Folklorist, historian, author and musician, John Meredith made a number of significant collections of folksong, music, verse, speech and other forms over an extended period from the early 1950s. Individually and in cooperation with numerous others and through the Sydney Bush Music Club and the Australian Folklore Society, his work is recognised as one of the most important contributions to the field of Australian folksong.
Most of his collected work is at the NLA in several formats and series, accessible at
Guide to the papers of John Meredith https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-244971588/findingaid
Meredith Collection (mainly recordings) https://www.nla.gov.au/selected-library-collections/meredith-collection
A selection of field recordings is available on a double CD titled Sharing The Harvest - Field Recordings From The Meredith Collection In The National Library Of Australia (2004)
John Meredith Collection of Photographs and Negatives https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/3290861?from=list
The NLA also holds several interviews with John Meredith by Edgar Waters
https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2133162
and accessible online at
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-217246827/listen
The NFSA holds Meredith's historically significant recording of Jack Luscombe (1953) at
https://aso.gov.au/titles/music/jack-luscombe-john-meredith/
John Meredith also published extensively, including Folksongs of Australia and the Men and Women Who Sang Them, with Hugh Anderson, vol 1 (1967), with two subsequent volumes., numerous historical and folkloric studies and articles in journals and periodicals. He also wrote plays and operatic musicals and had a wide knowledge of medicinal and plant lore.
An obituary by Keith McKenry
http://folkstream.com/reviews/revival/merobit.html
There is a biography with a bibliography and links on Wikipedia and Keith McKenry has written a comprehensive biography, More Than A Life: John Meredith and the Fight For Australian Tradition (2015).
