Well known Australian Bush Poet:
John Major worked his 2,000 acre Central Queensland Cattle property for almost fifty years. Co-founding the Australian Bush Poets Association in 1994, he's since sparked renewed interest in Bush Poetry, and the country characters that are its lifeblood. John Major was born on his father's farm at Kokatunga, where he lived until the age of five. After finishing school, he spent most of his life living and working the farm that he cleared and contoured from 2,000 acres of raw scrub at Baralaba in Central Queensland during the early 1950s. He stayed there for almost fifty years until retiring to the Sunshine Coast. John told ABC Open participant Tony Bryant about his first experience of reciting bush Poetry at school. John was inspired by the works of Banjo Patterson and Henry Lawson, who he says wrote then about things that are history today. John says that today, modern writers are writing tomorrow's history. John has been part of a revival of interest in Bush Poetry over the last twenty years, and believes its as relevant to people today as it was back in the early settlers' days.
John has in many ways lived the stories he tells, as they describe
his world, and his life on the land in Country Queensland. John Major is a true man of
the bush. He has run cattle properties and has roamed the outback.
Now in semi retirement, John takes tours into his beloved outback and
writes poems to record what he sees and hears. APART FROM working his 2000 acre central Queensland
cattle property for almost fifty years, John Major co-founded the
Australian Bush Poets Association in 1994. Retiring to the Sunshine
Coast John has since sparked renewed interest in bush poetry, and the
country characters that are its lifeblood. NOT many Australians can say they have
attended two Olympic Games on home soil in their lifetime. But bush poet John Major attended both the 1956 Melbourne Olympics
and the 2000 Sydney Olympics. John was inspired by the works of
Banjo Patterson and Henry Lawson, who he says wrote then about things
that are history today. John has in many ways lived the stories he
tells, as they describe his world, and his life on the land in
country Queensland.
