John William "Jack" Bedson (born 5 March 1950) is an Australian writer, poet, children's picture book author, and former university librarian.
Bedson was born in the Sydney suburb of Redfern and raised in Sydney's inner suburbs. His father William John Alexander Bedson, a metal moulder, grew up in Caroline St., Redfern, on the famous 'Block'. His mother, Lucy Clymer, suffered as a victim of the White Stolen Generations twice, firstly as a child removed from her father and fostered out without schooling, then placed in the Watt St. Mental Hospital, Newcastle, for nine years from the ages of nine to eighteen; [1] secondly, as a young unmarried woman whose baby was given to foster parents by St Anthony's Home for Unmarried Mothers, Croydon. [2]
He went to preschool at Blackfriar's School in Chippendale, and primary school at St Benedict's Broadway. He characterises growing up in Sydney's 'slum' suburbs: "Our feet were like leather and we knew little fear ... Bullying, cheating, stealing, lying, wagging school ... wandering miles never lost, killing cats, begging from strangers, and talking to dirty old men. If inner Sydney street life in the 1950s was underprivileged, we didn't know it." [3] His secondary schooling was at De La Salle College, Marrickville. He worked briefly as a stage hand at TCN9 Willoughby when television in Australia was in black and white, and was accepted to the National Institute of Dramatic Art production course but declined NIDA in favour of an Arts degree at the University of New South Wales, graduating with First Class Honours in 1973 then completing a Diploma in Librarianship in 1974.
Bedson pursued librarianship in Burnie, Tasmania in the State Library of Tasmania system. In Burnie he also qualified as a ticketwriter, and began publishing poetry. He travelled for three years in Asia and Europe with his partner Margaret Anne Bain before returning to settle in Armidale, New South Wales where he worked at the library of the University of New England. He has one son, Remy, with Margaret Bain.
Bedson's professional involvements ranged from literary bibliography [4] to Library disaster management [5] and preservation. [6] He acted as University Librarian of the University of New England in 2000 and 2007–9.
His best-selling children's picture books Don't Get Burnt and SheepDogs, illustrated by Peter Gouldthorpe, are classic Australian tales of the city and the bush. His adult poetry is salted with aphorisms, as in Karma, Sorta:
Youth's the Perfect Crime,
Adulthood the Perfect Punishment'
A fuller bibliography is available at AustLit and the National Library of Australia database Trove
Armidale is a city in the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia. Armidale had a population of 24,504 as of June 2018. It is the administrative centre for the Northern Tablelands region. It is approximately halfway between Sydney and Brisbane at the junction of the New England Highway and Waterfall Way.
Eveleigh is an inner southern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Eveleigh is located about 3 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney.
Darlington is a small, inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Darlington is located about 3 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. At the time of its incorporation in 1864, it had the distinction of being the smallest municipality in the Sydney metropolitan area, at a mere 44 acres. Darlington is bordered by City Road, Cleveland Street, Golden Grove Street, Wilson Street and Abercrombie Street.
Chippendale is a small inner-city suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the southern edge of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Chippendale is located between Broadway to the north and Cleveland Street to the south, Sydney Central railway station to the east and the University of Sydney to the west.
Peter James Gouldthorpe is an Australian artist and author best known for his children's books. He lives and works in Hobart, Tasmania with his wife, Jennie, and has two children.
Tingha is a small town on the Northern Tablelands, New South Wales, Australia in Inverell Shire. Formerly part of Armidale Region, on 1 July 2019, responsibility for Tingha was transferred from Armidale Regional Council to Inverell Shire Council. The town is 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Inverell and 559 kilometres (347 mi) north-north-east of Sydney. Tingha is an Aboriginal word for "flat or level".
Ellen Dymphna Cusack AM was an Australian writer and playwright.
Nancy Keesing was an Australian poet, writer, editor and promoter of Australian literature.
Cleveland Street is a busy thoroughfare located to the south of the central business district of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. From west to east, it runs from City Road in Chippendale, through Darlington, across the railway lines between Central and Redfern stations and east through Surry Hills, crossing the Eastern Distributor and South Darling Street, to terminate at Anzac Parade, Moore Park. The street is named after Captain Cleveland, an officer of the 73rd regiment.
Performance poetry is poetry that is specifically composed for or during a performance before an audience. During the 1980s, the term came into popular usage to describe poetry written or composed for performance rather than print distribution, mostly open to improvisation. From that time performance poetry in Australia has found new venues, audiences and expressions.
Julian Croft is an Australian poet and Emeritus Professor of English, University of New England. He was a founder of the Association for the Study of Australian Literature and co-edited its journal, Notes and Furphies for many years. In addition to gathering prizes for his published poems, he is known for his studies of his teacher, T. Harri Jones and Joseph Furphy.
Michael Sharkey is an Australian poet, resident in Castlemaine in the goldfields region of Victoria.
Thomas Watling, was an early Australian painter and illustrator, notable for his natural history drawings and landscapes.
Elizabeth Pearl Corkhill, MM was an Australian military nurse of the First World War. Trained as a nurse in Sydney, Corkhill enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force on 4 June 1915. After serving in France at the 1st and 3rd Australian General Hospitals, Corkhill was assigned to the 38th British Casualty Clearing Station near Abbeville on 21 August 1918. On 23 August, while the camp was being heavily bombed by enemy aircraft, Corkhill remained calm and continued to tend to her patients, despite the danger. For her bravery, she was awarded the Military Medal, one of only seven Australian nurses to be so decorated in the First World War. Following the Armistice, she went on to work as a nurse at various public hospitals, and donated a large collection of her father's photographs to the National Library of Australia.
Edwin James "Peter" Wilson was an Australian poet, painter, and lapsed scientist, with a strong interest in history.
Millicent Sylvia Armstrong was an Australian playwright and farmer who wrote primarily about the experiences of country life in early 20th century Australia.
Sir William Dixson was an Australian businessman, collector and benefactor who bequeathed his collection of over 20,000 items of Australiana to the State Library of New South Wales, forming the Dixson Library. In recognition of his public benefactions, Dixson was knighted in the New Year Honours of 1939.
Lionel Arthur Gilbert CF was an Australian historian, author, curator, lecturer, and biographer, specializing in applied, natural, and local history. Born in Burwood, New South Wales, he studied at Sydney Teachers College and, beginning in 1946, worked as a teacher and later a headmaster in state schools in various locations around New South Wales until 1961. In 1963 Gilbert graduated from the University of New England with a Bachelor of Arts in History. That same year, he was appointed a lecturer and curator at the Armidale Teachers' College Museum of Education, in which capacity he served until his retirement in 1984, overseeing several expansions of the museum and establishment of a historical research centre.
Thomas Douglas Percy Holden was an Australian politician who served as a Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1912 to 1934 and also as an Alderman and Mayor of the Municipality of Redfern. The owner of a tobacconist and barber shop in Redfern, Holden spent most of his career associated with the Australian Labor Party.
Sydney - Capital New South Wales, c. 1800, is in the collection of the State Library of New South Wales, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the first oil paintings depicting Sydney town from what is now East Circular Quay.