Ted Egan is a rare example of someone who rightly deserves the label 'National Living Treasure'.
Ted Egan was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for “contributions to the literary heritage of Australia through song and verse” and he was appointed Administrator (Governor) of the Northern Territory from 2003-2007.
He has academic status as MA, D.Litt., and has almost finished a PhD degree, all based on Australian history.
For over 40 years he has been writing and recording songs and filming and writing about the Australian people who represent to him the real ethos of this country. He has just completed his 30th album of songs. He was the presenter of 13 documentary films titled This Land Australia and has written ten books. He currently lives with his wife, Nerys, in Alice Springs.
His latest project is 'The Anzacs: 100 Years on in Story & Song' in which his aim is to present the history of Australia and New Zealand in World War 1 through songs and an accompanying historical account – backed up by pictures, DVDs and maps. Ted Egan deplores the war, but salutes the heroism of the Anzacs. He pays particular tribute to the manner in which the youth of today observe proper Anzac traditions.
At Humph Hall on Sunday 12th April Ted will present a 75 minute audio-visual presentation based on the book with lots of opportunities to sing-a-long. This presentation will be preceded by a performance of Ted's song 'A bunch of damned whores' by Loosely Woven and a song from Sonia Bennett.
For more information about Ted visit his web site. For info about the book, visit the Anzacs in Story & Song web site.
“Ted Egan’s The Anzacs 100 years On in Story and Song is a tour de force of Australia’s involvement in WW1, from the distress, agony and destruction to the achievements, bravery and heroics of the diggers and their great leaders, Monash and Chauvel. This is superb social and cultural history with a dose of realism when others, through ignorance or agendas, steer clear of the integrity of events. He sees history as it was rather than how he would like it to be. The bonus of excellent music (on an enclosed disc), an Egan forte, delivers an extra dimension to the sense of place and time.”
“An illuminating X-ray of human wastage in war. Ted Egan’s superlative picture gives us a better insight into pointless sacrifice than the popular ‘glory of Gallipoli’ and ‘stuff of legend’ genre. The way Ted interweaves personal relationships into the wider narrative shows, yet again, what a humanist, and what a fine social and cultural historian, he is.”
