Harry "Buck" Williams was born on 16 August 1927 on the Erambie Mission just outside the town of Cowra, NSW. His father, "Knocker" Williams, led a travelling tent show in which Harry played. His brother was Claude "Candy" Williams, also a musician who recorded on the Rex label in the early 60s. In his 20s, Harry started playing with Alan Saunders. Wilga Munro was born in Tamworth, NSW in 1943, into a musical family, with four brothers and two sisters. She joined the Royal Australian Air Force at the age of 19, serving from 1959 to early 1960s, before returning to Tamworth and started performing.
In 1963 she moved to Newcastle, NSW, where she met Williams at a friend's house, when she was 23. At the time of meeting in 1963, Williams was looking for female vocalist for his band, The Tjuringas ("tjuringa"meaning sacred object). He heard her sing and on the same night asked her to join the band as bass guitar player, which he taught her to play. Williams and Munro started performing together in The Tjuringas around Newcastle in 1971. Other members were Alan Saunders and Keith Saunders. Williams and Munro later began performing as a duo.
In 1972, Harry and Wilga moved to Mooroopna, Victoria, and formed the Country Outcasts in Melbourne, with Ian "Ocker" McKie and Harry's son Bert (Bertie) Williams. The band had a residency at the Grandview Hotel in Fairfield during much of the 1970s. The first song recorded by the Country Outcasts was "Nullarbor Prayer", over several days in a studio in Currabubula. Written and narrated by Eric Onus (brother of Bill Onus), who came up from Melbourne, the song was included on their first album.
They toured widely throughout Australia and New Guinea and released two full-length albums. The Country Outcasts embraced a number of young artists during the seventies so the performance line-up often varied. Some of the other band members included Ray "Buster" Thomas, Bill Brunswick, Debbie Williams, Ian "Ocker" McKie, Carole Fraser, Ian "Bear" Johnson and his sisters Roslyn and Janice Johnson, Henry Thorpe, Laurie Ingram, Claude "Candy" Williams (Harry's brother), Mac Silva and Auriel Andrew.
The band toured many country festivals, including the Wandong Country Music Festival in 1975, and as part of the "All Aboriginal" Spectacular Show in Tamworth in 1995. In 1978 they performed at the Sydney Opera House, and in 1980 at the Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne. They also performed at the Adelaide Festival Theatre. Harry also worked as an actor, appearing in films and on TV, including Black Fire (1972, thought to be the first known film by an Indigenous Australian, directed by Bruce McGuinness) and Matlock. Williams was called "the godfather of Koori country" (music). His eldest son, with his first wife Ella Cooper Williams, Bertie Williams, who was in 1972 co-founder of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. Williams died in 1991 under the same tree he was born.
''Nullabor Prayer / Once More'' 1975 Angelwood
''My Home-Made Didgeridoo / Arnhem Land Lullaby'' [Wilga Williams] 1974
ALBUMS
'Harry Williams And The Country Outcasts' 1979 RCA
'Harry & Wilga Williams' Hadley 1981
References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_and_Wilga_Williams
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