William Neville Scott (1923–2005)

An intriguing new acquisition of mine. First published in 1976, in the aftermath of the removal of a quintessentially Australian Prime Minister and the beginning of a national debate about our culture in the lead-up to 1988's bicentennial, this book is - as noted in the dedication - an attempt to preserve folk songs and tales that would otherwise have been neglected and, perhaps, lost. In the headlong rush to the 21st century, and with a lack of interest by my generation in reading the background or history to, well, anything, there is a real sense that we see the past and its culture only as a surface reading. Only interested in how a quote can be used at the bottom of a meme, or how a book can be reworked somehow into a musical-based-on-a-movie-based-on-a-videogame-based-on-a-classic. And if Americans or Brits think they have it bad, try living in Australia where we gulp down overseas entertainments while crossing the street whenever we see an Aussie film, book, or musician coming the other way.

Bill Scott, in his introduction, seeks to defend the tradition - he argues, unique to Australia - wherein our popular folk culture of the last 200 years is combined with our literary and serious inheritances from our motherland, and protect it as we enter an uncertain, global future. A good half of the book, interestingly, is taken up with traditional songs and ballads, including basic musical transcriptions where available. It's an immensely valuable resource. Alongside a brief history of Australia since Captain Cook, Scott includes numerous "tall stories", a series of traditional tales to define life in Australia during the late 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, a range of poems, and various errata, ranging from explanations of dance moves to Christmas advertisements of the mid-20th century. It's a delightful if esoteric bundle.

This is not perhaps a collection you'll return to with great regularity but as a younger Australian increasingly discovering my own history, I'm pleased to have it on my shelf.

It's worth noting that this is a history of what we might call "colonial Australia". In his introduction, Scott clearly indicates his sorrow for the tragic way white people gained this country, however this is not a book about Indigenous folk lore nor, for that matter, about the European or Asian or African migrant experiences. This is a book about the folklore of the English and Irish settlers and the culture they created. There's nothing wrong with that - my father's people have been here for 200 years, so this is very much my culture and these are very much my stories. But it's worth noting that anything else lies outside this book's purview.… (más)