Talk:Bill Scott (author)

Reliable source
Is http://www.restlessmusic.com.au/ a totally reliable source? Doesn't seem to be. Michellecrisp (talk) 06:56, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Seems about as reliable as any other record company website to me. What are your reasons for believing it's not reliable? --Gene_poole (talk) 07:22, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Then I wouldn't class it as very reliable. It's a primary source. No_original_research. Independent sources such as newspapers are better. Michellecrisp (talk) 12:45, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

I will add when I get a chance
I got temporary access to this article:

Source: Folklore

Publication Date: 01-DEC-06 Bill Scott (1923-2005).(Obituary)

Bill Scott--Australian folklorist, song-writer, storyteller and poet--died just before Christmas 2005. He had been in increasingly poor health for some time, then a stroke in early December spelt the beginning of the end.

I had corresponded with Bill for about twenty years and he was the only pen-friend I ever had generous enough to put up with my hopelessness as a letter-writer. For every letter I wrote to him, he wrote me three long ones full of stories, news, ideas and weather reports from his beloved Condamine River. Many of the letters were accompanied by little gifts, tapes, books--on one occasion a piece of smoky quartz from the Snowy Mountains, which he said I was to hold up to the light to help me visualise some of the scenes of his early life prospecting for gold. For Bill had had a very varied career before turning to full-time writing--umbrella maker, prospector, bookseller and sailor, to mention only a few.

Bill was born in Bundaberg, Queensland, and grew up in Caboolture and then in Brisbane, and loved the Australian countryside. He began writing poetry when he was serving with the Royal Australian Navy in World War II, his first poem being published when he was only twenty-one. Over a career lasting until his death he made a name as a collector of Australian folklore and folksongs, and he wrote or edited 51 books in prose and verse firmly rooted in the Australian cultural tradition. Probably the best known of these is The Complete Book of Australian Folklore (first published in 1976).

Bill was a free and generous spirit who will be greatly missed. His epitaph perhaps should come from the refrain of his poem "The Old Man's Song": "What is this life if it isn't a song?"

Bill's other works include the following:


 * Story compilations: The Long, the Short and the Tall: A Collection of Australian Yarns (1985), Lies, Flies and Strange Big Fish: Tall Tales from the Bush (2000), and Pelicans and Chihuahuas and Other Urban Legends (1996), which was compiled from his long-running column in Queensland Folk.


 * Song collections: Bushranger Ballads (1976) and The Second Australian Song Book (1980).


 * A collection of comic poems: The Penguin Book of Humorous Verse (1984).


 * Volumes of his own verse: Following the Gold (1989) and See What I've Got! (2001).


 * Tape-recordings of his songs: "Hey, Rain!" and "Songbird in Your Pocket."

ChildofMidnight (talk) 07:13, 19 December 2008 (UTC)
 * A novella: The Currency Lad (1994).


 * Thanks for placing it here. Whilst we may not agree on the notability of this, I admire your good faith in editing. Michellecrisp (talk) 07:15, 19 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Added. If the article needs to be deleted from this talk page, I'm happy to do so, but I'm not sure if I'm supposed to. So I'm leaving it for now. ChildofMidnight (talk) 22:29, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

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