John Meredith (folklorist)

John Stanley Raymond Meredith (17 January 1920 – 18 February 2001) was an Australian pioneer folklorist from Holbrook, New South Wales whose work influenced the Australian folk music revival of the 1950s. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1986 for service to Australian folklore and music, and became a Member of the Order of Australia in 1992 for service to the Arts, particularly in the collection and preservation of Australian folklore.

A pioneer collector of Australian folk music and song, John Meredith was born in Holbrook, New South Wales, to Bert and Ellen Meredith. Bert played the button (bush) accordion, often playing dance tunes for his family after dinner. Bert Meredith worked as a drover along the Darling and Murrumbidgee rivers in NSW and was often away. His father played the button accordion, an old and much patched Mezon Grand Organ model he probably learned to play whilst away droving and when he was at home he played the popular songs and dances of the Bush. He also played the mouth organ, using a tin pannikin as a resonator or playing the bones as he played on mouth organ. He died when John was only nine years old, but many of his tunes stayed in John’s mind.

Ellen looked after John and six more on a small block in Holbrook and he remembers that she sang a little as she worked and she entertained the kids with readings from Australian books and magazines such as The Bulletin. Meredith took up the button accordion and at the age of fourteen, when Ellen promised him a brand new "Melba" model if he learnt how to play on his father's old and patched Mezon. He learned to play from the locals as well as learning some tunes from the gramophone. At seventeen or eighteen he began to assist with the playing at local dances and later would play for the entire evening if no other musician was available.

Meredith was educated at Holbrook Public School until the age of fourteen but was unable to complete the Intermediate Certificate as the family did not have the means to purchase the required school books. He developed an interest in Australian bush songs when he bought a copy of Banjo Paterson's Old Bush Songs. At the same time, he discovered photography. These three discoveries, music, bush songs and photographs were to become Meredith's lifetime passions.

...
Wikipedia