Graham Jenkin – November 15 2020

Australian Music Month – November

Graham is a poet, historian, composer, and educator. He holds a Diplomas of Teaching and Engineering, Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees and a PhD. Educated at various country schools, Graham spent two years working as a jackeroo on stations in northern South Australia, then studied full-time becoming a lecturer and academic before resigning in 1995 to take up writing full-time. In 1961, Graham founded the Tea and Damper Club and in 1968, he formed The Overlanders, both dedicated to preserving bush songs and ballads. Graham’s 1976 Masters thesis was titled The Aborigines’ Friends’ Association and the Ngarrindjeri People, and in 1979 he won the Wilke Award for Australian non-fiction for Conquest of the Ngarrindjeri: The Story of the Lower Murray Lakes Tribes, based on George Taplin’s journals. In 1996, Graham was awarded the title of National Non-Indigenous Person of the Year by the National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC), for services to Aboriginal historiography. Graham’s other children’s books include The Famous Race for Wombat’s Lace (illustrated by Will Mahony Jenkin), The Ballad of the Blue Lake Bunyip (illustrated by John Draper), and Convict Times, co-written with Jill McArthur and Wendy Legge. His other musical works include Favourite Australian Bush Songs (with Lionel Long) and Calling Me Home: The Romance of South Australia in Story and Song, based on a selection of South Australian poetry and what certain poets have written about South Australia, for which he composed the sheet music.

The Songs from Meralte, JB Publishing, 2003 The author has composed songs based on the book for a theatrical production. Copies of the words and music are available by request to JB Publishing.
Meralte: The Boat by Janis Koolmateri and Graham Jenkin – Illustrated by Joedie Davis
JB Publishing, 2003; ISBN 9781876622466
Young adult
A beautifully crafted story set 10,000 years ago about two children who set out on a 700km trek from Kopperamana near Lake Eyre to the Southern Ocean. The reason for this epic journey is the very rare phenomenon of Lake Eyre actually having water in it, and becoming a proper lake on which boats could be sailed – if only boats had been available in Central Australia! The brother and sister who so desperately wish to procure a meralte (or boat) undergo many exciting adventures but from the outset they begin to discover that human issues such as fear and friendship, cruelty and compassion are more important than material possessions.

The Bardunyah Ballads – Illustrated by Robin Allardice
Simtrak Studios, 1992; ISBN 0731697723
The Bardunyah Ballads is a selection of Graham Jenkins’ poetry and humour. With a Foreword by Ian McNamara, it is available in book form and/or cassette from the publisher.
Two Years on Bardunyah Station: Being an Account of the Experiences of a Jackaroo, Together with Some Poems, Etc the Only Excuse Offered for the Drawings is that They Were Done by Candlelight
Pitjantjara Publishers, 1967; ISBN 9780908087303