BILL 'SWAMPY' MARSH

Author, Songwriter and Playwright.

Life and Writing

Bill 'Swampy' Marsh was born in Sydney in 1950. His father was an itinerant 'Bank Johnny'; his mother, a 'House Mum'. He has two older sisters.

When Bill was five, his father was transferred to Moruya, on the south coast of New South Wales. Minus the elder of his sisters, the family followed. After three years his father received his first managerial posting to the small township of Beckom, in the south west of NSW. Minus his second eldest sister, Bill again accompanied his parents. Bill's experiences of bush life were to become the subject of his first book of stories.

Beckom Pop. 64: 'There were fifteen school kids in all, ranging from 5 to 14 years old, all of us weathered by life's elements, even at our tender ages; washed by flood and rain, burnt by sun and bushfire, dried to the core by drought, frozen by frost, pitted in the skin by dust and hail. But not a single one among us knew the first thing about the gentle art of song.'
(Hudson Publishing 1988, ISBN 0949873195)

Katharine England (Reviewer, The Advertiser): 'From the ridiculous to the sublime, from the bestial to the bizarre, from the tall to the tender, Bill Marsh holds his readers in the palm of his hand and tickles them with beautifully controlled yarns of childhood in the kind of town that is such a feature of our culture, if rarely our personal experience.'

With his primary schooling completed and no high schools within coo-ee, Bill joined the rough-and-tumble of an all-male boarding school, Yanco Agricultural High School, near Leeton. After acheiving his goal of becoming Yanco Ag's First XI Captain, he passed his matriculation exams.

Old Yanconian Daze: 'This was footy season. The last sorts we wanted to model ourselves on were a bunch of choir singers. We modelled ourselves on real men. Men who smoked, drank and swore like troopers. Those were our heroes, blokes who sang along with Slim Dusty on the wireless and set the sheep dogs wailing.' (Wakefield Press 1995, ISBN 1862543518)

Max Fatchen AM (Writer/Journalist): 'For me it is a gloriously bawdy, warm-hearted and perceptive picture of childhood and, like a diamond, has many facets that sparkle in the mind. The overall effect is of the human experience of youth, those precious memories that we hold like gold in our minds as we grow older and look back on something that was memorable and tugs at our heartstrings as we reminisce.'

A brief stint at Hawkesbury Agricultural College was curtailed because of illness, causing Bill to give up any idea of a career as a cricketer. And so began his hobby of writing.

Bill joined the C.S.I.R.O. (Irrigation Research, Griffith, 1969-72), then spent two years back-packing through three continents before returning to the welcome shores of Australia to work for the NSW Department of Agriculture (Viticultural Research, Griffith). In 1976 Bill moved to Adelaide, South Australia, to join Hardy's Wines.

In his spare time he wrote radio skits for Adelaide 5MMM's Four Course Breakfast Show, performed his songs in folk clubs and schools, and conducted writing workshops.

By 1985 Bill's writing had taken over. He 'retired' from Hardy's to take up his writing hobbies, concentrating at first on musical plays. (Read on to find out about Bill's plays.)

In 1991 Bill's father died after years of heart problems, and in 1994 Bill also suffered a heart attack. The cause was linked to an hereditary factor. Although their relationship had seemed distant, it suddenly became frighteningly close. Bill's personal journey culminated in his third book.

Looking for Dad: 'When I reach the (crematorium) wall I don't want to leave. Something holds me. I move closer to Dad's space. Then I'm overcome by the need to touch the brass plate, just like Mum did. When I do, its coldness bites me like savage dry ice. It's not what I expected. A sudden surge of anger explodes from within. 'Why didn't you ever tell me you loved me, Dad!' I shout. Then the plaque softens to my touch. It dampens like tears. And I feel a warmth, far warmer than human, a love far deeper than life.'
(ABC Books 1998, ISBN 0733306330)

Graham Seal (Reviewer,The West Australian): 'Bill Marsh ... proves to be a skilled weaver of contemporary yarns - short, dry-humorous and tightly-focused narratives that end with a twist. He describes incidents and places with wry humour, an excellent ear for colloquial dialogue and a good eye for Australian icons, many of which are fading fast.'

Bill's fourth book, Great Flying Doctor Stories went into its fifth print run within a year of publication:

'"What can we do now?" we were thinking (now that one of the pack of dogs had eaten the chap's amputated finger). "Okay, we can knock these dogs out, open them up one by one. Then, when we find the finger we can assess the situation and take it from there."
But the fellow must have read our minds. "Ah," he said, "take me word fer it. The finger was pretty much stuffed. What's more, there's no bloody way yer gonna cut open any of my dogs just to look fer me missing finger. I got nine of the buggers left, anyways."'
(ABC Books 1999, ISBN 073330835X)

David Harris (reviewer & writer): 'Bill Marsh has crafted an enthralling swag of first-hand accounts from all walks of life just in time, before reality vanishes into urban myth. With fascination we eavesdrop on wonderful, frightening, hilarious, tragic and poignant true stories, but we have more than just a remarkable anecdotal record - we have a chronicle that keeps us in touch with the independent, inspired, and often larrikin-spirited pioneers of our inland.'

Great Australian Shearing Stories, Bill's fifth collection of stories was released through ABC Books in late 2001 in book, audio cassette and CD format.

'The boss comes over and he says to the learner, "Hey, you should've cleaned those bloody sheep up better, they've still got a lotta wool on their legs."
"But boss," the learner replies, "it's gonna be a bad year for snakes so if there's still wool on their legs they won't get bitten."
And the boss says to the learner, "Well, if you took a bit of bloody wool off their eyes they'd be able to see the bloody snakes!" '
(ABC Books 2001, ISBN 0733308945)

Christopher Bantick (Canberra Times)'...shearers have been, since the blade days, the subject of poems, ballads, stories and films...Great Australian Shearing Stories by Bill Marsh, provides a valuable addition to the crop of (this) shearing literature.'

Midland Express: 'Shear reading enjoyment! Yes, award-winning writer/preformer of stories, songs and plays, Bill "Swampy" Marsh hs produced a beaut collection of shearing stories.'

Telegraph: '...brings to life the Australian outback in this wonderful collection.'

The Chronicle: 'Swampy offers some great little Aussie yarns.'

Don Petersen (The Courier Mail): 'Great Australian Shearing stories...you can't get more fair dinkum than that. These (stories) are guidebooks to his country. Go find him.'

Tony Maniaty (Weekend Australian) '...the blokes that Bill 'Swampy' Marsh talks about aren't clumsy; some have been shearing since they were fourteen. What's fascinating is how little has changed: the Chips Rafferty doubles, the heat and flies and - in the inimitable poetry of one character - "those iron-fleeced bastards of sheep".'

Likes - Cricket (or any sport), theatre, people, cooking, writing & performing.
Dislikes - Intolerance, ignorance.
Most amazing moments when writing a book - self discovery, and meeting people that I would never have met otherwise. For example, the bloke who worked in an ouback town with my dad in the mid-1930s.
Most worrying moments when writing a book - When the bank told me I was overdrawn after my car broke down, again, and I was 2000 kilometres from home, with only two cans of baked beans in the esky. And when I ran out of petrol in the outback only to discover that my bankcard had already exceeded its limit and I'd already eaten the last two cans of baked beans.
My greatest asset - Hope and faith in life and people.

Plays and Songwriting
1986 - What the Crow Saw. Bill wrote the script and songs and toured schools with this play during South Australia's 150 Jubilee.
1987 - The Thong Song. Nomination in the Esso International Song Writing Pater Awards (Humour Section).
1988 - River. Commissioned to write the script, songs, and co-direct for the Adelaide Festival Theatre's Viz-Arts Department.
1988 - Do The Right Thing Mate. Sang the 1988/89 Northern Territory Government's Anti-litter Campaign jingle, appeared in the subsequent tv promotion, and did voice-overs for the radio advertisements.
1989 - 1,2,3 Pick it up. Wrote script, songs, and presented the NT Anti-litter Campaign video.
1990 - The Garbage Twins to the Rescue. Wrote the script and songs for this performance piece which was toured by theatre groups throughout NT.
1991 - Taking Flight Takes It Off. As Writer in Residence, Bill researched, wrote the script, songs, directed and performed in Mount Gambier Youth Theatre Group's play.
1992 - Tellers Who Dunnit. Port Adelaide Youth Theatre.
1999 - Australia (Concept Media). Bill released a CD of his songs and stories, which was recorded live in Adelaide's ABC studios after the enthusiastic response he received to his performance on the ABC's Sunday morning Australia All Over show and on Channel 9's Today show.

'Oh my heart, it belongs to Australia
Oh my heart, it belongs to the land
From the deep blue seas that surround her
To her centre of gibber and sand.'

2000 - When the Mailman Comes. Wrote song for the video soundtrack of the documentary 'Last Mail from Birdsville' (The story of Tom Kruse.) Aired on Channel 7's 'Discovery' and ABC's 'Landline' programs.
http://www.lastmailfrombirdsville.com/
http://www.abc.net.au/landline/ll241099.htm
2001 - Source to Sea. Wrote songs and music for video soundtrack for the Year of Federation paddle steamers' journey down the Murray River. Aired on Channel 7, ABC's 'Landline' and SBS 'Global Village'.
http://www.abc.net.au/landline/stories/s431409.htm

David Franken (Program Director - Channel 7 Brisbane) - 'Source to Sea, is a great piece of work. The cinematography, editing and music, especially, are first class.'
2002 - A Drover's Wife (Concept Media). A second CD of songs and stories to celebrate the Year of the Outback.
'A drover's wife, it's no kind of life
for a woman keen on settling down.
She needs a man who's always at hand
to take her out on the town.'

Bill's songs and stories feature regularly on radio and television and his plays have been performed throughout Australia. He has perfomed his songs and stories from outback places such as Mount Dare (pop.10) down the Birdsville Track with the Great Australian Cattle Drive and at the Transport Hall of Fame gala dinner in Alice Springs with Slim Dusty.

Send 'Swampy' an email.

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