Buddy Williams

Who is Buddy Williams?

Harold "Buddy" Williams was an Australian country musician, singer and songwriter, known as "The Yodelling Jackaroo". Williams was the first Australian to record country music in Australia, three years after the New Zealander Tex Morton made his first recording in Australia. Buddy Williams recorded his own songs about life and times in the Australian bush. It was with Buddy Williams that the Bush Ballad was first born.

Buddy Williams was born in Newtown in Sydney N.S.W. and was soon placed in Glebe Point Orphanage. After many failed escape bids as a child, he was soon fostered out as a young boy to a dairy farming family at Dorrigo on the north coast of New South Wales. It soon became apparent that rather than looking for a new child to bring up, they were more interested in an unpaid labourer. This was not uncommon in the depression and post depression era where rural child slavery was a fact of life. Times were hard and life on the farm was tough for the young Williams, but it also allowed freedom he never had in the orphanage. He was soon listening to the recordings on an old Gramophone of his favourite singers such as Jimmie Rodgers and soon fell in love with this new music that was to become known as country music. At 15 he ran away from his foster home working for other families in the district. He worked at many jobs and started busking around the north coast of NSW, dodging the Police who frowned upon such activities.