia, Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding colonies. During its early Western culture, Western history, Australia was a ...

. He was considered a living treasure,Legacy article, Scott and his anthologies of songs and his donated collections continue his legacy.

Childhood and early career

Bill Scott was born in

Bundaberg Bundaberg () is the major regional city in the Wide Bay-Burnett region of the state of Queensland, Australia. It is the List of cities in Australia by population, ninth largest city in the state. The Bundaberg central business district is situa ...

, Queensland, and grew up in

Caboolture Caboolture () is a town and suburb in the City of Moreton Bay, Queensland, Australia. It is located on the northern side of the Caboolture River. In the , the suburb of Caboolture had a population of 29,534 people. Geography Caboolture is ...

and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. He began writing poetry while serving in the

Royal Australian Navy The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) is the navy, naval branch of the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The professional head of the RAN is Chief of Navy (Australia), Chief of Navy (CN) Vice admiral (Australia), Vice Admiral Mark Hammond (admiral), Ma ...

during World War II and had his first poem published in '' The Bulletin'' in 1944 when he was twenty-one. After the war he traveled around Queensland working as a sugar cane cutter, umbrella maker,Obit, Folklore steam-engine driver, and gold-prospector. He was also a worker in the smelters of

Mount Isa Mount Isa ( ) is a city in the Gulf Country region of Queensland, Australia. It came into existence because of the vast mineral deposits found in the area. Mount Isa Mines (MIM) is one of the most productive mines in world history, based on co ...

, and a seaman on a lighthouse tender in the 1950s before working at a publishing house.ABC Sunday Starting in 1974 he wrote full-time. In 1976 he compiled ''The Complete Book of Australian Folklore'', a book that has been in print almost continuously ever since. He also edited and compiled ''The Second Penguin Australian Songbook''.ABC Sunday Scott completed 51 books of prose and poetry, and is renowned as a collector and writer of Australian folk stories and songs. He also wrote novels, short stories, verse, biographies, magazine articles, anthologies and songs, with some of his poetry and short stories anthologised in various collections. Late in life he moved from Brisbane to

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

in the

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generally ...

, where he spent his last 18 years of life. He wrote long letters "full of stories, news, ideas and weather reports from his beloved

Condamine River The Condamine River, part of the Balonne catchment that is part of the Murray-Darling Basin, drains the northern portion of the Darling Downs, an area of sub-coastal southern Queensland, Australia. The river is approximately 500 kilometres (3 ...

". He shared little gifts, tapes, books and even a rock of smoky quartz from the

Snowy Mountains The Snowy Mountains, known informally as "The Snowies", is an IBRA subregion in southern New South Wales, Australia, and is the tallest mountain range in mainland Australia, being part of the continent's Great Dividing Range, a cordillera syste ...

, as a reminder of his prospecting days, with friends.

Accomplishments

Many of his poems are well known and recited by school children. Scott was also a founding member of the Queensland Folk Federation that now runs the

Woodford Folk Festival The Woodford Folk Festival is an annual music and cultural festival held near the semi-rural town of Woodford, Queensland, Woodford, north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, Queensland, Australia. It is one of the biggest annual cultural e ...

. Ian McNamara of ABC Radio said, "We as people are all better off for the muse of a bloke like Bill." His song ''Hey Rain'' was used as the namesake for the documentary on his 50-year "folkie" career, with the subtitle ''The songs and stories of Bill Scott''. The documentary has been featured on ABC's Sunday afternoon program.ABC Sunday ABC's description of the show notes, "Continuing the tradition of Australian

bush poet The bush ballad, bush song, or bush poem is a style of poetry and folk music that depicts the life, character and scenery of the Australian bush. The typical bush ballad employs a straightforward rhyme structure to narrate a story, often one of ...

s like

Henry Lawson Henry Archibald Hertzberg Lawson (17 June 1867 – 2 September 1922) was an Australian writer and bush poet. Along with his contemporary Banjo Paterson, Lawson is among the best-known Australian poets and fiction writers of the colonial period ...

and

Banjo Paterson Andrew Barton "Banjo" Paterson, (17 February 18645 February 1941) was an Australian bush poet, journalist and author, widely considered one of the greatest writers of Australia's colonial period. Born in rural New South Wales, Paterson worke ...

is... Bill Scott. A popular performer at the Woodford Folk Festival over the years where most of this documentary is set, this is an affectionate look at a charming man with a lot of great memories." The documentary's liner notes say, "He's a story teller, he's Bill Scott, and this is his song". An obituary in ''Folklore'' suggested the refrain of his poem "The Old Man's Song" as an epitaph: "What good is your life if it isn't a song?"

''Hey Rain'' documentary

First broadcast on the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

in 2005, Hey Rain is a documentary that celebrates the life and works of Bill Scott. "It looks at Bill's lifelong fascination with Australian folklore and the role he played in collecting it, loving it and bringing it to an ever widening audience. (It) touches on Bill's poems, stories and songs and contains performances by

Dave de Hugard Dave de Hugard (born 1945) is an Australian musician and folklorist. He has been described as "the country's foremost interpreter of the 'old bush songs'". He was nominated for the 1987 ARIA Award for Best Indigenous Release. Discography *''Fre ...

, Penny Davies and Roger Ilott, and it also features a song dedicated to Bill by that extraordinary performer,

Ted Egan Edward Joseph Egan (born 6 July 1932) is an Australian folk musician and a former public servant who served as Administrator of the Northern Territory from 2003 to 2007. Early life Egan was born in Coburg, Victoria, and was educated at Parade ...

Bibliography

Song collections

* ''Bushranger Ballads'' (1976) * ''The Second Australian Song Book'' (1980) * Tape-recordings of his songs: "Hey, Rain!" and "Songbird in Your Pocket" * CD of his songs ''Opal Miner - The Songs of Bill Scott'' recorded by Penny Davies and Roger Ilott in 1999 on Restless Music label * Expanded CD of his songs accompanies DVD ''Hey Rain - The Songs and Stories of Bill Scott'' documentary seen on ABC TV

Notes

References

"Bill Scott passes away"
(JAM: NSW Folk Federation) Accessed: 29 January 2007
"Passionate Bill loved folk: Renowned author leaves lasting legacy"
by Jen Scott 28 December 2005 ''Warwick Daily News''
''It's an Honour''
William Neville Scott Medal of the Order of Australia, accessdate 19 December 2008

accessdate 19 December 2008
"Bill Scott passes away"
Jam.org article, accessdate 19 December 2008 *Ian McNamara, ABC Radio, ''Australia All Over'' August 1999 *''Obituary'' 1 December 2006 Folklore

External links

National Library of Australia – Extended Bibliography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Bill 1923 births 2005 deaths Australian children's writers People from Bundaberg Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Royal Australian Navy personnel of World War II Australian folklorists 20th-century Australian poets Australian male poets 20th-century Australian male writers