‘Meet Saltbush Bill – A Real Troubador of the Outback’, Western Mail, 1 July 1954

‘Meet Saltbush Bill – A Real Troubador of the Outback’, Western Mail, 1 July 1954

Band, entertainment, folk music, itinerant, lyric poetry, minstrel, music, outback, performers, Saltbush Bill, singer, travelling show, troubadour, wandering singers, William Rawle.

This interest piece from the Western Mail in 1954 introduces readers to Saltbush Bill, a travelling Australian folk band created and led by Queenslander William Rawle. The article likens the band to the troubadours of the medieval period, because they toured a number of small, outback Australian towns. Troubadours were travelling performers - or ‘wandering minstrels’ - in the High Middle Ages, who moved from town to town singing and reciting lyrical poetry, which were often based on themes of chivalry and courtly love.

Frank Devine

TROVE: National Library of Australia, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article39362684

1 July 1954, p.48

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