Meredith Collection

John Meredith (1920–2001) dedicated his life to capturing the sounds and stories of Australian folk culture. Travelling across the country for decades, he recorded bush songs, dance tunes, rhymes and recitations—preserving voices and traditions that might otherwise have been lost. As a co-founder of the Bushwhackers band, he helped revive bush music and dancing in the 1950s, and he shared his knowledge widely through books and articles on Australian folklore. His collection includes thousands of field recordings, photographs and handwritten notes, offering a vivid glimpse into Australia’s cultural history.

Performing arts

Key items in the collection

Highlights from this collection demonstrate its historical significance and variety.

John Meredith folklore field recordings, 1953-1961

This original set includes 31 reels recorded between 1953 and 1956 in Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Mudgee, Gulgong, Lithgow, Wallerawang, Holbrook and other parts of New South Wales.

It features over 100 singers, musicians, writers, storytellers and informants, including:

Sally Sloane
Jack Luscombe
Frank Hardy
Alan Marshall
Jack Lee
Duke Tritton
John Manifold
Bill Scott.

John Meredith folklore collection

This later collection contains 556 reels and 17 cassettes recorded between 1981 and 1994. Meredith began in New South Wales — especially around Mudgee, Gulgong and Thirlmere — but later recorded across all states.

He documented performers and informants in Broken Hill, Orange, the south coast of New South Wales, Rockhampton, western Queensland, the Australian Alps, central Victoria, the Adelaide Hills, Kangaroo Island, south-eastern Tasmania and more.

The recordings include folk songs, dance music, recitations and extensive oral histories. Topics range from Aboriginal beliefs and droving to forest use and environmental concerns.

The photograph collection includes over 2,600 negatives taken by John Meredith during his field recording trips between 1953 and 1992. Taken across Australia, they feature portraits of folk and bush musicians and their instruments.

It also holds 254 prints created by Meredith for the Real Folk exhibition, first shown in Mudgee and later at the Library in 1989–90.

John Meredith’s papers span from 1948 until his death and fill 30 boxes. They’re organised into the following series:

General correspondence
Personal documents
Newspaper cuttings
Business papers
Photographs
Field notes
Published writings
Unpublished writings
Miscellaneous papers.

Most of the correspondence is from 1979 to 2001. Notable correspondents include:

Hugh Anderson
Shirley Andrews
Gwenda Davey
Ron Edwards
Mary Gilmore
Nancy Keesing
Wendy Lowenstein
Keith McKenry
Alan Scott
Bill Scott
Graham Seal
Chris Sullivan
Edgar Waters
Rob Willis.

Papers of John Stanley Raymond Meredith, 1948-2001

Personal photographs of Meredith, his friends, many of his field trips, and the Bushwhackers can be found in both the personal papers in the Manuscripts Collection and the Pictures Collection.

Real Folk

The Real Folk photographs negatives and prints are held in the Pictures Collection. Most of the prints have been individually catalogued and digitised.

About John Meredith

Early years and influences

John Meredith was born in 1920 in rural New South Wales. After leaving school at 14, he worked various jobs before moving to Melbourne in the 1940s. His political engagement grew during this period, and he joined the Communist Party of Australia. In the 1950s, Meredith settled in Sydney, working in pharmaceuticals and immersing himself in the city’s folk music scene.

Reviving bush music

In 1953, Meredith co-founded the Bushwhackers, a folk group that gained national attention through performances in Reedy River. The group helped spark a revival of bush music and dance, particularly in country towns and at community events.

Fieldwork and folklore

Meredith began recording oral histories in 1953, capturing songs and stories from older generations. He was among the first in Australia to use a tape recorder for this purpose. Although he paused his fieldwork in the early 1960s, he resumed collecting in 1981 and continued until the mid-1990s. His recordings span decades and regions, preserving traditional voices that may have otherwise faded.

Writing and legacy

In addition to his fieldwork, Meredith authored several books on folklore and colonial history, including Folk Songs of Australia and Frank the Poet. He lived his later years in Thirlmere and eventually returned to Holbrook, where he remained active in folklore circles.

Books written by Meredith include:

Background to the collection

In 1966, John Meredith sold his original collection of field recordings and research notes to the Library.
He resumed collecting in the 1980s, and in 1983 the Library offered its support. For the next 12 years, it provided Meredith with a tape recorder, tapes, and an annual grant. His recordings were sent to the Library regularly from 1987 to 1995.

Meredith also began transferring his correspondence and personal papers in 1985, with instalments continuing until 1999. Between 1990 and 1993, the Library acquired a selection of his photographs, which featured in an exhibition called Real Folk.

After his death, Meredith’s executors donated more papers and manuscripts, further enriching the collection.

Papers of John Stanley Raymond Meredith, 1948-2001

The personal papers and manuscripts are held in the Manuscripts Collection. Use the finding aid.

John Meredith folklore field recordings, 1953-1961

Housed and catalogued in the Oral History Collection.

Real Folk (1953-1992)

The Real Folk photographs negatives and prints are held in the Pictures Collection. Most of the prints have been individually catalogued and digitised.

Summaries of the Meredith oral history, photographs and manuscript collections are contained in Folklore Collector, Photographer, Writer, Performer: John Meredith, A Tribute (2006).

This guide was prepared using these references:

Kevin Bradley, Folklore Collector, Photographer, Writer, Performer: John Meredith, A Tribute, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 2006.
Mark Cranfield, Fifty Years of “Crashing and Jingling”, National Library of Australia News, vol. 14 (8), May 2004, pp. 36–7.
John Meredith, Real Folk, National Library of Australia, Canberra, 1995 (with introduction by Daniel Connell).
Peter Parkhill, John Meredith and the Men and Women who Sang and Played for Him, Australian folklore : a yearly journal of folklore studies, no. 15, 2000, pp. 1–15.
Edgar Waters, Oral history interview with John Meredith, 1995, ORAL TRC 3225