Jim Haynes OAM is an Australian writer, entertainer, broadcaster, humorist, songwriter and historian. In 2016 he received a

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for service to the performing arts.

Education/Career

The son of British migrants, Haynes was born in Sydney and attended

Sydney Boys High School , motto_translation = With Truth and Courage , established = , location = Cleveland Street, Moore Park, Sydney, New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinates = , pu ...

and

Sydney Teachers College The Sydney Teachers' College was a tertiary education institution that trained school teachers in Sydney, Australia. It existed from 1906 until the end of 1981, when it became the Sydney Institute of Education, a part of the new Sydney College o ...

and later gained two master's degrees in literature, from New England University and the

University of Wales , latin_name = , image = , caption = Coat of Arms , motto = cy, Goreu Awen Gwirionedd , mottoeng = The Best Inspiration is Truth , established = , , type = Confederal, non-member ...

. He sang in a folk trio at Teachers’ College and was a member of various bands while teaching in country towns, in between several periods living in the UK. While teaching in

Inverell Inverell is a large town in northern New South Wales, Australia, situated on the Macintyre River, close to the Queensland border. It is also the centre of Inverell Shire. Inverell is located on the Gwydir Highway on the western slopes of the ...

, NSW, in the late 1970s, Jim formed the Bandy Bill & Co Bush Band. He rejoined in 1985 and the band recorded two albums on the Hadley label and had airplay on the ABC radio show Australia All Over. Jim worked weekend shifts on commercial radio station 2NZ, began providing stories and poetry readings for "Australia All Over" and quit teaching to work full-time on that program in 1988. He had a minor hit with "Mow Ya Lawn" in 1989 and signed his first solo record deal with Festival's Kookaburra Label in 1990. He embarked on a career as an entertainer, performing at clubs and touring a school show called ‘Singabout Australia’. His break came when

Warner/Chappell Music Warner Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company and a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. Warner Chappell Music's catalogue consists of over 1.4 million compositions and 65,000 composers, with offices in over 40 countries. ...

signed him to a publishing deal and two songs from his album ''It's Nothing Serious'', produced by

Greg Champion Greg Champion is an Australian songwriter, guitarist, radio personality and athlete. Biography Born in Benalla, Victoria, Champion is most recognised for his work as part of the Coodabeen Champions as a songwriter and guitarist. Greg often app ...

, became hits. "Don't Call Wagga Wagga Wagga", recorded with Champion and

Ted Egan Edward Joseph Egan (born 6 July 1932) is an Australian folk musician and a former public servant who served as Administrator of the Northern Territory from 2003 to 2007. Early life Egan was born in Coburg, Victoria, moving to the Northern Ter ...

, was a number 2 hit in 1994 and "Since Cheryl Went Feral" topped the country charts for 5 weeks in 1995. Haynes signed a three-record deal with ABC Music and began touring his own show and also touring with other artists like

Slim Dusty Slim Dusty, AO MBE (born David Gordon Kirkpatrick; 13 June 1927 – 19 September 2003) was an Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He was an Australian cultural icon and one of the country's most awarded stars ...

, Adam Brand,

Melinda Schneider Melinda Schneider (born Melinda-Jane Bean; 7 October 1971) is an Australian country music singer and songwriter and radio host. Schneider has been performing since she was three and sang with her mother, the renowned yodelling country artist Mar ...

and

Beccy Cole Beccy Cole (born Rebecca Diane Thompson, 27 October 1972), also known as Beccy Sturtzel, Rebecca Diane Albeck and Bec O'Donovan, is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She has released ten studio albums, wi ...

. He has since recorded quite a few albums of songs, verse and humour on his own label Singabout Australia. A double CD of old material, The Complete Jim Haynes Collection, was released in 2011 and an album of new songs, Galah Occasion, appeared in 2012, featuring duets with Wayne Horsburgh and Melanie Dyer. Having 'invented' the perfect country town of Weelabarabak in the 1980s, Haynes began writing verse about the town and its characters and events. These poems were self-published as I'll Have Chips! which sold over 10 000 copies. A book of short stories, Memories of Weelabarabak, followed - published by ABC Books. Haynes’ Aussie Verse column was a weekly feature of the nation's oldest magazine Australasian Post, until its demise in 2004. He has now written, compiled and edited twenty books, including The Book of Australian Popular Rhymed Verse, which contains 1000 poems from early colonial days to the present and The Big Book of Verse for Aussie Kids - which contains over 600 rhymed poems. Haynes is also credited with starting morning shows at the

Tamworth Country Music Festival The Tamworth Country Music Festival is an annual Australian music festival held for 10 days from Friday to Sunday in mid to late January each year, sometimes including Australia Day, in Tamworth, New South Wales. The festival is the second bigg ...

, having set up the very first ’bush verse’ morning show in 1989. His Big Bush Brekky Variety Show has been a feature of the Festival for almost twenty years. Jim was inducted into the Australian Country Music Hands of Fame in 1997. He also helped establish the Australian Bush Laureate Awards for recorded and published verse and the Stone The Crows Festival in Wagga Wagga which recognises the talents of Grey Nomads with the annual GReyVee Awards. He also regularly hosts ‘Verse, History and Country Music’ trips to Norfolk Island to coincide with the Norfolk Island Country Music Festival. Haynes served on the board of the

Country Music Association of Australia The Country Music Association of Australia (CMAA) is an association formed in 1992 that promotes and represents the Australian country music industry. As the peak national industry body, its activities include organisation, promotion and stagin ...

for fifteen years, was involved in the very successful Academy of Australian Country Music and still runs the Academy course for the parents of young talented performers. Haynes continues to work in radio, presenting the weekend Australiana segment on Radio

2UE 2UE is an all-music radio station in Sydney owned by Nine Entertainment Co and run under a lease agreement by Ace Radio. It currently broadcasts from its studios in Pyrmont, New South Wales. History 1920s 2EU Electrical Utilities applied to the ...

’s George and Paul Show and spends much of his time writing and editing collections of Australian verse and prose.

Books by Jim Haynes

* I'll Have Chips - (Singabout Australia) * Memories of Weelabarabak - Stories of a Bush Town (ABC Books) * An Australian Heritage of Verse (ABC Books) * The Great Australian Book of Limericks (ABC Books) * An Australian Treasury of Popular Verse (ABC Books) * Great Australian Drinking Stories (ABC Books) * All Aboard – Tales of Australian Railways (ABC Books) * Cobbers – Stories of Gallipoli 1915 (ABC Books) * Great Australian Racing Stories (ABC Books) * Great Australian Aviation Stories (ABC Books) * The Book of Australian Popular Rhymed Verse (ABC Books) * The ABC Book of Australian Country Music (ABC/Harper Collins) * The Big Book of Verse for Aussie Kids (Allen & Unwin) * On All Fronts - Australia's WW2 (Harper Collins/ABC) * Best Australian Racing Stories (Allen & Unwin) * The Great Australian Book of Limericks 2nd Edition (Allen & Unwin) * Best Australian Trucking Stories (Allen & Unwin) * Best Australian Sea Stories (Allen & Unwin) * Australia's Best Unknown Stories (Allen & Unwin) *Australia's Most Unbelievable True Stories (Allen & Unwin) *The Best Australian Bush Stories (Allen & Unwin) *Adventurers, Pioneers and Misfits: Australia's Most Amazing True Life Stories (Allen & Unwin)

Awards

Tamworth Songwriters Awards

The Tamworth Songwriters Association (TSA) is an annual songwriting contest for original country songs, awarded in January at the

. They commenced in 1986. Jim Haynes has won five awards. (wins only) , - , 1995 , "Weelabarabak for Me" by Jim Haynes , Comedy/ Novelty Song of the Year , , - , 1996 , "Don't Call Wagga Wagga, Wagga" by

and Jim Haynes , Comedy/ Novelty Song of the Year , , - , 1997 , "Since Cheryl Went Feral" by Roger Corbett and Jim Haynes , Comedy/ Novelty Song of the Year , , - , 1999 , "The Video Song" by Rita and Mary Schneider and Jim Haynes , Comedy/ Novelty Song of the Year , , - , 2005 , "My Grandad" by Michael Carr and Jim Haynes , Comedy/ Novelty Song of the Year , , -

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Haynes, Jim 21st-century Australian writers Writers from Sydney Australian people of British descent People educated at Sydney Boys High School Alumni of the University of Wales Living people Year of birth missing (living people)