"The Drover's Boy" is a song by
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 ...
.
:
Songs on the album (all composed by Ted Egan):
Book
Egan wrote a book based on the story of the song; ''The Drover's Boy''.
The jacket description reads:
:"Based on a song of the same name and set in the 1920s, The Drover's Boy recalls the time when it was illegal for Caucasians and Aborigines to marry, and the death of an Aborigine went unnoticed by the white community. This popular and moving Australian folk song comes from a true story about a Caucasian drover (the Australian name for a cowboy or sheep herder) who is forced to pass off his Aboriginal wife as his "drover's boy". Ted Egan wrote this song as a tribute to the Aboriginal stockwomen, in the hope that one day their enormous contribution to the Australian pastoral industry might be recognized and honored. Ages 11+."
Compilations and cover versions
*
Amanda Palmer
Amanda MacKinnon Palmer (born April 30, 1976) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and performance artist who is the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo the Dresden Dolls. She performs as a solo artist and was also a memb ...
performed ''The Drover's Boy'' on her 2020 Album ''Forty Five Degrees Bushfire Charity Flash Record''.
* ''The Drover's Boy'' (Ted Egan singer) was one track on this compilation album.
*
John Williamson performed ''The Drover's Boy'' on his 1989 album ''Warragul''. This track won for him the 'Heritage Award' at the Country Music Awards of Australia in 1990.
Bibliography
''The Drover's Boy'' has been collected in:
*
* (text by Peter Forrest; foreword by Dame
Mary Durack
Mary Durack (20 February 1913 – 16 December 1994) was an Australian author and historian. She wrote '' Kings in Grass Castles'' and ''Keep Him My Country''.
Childhood
Mary Durack, born in Adelaide, South Australia, to Michael Patrick Dura ...
; musical notation by Erik Kowarski; cover illustration, Bill Gwydir on the Birdsville Track, by Robert Wettenhall, 1983.)
It has also inspired a series of paintings and a stage production:
* Bob Marchant was winner of
Sir John Sulman Prize
The Sir John Sulman Prize is one of Australia's longest-running art prizes, having been established in 1936.
It is now held concurrently with the Archibald Prize, Australia's best-known art prize, and also with the Wynne Prize, at the Art Galler ...
in 1988 and joint winner in 1987.
*
Movie
Egan saw a potential movie in the story of ''The Drover's Boy'' and commissioned Cinevest Limited to find potential backers. A prospectus was issued in 1995
The funds raised by Cinevest and Egan personally, after pre-production costs were sufficient to capture extensive footage of outback cattle movements on high quality film, but insufficient to guarantee completion of the full-length movie, so the project was abandoned.
In 2015 a hybrid-documentary based on ''The Drover's Boy'' song was released. The short-film, with a run time of 11 minutes, was directed by Margaret McHugh and produced by Lyn Norfor and has been screened at numerous film festivals.
References
External links
Ted Egan singing the song on youtube
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drovers Boy
John Williamson (singer) songs
1993 songs